Sick of Microsoft? How to Make the Switch From Windows to Linux

Microsoft has made the switch to Windows 11, but if you are sick of embedded advertisements, constant updates, data collection, and rising hardware requirements, we don't blame you. There is a very real possibility your Windows 10 machine can't even upgrade to the next iteration of Windows, so what are you supposed to do?

If you have ever considered making the jump to a different operating system, now is the perfect time. But if you don't want to pay more for a Mac, it's important to remember that you are not stuck with the Windows-macOS binary or even have to settle for the browser-based Chrome OS.

Instead, with a little patience and some command line acumen, you can turn to the world of Linux. Despite what you may think, it's easier to make the jump than you may think. Here's how to install a Linux distro and then download and manage apps to get you started.

Choose Your Distribution

Unlike Windows and macOS, there isn't just one version of Linux. Instead, Linux is packaged into many different distributions, or "distros," each with their own interface and set of features. Choosing a distro to install is a fun part of the hobby. One may use a Mac-like interface with a dock and "app store," while others may be more minimalist and require installing apps from the command line.

For your first installation, you will likely want something popular and beginner-friendly, so it's easy to get help when you need it. Zorin OS mimics Windows in layout and functionality, but it won't have as big a community to tap as you learn your way around. Ubuntu, on the other hand, is arguably the most popular distro, but it isn't very Windows-like at all these days.

That's why I recommend starting with Linux Mint for your first Linux installation. Linux Mint is a perfect in-between option: it's designed for beginners, offers a familiar desktop environment, and it's based on Ubuntu, so you can make use of the enormous Ubuntu/Mint community when you need help.

You are free to check out other distros instead, but I'll be using Mint for the purposes of this guide, and I recommend you do too. It's not my personal distro of choice, but it's great for new Windows migrants, and it's easier to explore other distros once you nail down the basics on a beginner-friendly system.

Create Your Installation Drive

Head to Mint's download page and you will see multiple versions of the same OS. Cinnamon is sleek and modern, and the desktop environment I recommend for former Windows users. MATE looks a bit less modern-looking but is faster, while XFCE is ideal for old or low-powered PCs, thanks to its light resource usage.

Click Download for the version of Linux Mint you want. You can view the installation guide or release notes from the link at the top of the page. If you use BitTorrent, I recommend grabbing the torrent file, which will download much faster. Otherwise, scroll down to the Download mirrors section and select a file to download.

The installer will come as an ISO file. To install it on your system, you will need to burn the file to a DVD or USB flash drive. We are going to do the latter using a tool called Rufus. Install Rufus, open it up, and insert a flash drive that is 2.5GB or larger. (If you have a fast USB 3.0 or 3.1 drive, all the better.) You should see it appear in the Device drop-down at the top of Rufus' main window.

Next, click the Select button next to Disk or ISO image, and choose the Linux Mint ISO you just downloaded. Press the Start button, and if prompted to download new versions of Syslinux, click Yes. Note that this will erase your flash drive, so make sure there is nothing important on there before continuing.

When finished, you will see a success message and your flash drive will be named LINUX MINT. Now it's time to back up your data and reboot your computer. It is now time to install Linux.

Install Linux on Your PC

As your computer reboots, you should see a message telling you to press a certain key to access the Boot Menu (usually something like F12). If not, you will see a key to enter Setup (often Delete). Press one of those keys, and look for the option to boot from the inserted USB drive. If you enter the full setup menu, it should be in a Boot settings menu.

When done, exit the menu to reboot again. You will then be greeted by GRUB, Linux Mint's boot menu, where you can choose to boot into Linux Mint. If you run into any errors, you may need to search around for a fix. I had to enable the nomodeset option for my graphics card, for example. Others may have to tweak or disable Secure Boot in the BIOS.

This installer is what we call a Live CD, where you can actually poke around and use the Linux Mint desktop before installing it. This will give you a chance to see if this particular distro appeals to you without it actually touching your system drive. Once you are satisfied, double-click the Install Linux Mint icon and go through the installation wizard.

Be sure to check the box next to Install third-party software, since it contains useful drivers and codecs you almost certainly want. From here, you can wipe your drive entirely, erasing all traces of Windows and using Linux as your only operating system. (Make double sure you backed up your data before doing this.)

Alternatively, you can partition your drive and dual boot Linux alongside Windows. This will allow you to reboot into one or the other whenever you want. If nothing else, it's comforting to know you have that safety net during the transition before you remove Windows entirely.

Choose the relevant option from the Installation Type menu, and click Install Now. The process may take a little while, but when it's done, you should see a success message. Click the Restart Now button to boot into Linux Mint once again—only this time, it's installed on your PC.

Get Accustomed to Linux

When you first open to Linux Mint, a Welcome window will appear to help you get set up on the new operating system. The menu's First Steps section will show you how to choose different desktop layouts, install multimedia codecs you might want, and grab necessary drivers for your hardware.

You will find that basic navigation inside Linux Mint is pretty familiar: Click the button in the lower-left corner to see applications, manage windows from the bottom taskbar, and so on. Take some time to browse around Mint's interface and its settings, though it should mostly look similar to what you get from Microsoft Windows.

You should get the hang of the basics pretty quickly, but the Mint (and Ubuntu) forums are always there to help if you get stuck. Just be sure to search around, since there is a good chance someone before you had the same question. It won't be long before you run into a few things that work differently in Linux, namely how you install and manage apps.

How to Install and Update Apps

How you install and manage apps will be very different from what you are accustomed. In Linux, it's less common to download apps from the web. Instead, each distro has its own repository—kind of like a free app store, with a directory of popular apps. You can install an app from the repositories one of two ways: From a graphical software manager (which looks like an app store) or from the command line.

To open Linux Mint's Software Manager, click the menu button in the lower-left corner and head to Administration > Software Manager (or just start typing "software manager," like you would in Windows). From here, you can browse for apps to download or search using the bar at the top.

You will come across Linux versions of Windows software, such as Steam and Spotify. Others will be open-source alternatives to common apps, For example, Banshee is a music player similar to iTunes, while Gimp is an image editor akin to Photoshop.

If you know what you are looking for, it's generally faster to install apps from the command line. And while it may seem intimidating at first, Linux relies on the command line for various tasks, so it might behoove you to get comfortable with it. To install an app—let's say the open-source media player VLC—open a Terminal window and run:

Sudo apt update

sudo apt install vlc

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Let's break that down: sudo tells the system to run the command as root (or, as it might be called in Windows, as an administrator), apt is the name of Linux Mint's package manager, and update ensures the list of available apps is up to date.

The second command, which includes install vlc, is self-explanatory. You should run sudo apt update before installing any app, and you can replace "vlc" with the name of any app you want to install. If you aren't sure what the repository calls it, you can run:

sudo apt cache search vlc

Now, if you want to uninstall an app, all you have to do is run the following command:

sudo apt remove vlc

This will remove the app, but not your configuration files, so if you decide to reinstall it later, your settings will still be there. However, if you want to remove configuration files too, you can instead run:

sudo apt purge vlc

You will also want to periodically update those apps, so you have the latest versions. You can do this from the software manager or the command line. From the graphical tool, click the shield icon in the lower-right corner to open the Update Manager app. You can then click the Install Updates button to update all your software.

Alternatively, you can do it manually by opening a Terminal and running the following commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Again, the update command checks for new versions of your software, and the upgrade command actually upgrades all your apps. You want to run these two together, just like you do for installing new apps.