I just got a new laptop and installed Linux on it. I mainly run OpenSUSE.
Getting full encryption on both was a bit of a challenge and I had no idea what I’m doing. Will having the swap partition in the middle break things? Did I really need so many partitions (Mint and OpenSUSE don’t show up in eachother’s boot menu)?
I’m probably not gonna change this layout (because reinstallation seems like a pain) unless the swap partition’s position is a problem. I’m just curious how many mistakes I made.
EDIT: I’m not upgrading my drive capacity. I do not need it.
I am afraid that in the future something I need will require Windows 11. Whether that be interacting with the government or maybe if I go back to university.
Can’t speak to your exact machine but nowadays the license tends to be tied to the hardware.
If you are capable of manual partitioning then you should be able to reinstall Windows quickly if needed.
I got this laptop
I guess I could reinstall Windows, I really hate the idea of running the Windows 11 installer though.
Tbh I will usually simply swap out the OEM drive for a bigger and faster (and typically cheaper than the OEM upgrade option, per size) one the second I unbox it (optionally, go through the setup process before taking it out, so it’s ready to go next time you want to plug it in). This lets you not waste space on that “rainy day” contingency (which I’ve almost never actually needed). The one exception (and I keep a dedicated laptop around for this) is automotive diagnostic suites with proprietary USB hardware - I’ve got an old thinkpad still running windows 7. XP would honestly be better, because a lot of that shit doesn’t like “new” versions of windows.
I do not need more space. I need 25GB per Linux system and 64GB for Windows (which I’m going to backup anyway), plus 20GB of data.
I may keep Windows 10 on my Desktop too. It’s nowhere near as scary as Windows 11.
Ok, sure, you do you. Simply offering a way to do this that works well for me.
VM might be enough
Depends whether they’ll start using TPM in combination with kernel-level anti-cheat to ensure you don’t use AI in an exam or something. I don’t know what the future holds and barely understand what a TPM does.
At some point if they have ridiculous restrictions one might consider … doing the test in person, in a room provided by the actual school or that THEY provide the hardware.
Anyway IMHO the bigger point is that a lot of my own inaction (I won’t speak for others) came from fear of problems that rarely, if ever, materialized. I would recommend to move on and if the problem does actually arise then consider solutions at that point.
I uninstalled Windows on my SSD years ago (despite paying for it, forced by OEM deals), didn’t regret it once. In fact, I wear it as a “badge of honor” with pride. When someone tells me I “have” to use Windows for whatever reason, I tell them I can’t and that usually leads to interesting conversations.
Yeah I’ll probably try to work out how to back it up. Don’t want to have to give Microsoft money though so I’ll clone it and store it on a USB.
I imagine legally speaking, if you care for that, the license key is enough but depends on your jurisdiction, if you care for this kind of things. That said as the pace OS deprecates doubt it’d be useful.
Lost my license key anyway. Goodbye forever Windows 11.
Why would they require TPM??? Or kernel level anti cheat? This isn’t a game.
To prevent cheating, or to verify identity. IDK. As mentioned I barely understand what those things do.
Can emulate TPM
also kernel level anti cheat is for video games
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It should be possible to grab the license key before you wipe it. You could also copy it into an external drive and store it away as is
I’m not sure the refurbisher I got my laptop from even gave Windows a license key. It kept bugging me to create an account to fully activate it or something, I should boot into it to check but the thought of opening up Windows 11 just gives me the creeps.
EDIT: They did give me a license. It was just Windows being Windows.
Virt-manager can run windows in a vm
Looks like it’s included in Ubuntu too, so I think I’ll use that (I’m changing to Kubuntu after yet again needing to find missing packages).