Hey everyone!

I got my desktop with dual boot (Kubuntu & W11) and wanted to know if I ever go fully Kubuntu, am I able to reinstall Windows again?

I don’t have a disc, but my desktop came with it pre-installed. Is it tied to my Live account?

  • freddy@lemmy.world
    6·
    2 years ago

    I do not know about W11 (using only Linux since 2000) but usually when installing Windows this is going to wipe out your whole disk, including any other os. That is why to have two (three or four) os you should install windows first, then any other os, the opposite is more like…a problem.

    • Random Dent@lemmy.ml
      41·
      2 years ago

      Can confirm, Windows does not give a single fuck about anything else you’re trying to do, will assume every drive is just more space for Windows and steamroller your entire system lol. Much easier to just let it do what it wants first, and then repartition everything to the correct shape when you install Linux afterwards.

  • Nibodhika@lemmy.world
    4·
    2 years ago

    You can download the windows iso from windows webpage, but if I remember correctly you have to do it in Windows since it depends on a downloader program. Then you should store the windows cd-key just in case, you shouldn’t need it and there are ways to recover it from Linux if this is an OEM machine, but it’s always better safe than sorry.

    With all that being said, a bit of unpopular opinion now. Why do you want to do that? I kept a windows partition for years because I never knew if I would need it, it was only when I realised I hadn’t touched Windows in months that I felt comfortable removing it, and at that time I didn’t cared if it could be reinstalled. The reason I’m asking is because if you have to ask about it you probably never installed windows on a machine, so you don’t know how to do that, and it’s a lot more complex than Linux because Windows needs all of the drivers to be manually installed to work properly, and while Windows 10 is a bit better in finding those drivers automatically it’s still a Pain in the ass to ensure it got the correct things and wait the thousands of reboots to apply all updates because updates are cumulative in Windows.

    • flashgnash@lemm.ee
      2·
      2 years ago

      You can get the Isos from the installer page too installer is just there for people who don’t know how to/don’t want to flash it themselves

    • flashgnash@lemm.ee
      1·
      2 years ago

      I tried that once, technically possible but it wouldn’t let me login on the install I had been using long term previously (seemed fine on a completely fresh install)

      Need windows little enough that I’ve just put my existing license in a fresh VM instead

  • Kelho@lemmy.mlOP
    3·
    2 years ago

    Perfect, thanks a bunch for the replies! Seems I’ll be trying to go full Kubuntu soon then, now that Steam’s Proton is doing so well!

  • Presi300@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    If you wanna dual boot, I’d recommend installing windows 1st, Linux 2nd. The windows installer has a very high chance to mess up the Linux bootloader, even if you tell it not to touch that particular partition

  • unconsciousvoidling@sh.itjust.works
    2·
    2 years ago

    I’m kind of doing something similar. I built a machine from scratch and installed arch Linux on it. Now I want to see if i can plug in a hard drive from an older computer that already had windows on it. Then dual boot from that. Not sure what I’ll run into but I’m probably going to try it this weekend.