Should I stay or should I go - from Windows to Linux for Audio Software

Mustela · November 4, 2025, 3:31am

I did enroll in the extended security updates to buy time. But also realistically for me, my computer is plenty good enough to do more than everything I ask it to do, so one year isn’t going to be enough time to convince me to replace it. I want to get as much use out of it as I can (without opening security holes).

I think I figured out my computer. holy crap was that opaque. I had to dive into parts of the Windows OS that I didn’t even know existed but I think I managed to tweak some software stuff to finally make Windows 11 happy. It honestly reminded me of that time that I ran Ubuntu as a dual boot setup and that I didn’t really want to have to go there if I didn’t have to.

There are still things that MS is doing that make me unhappy. That may still push me to Linux…or possibly Mac for my next desktop.

math07 · November 4, 2025, 3:44am

I just want to add that there are legal ways to install Windows 11 on unsupported PC. There are many videos on youtube on the subject and it’s really easy if you have some IT background. Otherwise, your local IT tech may be able to help.

I did it on my old 10 years old laptop. I kept all my files and it ran smoothly. It’s not perfect and not as good as a brand new computer. It can introduce some bugs for the audio stuff or other issues that you did not have on Windows 10. But, I assume some people will not want to trash their computer after the 1 year ESU, move to Linux or stay on Windows 10 without security updates. So, that’s why I wanted to share that there is a fourth option after the 1 year extension. It’s not necessarily better or worse than the other options. It’s just a different one which has its own pros and cons.

One of the many exemple on YouTube:

Mustela · November 4, 2025, 1:48pm

Yeah, I read about that option but IMO it’s not a whole lot better than just staying on Win 10 past the extended service update period. Articles like this that run down those limitations (makes it sound like the chances of hardware problems increases over time) spooked me off.

Should You Install Windows 11 on an Unsupported PC? Risks, Benefits, and Alternatives

So the process I went through is something I bet is tripping up a lot of people. Turns out my PC was 100% compatible but there were some VERY core settings that needed to change. Otherwise it appeared to Windows as though my computer was incompatible. If you have no idea what your BIOS is or how to check its firmware, then the following steps can brick your computer if you don’t do them right. You might need to pay someone to do this. It’s not as simple as installing Win 11 the “unsupported” way. But if your computer is actually compatible (but can’t tell that it’s compatible) then this is a way to get a fully supported OS, at least until MS decides to brick Win 11 devices.

First step:
Check the partition type of your boot drive. Say what? Yeah, exactly. So my partition type was “MBR” (Master Boot Record). In order to change some security settings that Win 11 requires, I needed it to be GPT (no, not ChatGPT, GUI Partition Table). There are also some requirements about how those partitions are arranged on your hard drive, too. Mine was arranged just fine so I didn’t have to deal with it but I did see that for some folks this was a problem. In order to do that, I had to download the Windows Preinstallation Environment (WindowsPE) and create a bootable thumb drive with that. Basically, all it is is a DOS command prompt, taking you on a time warp to the late 1980’s/early 1990’s.

Once I booted up with the WindowsPE, I was able to run a program called MBR2GPT. It’s built into Windows (unlike WindowsPE), but to do this as cleanly as possible, it’s best to run it in WindowsPE. There is a command that will let it run out of a Windows command prompt, but it does some extra stuff to make that work and I didn’t want more partitions on my hard drive. If you have everything set up correctly, it runs quickly and smoothly. But it took me awhile to get it right. LOTS of booting/rebooting/etc.

Next, check your BIOS firmware. I didn’t do this until later and it caused headaches. Do this now. BIOS is one of those things that you don’t tend to think about and my BIOS version was dated from 2017 or somesuch. More rebooting. Lots more rebooting.

Now, look up your particular motherboard’s BIOS settings for enabling Secure Boot, TPM 2.0, and UEFI. For that matter, check to make sure your BIOS is compatible with all of these things. There’s a good chance they’re called something else or buried somewhere. On mine, I had to enable them in exactly the correct order. If I didn’t, BIOS would freeze on startup and I’d have to shut down my computer, unplug it, remove the coin cell battery on my motherboard, hold the power button to discharge any remaining charge, put it all back together, go back into BIOS and change ANY settings back. Also would be beneficial to save your BIOS settings somewhere before you start messing with anything. This process required LOTS MORE REBOOTING. Even if I got it all correct the first time, it would take a lot of rebooting.

