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Screw it, I’m installing Linux
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this post was submitted on 19 Nov 2025
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Are there instructions for the laymen? How difficult is it to install and actually use it?
It Is really easy. The only issues are related to hardware compatibility, especially with laptops. But most of them should be fine
Honestly, the most complicated part is getting the install media ready to go.
Once the installer starts, you're just answering prompts like the local username and password you want, language and keyboard layout, and time zone, and it does the rest on its own.
Then the computer reboots, and you end up on the desktop of a fully usable computer. Most distros will have a one-time popup welcoming you and maybe leading you to some Flatpak "store" where you can search for free apps to install.
Much easier and faster than a windows install
Easier than windows. Most people don't actually install that, though. It's just there when they buy their computer.
Not especially hard, depending on your choice. But the choices tho
You may just want to head to YouTube and look for a really dry video instructions. When I first got started on Linux like 15 years ago, videos were a lot less intimidating to me
I'd YouTube installing Ubuntu and use the YouTube filter option set to like 1 month. There's constantly new videos for intro to Linux YouTube. I say Ubuntu because it's a part of the most common family of popular Linux distributions
Not any more difficult than doing a fresh Windows install.
People have given you good resources, so I'll just speak to the second part: I switched a few months ago, and it has been surprisingly easy. I'm just... doing normal computer things like I used to on windows. Even gaming.
The ONLY thing that has given me trouble has been managing an array of external drives as a media server running on my main PC. I know that isn’t an ideal setup- but just saying.
It's often easier than installing Windows with certain distros.
The end.
I've been using Balena Etcher, but now I have an alternative, thanks!
Yeah, everyone seems to use Balena. They had some controversy a while back. I don't remember what it was, just that I found an alternative. FMW has the benefit of drop-down for official distros and it's available on all platforms (unlike Rufus).
Balena started collecting telemetry without disclosing it to anyone, reportedly including information about what images you were flashing. Apart from a general distaste for unconsensual telemetry, I think people were concerned the data could be used for things like helping to de-anonymize TAILS users.
This is an important step. One time I boldly just installed without testing anything in the live session, and discovered that HDMI and Ethernet didn't work. Woops.
Remember to do this on a machine you don’t care about, or are prepared for Windows to no longer work. Windows doesn’t play nice with other operating systems.
https://bazzite.gg/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/you-can-try-linux-without-ditching-windows-first-heres-how/
Play with this first if you want
https://distrosea.com/
Windows generally works fine alongside Linux, but then randomly one day you could log on and it boots straight into Windows and to fix it you need to learn the "fun" task of fixing your system with arch-chroot.
That will never happen if the default boot is into GRUB
If Windows overwrites your EFI partition then you won't be able to boot into grub. It absolutely happens, I've had it happen with my main computer within the past year.
It technically shouldn't happen unless you don't create a separate EFI partition for your Linux install.
It is generally recommended that you create a separate EFI partition for Linux specifically so that windows cannot mess with your Linux install when it updates.
I could see a bios update having some affect though.
Yes it's fairly simple to do, essentially the user needs to download an image of a Linux install disc, flash it onto a USB stick (or a Dvd I guess), and then reboot their PC. They may need to press a key at boot to open the boot menu and select the USB (or the bios to change the boot order).
After that, most distros offer a very easy to follow installer which will install the new OS.
Most Linux installs can be done alongside windows (on the same hard drive or it's own drive) but windows tends to break the boot loader with updates. It's gernallt better to only dual boot if you're good at fixing things - otherwise a full Linux install is better.
The most inportant thing is back up all your important data, and only do this if you genuinely want to leave windows. I'd make sure your windows license is digital before doing this too as that allows using windows again if you want to go back.
I'd say anyone can use Linux, it's user friendly and robust. In terms of installing Linux, I'd only do it if you are sure you know what you're doing - installing any OS - including windows - can involved trouble shooting problems.
I want to add that often installing Linux is easier than Windows
I've migrated not too long ago from Win10 to Kubuntu which is very Windows-like, and the adaptation was quite easy.
However, I have to ask: Are you comfortable typing commands on a terminal or editing configuration files? I ask because while it's gotten much easier to use Linux with just a graphical interface you'll still bump into some annoyances here and there where you'll Google how to fix and it will often tell you to 'run command x in the terminal'
FWIW that's the same as Windows.