It’s worth noting that the preinstallation checks will say you’re ready to go to install Windows 11 if you happen to have TPM 2.0 enabled and UEFI enabled, but secure boot is not enabled. As I understand it, you need to actually enable secure boot, also.

Once I got all of these steps taken care of, and my boot drive was in the GPT partition type and I had Secure Boot enabled, TPM 2.0 enabled, and UEFI enabled, I was able to download and install Windows 11. I did the automated download/install that was at the top of the list in the video above (he scrolled right on past that option). I let it run overnight. When I sat down to my PC this morning and turned it on, it had a few initialization steps to go but it started up right quick.

I only had one error crop up and it was related to the Corsair LINK 4 software and a process that it runs in the background (it basically manages my fancy PC cooler). Uninstalled that program and everything works. Aside from the most complicated setup process I’ve had to deal with since installing a Windows/Linux dual boot system, it updated with the fewest errors of any OS upgrade I’ve done.

It buys me a little more time. Time will tell if it pisses me off enough to install a Linux dual boot system anyway (before I need to replace this computer outright…at which point I’ll be considering Mac, also). If I do that, I think I’ll need to change up my hard drives. I’m tapped out on how many internal drives I can install. A couple of them are old ones that I use for data storage, but I’ll need a bigger SSD if I’m going to run a dual boot. Which means replacing one of those old HDD’s.

Majik · November 4, 2025, 5:24pm

All that rigmarole to stay on Windows…

Sounds a lot like having to be an IT Technician to me

Cheers,

Keith

Mustela · November 4, 2025, 5:46pm

IME, switching to Linux isn’t too far off from that. And Linux is more reliant on command line stuff than Windows is these days (I know some distros are able to use less command line work than others), with different commands and syntax you’ve gotta learn. So there’s a learning curve to adopting it.

It’s a shame that it took all that to install Win 11, though. Not many people will be willing (or even able) to do that for a computer that would otherwise be fine for it. Pretty sure this is a significant reason why adoption has been so slow. It’s going to make for a lot of e-waste. Might make for some good thrift store computer purchases if you’re willing to do all that or wipe it and install Linux.

Majik · November 4, 2025, 11:02pm

My personal view, born of 30 years of using Linux desktop as my primary desktop for both work and personal use (and having used Windows a fair bit during this time) is that is a common misunderstanding.

For 98% of the things I would do on Windows, I use the GUI, just as I would with Windows.

For the other 2%, I use command line because I know it well, and can do it far quicker and more efficiently with a couple of commands, rather than get RSI doing it on the GUI.

Or, it’s something that just isn’t practical or possible to do in Windows (certainly not in the GUI).

Linux is massively flexible, customisable, and adaptable. You can make your Linux desktop look like Windows, like Mac, or something completely different, and that’s just the desktop look and feel.

If there’s an aspect of your system you don’t like, there’s probably a way to change it. Often that requires getting into the guts.

But if you don’t want to tinker, you don’t have to. You can just stick with GUI tools and do everything you would normally do in Windows (and often a lot more).

Linux power users do stuff in the command line because they can, not because they have to.

Cheers,

Keith

Mustela · November 5, 2025, 2:28am

Getting the dual boot setup running took tinkering in the guts of partitions and BIOS before I ever got Linux installed.

If doing a fresh install, then that wouldn’t have been part of it.

I won’t say I needed to use the command line a lot in Linux but I did need to use it more than windows requires these days. And given that the syntax is different than MS uses, even limited use of it was a challenge because I had to look up how to write out the syntax. And shoot, what MS uses now only sortof resembles the DOS syntax I learned BITD so I have to look a lot of that up, too.

I won’t call myself a power user, but I do know enough to get myself into trouble (and enough to sometimes get myself out of that trouble).