[GTALUG] Back to basics: upgrading from Windows to Linux

[Nigel Auger]

I also run multi boot Windows 10 and KUbuntu on my main two systems. Am
currently on KUbuntu 20.04 LTS. Here is my way of doing what you want to
do.

I have used Clonezilla for years. I boot it from a USB stick. I use it to
make regular disk and partition backups as well as migrate and build new
systems.

In my experience shrinking Windows system partitions is very problematic
due to unmovable files that Windows places high up in the partition. Years
ago I found this tool. It was free when I found it. If works (I used it
recently on an old Gateway machine with a hard drive) however I am
conservative so I take extra steps to ensure success. These extra steps are
a lot of work. Many probably wouldn't bother.  I describe these steps
below.

https://www.diskpart.com/articles/shrink-volume-with-unmovable-files-4348.html

NTFS access from linux - I have been accessing NTFS formatted large data
drives from Linux for years. NTFS support in Linux seems to be excellent
from my perspective. The only caveat is you will probably need to ensure
the mount command in the fstab file is configured to give your preferred
user full access to that drive. My systems are single user systems so it's
easy. For multiuser systems you are probably better to seek the advice of
others on this forum who are far more knowledgeable than I am. Here is an
example fstab entry I use:

#UUID=F474B7AA74B76DCC /home/augern/WDp2 ntfs-3g
defaults,nofail,uid=1003,gid=1003,umask=000,dmask=027,fmask=137 0 0

MY STEPS to ACCOMPLISH WHAT YOU WANT TO DO

1) Use Clonezilla to clone your original M.2 SSD onto the new M.2 SSD. Just
use straight full disk image, NOT individual partitions because you want to
ensure all of the boot sector info is cloned. Since you are cloning onto a
larger disk this should just work. There will be empty space at the end of
the new drive. Use the beginner mode in Clonezilla.

2) Swap out the old smaller SSD and swap in the new larger SSD into your
target system.

3) Boot the system into Windows. You might have to reboot once or twice to
allow Windows to do whatever it does when the environment changes.

Preparing and shrinking Windows.

4) Install AOMEI Partition Assistant.

5) If you have the patience, stamina, copy all user data such as documents,
photos, videos, etc. to a backup drive and consider temporarily deleting
them from the Windows system partition. As I wrote above I am conservative
so this is an optional step, probably not necessary but it will reduce the
burden on the partition shrinking tool.

6) Run Windows Disk Clean as administrator. You want to ensure all the crap
from Windows updates and upgrades is deleted. These files can run into many
gigabytes of data. Also ensure you click on the tab in Disk Clean and
select delete all old restore points as these files also can be quite large
and are unnecessary since you have a cloned copy of your system should
something go wrong and you need to start over.

7) From your administrator account in Windows disable hibernate and disable
the page file (virtual memory). Check to make sure the files have been
deleted. They are hidden system files. If they are still there delete them.

8) Use AOMEI Partition Assistant to shrink your Windows system partition.

9) When finished shrinking the Windows partition, re-enable hibernate and
the page file and copy back over any user data files you deleted to speed
the process up.

10) Once you are happy Windows is stable and working, make a Clonezilla
backup image of the entire disk so that when something goes wrong during
Linux installation or some unplanned Windows Update and your system gets
wrecked, you can recover it in 30 odd minutes rather than having to start
over from scratch.

11) You are now ready to install your Linux system(s). Use the normal
partition tools to set up your disk the way you want it.



On Fri, Apr 29, 2022 at 9:22 PM Lennart Sorensen via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

> On Thu, Apr 28, 2022 at 01:35:38AM -0400, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
> > Hi all.
> >
> > This topic is one I hope will be on many peoples' minds as they encounter
> > frustration (and in some cases a dead end) moving their Windows 10
> systems
> > to Windows 11. This may soon become the source of a multi-stakeholder
> > public campaign, but that's just in the planning stages.
> >
> > Now for the personal angle.
> >
> > Some ago I installed Windows on a desktop I use a lot. It replaced Linux
> > because that was incapable of running the one game I like playing. I even
> > gave a talk to GTALUG about that move, about Windows Subsystem for Linux
> > and the things I thought were better about the Windows desktop.
> >
> > Turns out I was wrong. So very, very wrong. And now I can't wait to go
> back
> > to my Linux desktop, especially since there's a recent LTS release of
> > Kubuntu, my traditional distro of choice. Plus, according to ProtonDB, my
> > game might just run well natively on Linux
> > <https://www.protondb.com/app/255710>!
> >
> > But it's been a long time since I've done this so I have some remedial
> > questions to ask from this group's wisdom ... to help me change from a
> > Windows install to a dual boot, priority Kubuntu:
> >
> >    1. My motherboard takes a single M.2 SSD for my one and only drive. I
> >    have a larger M.2 card that I'd like to replace it with, cloning my
> >    existing setup to the new drive (in a temporary USB enclosure) then
> >    installing and shrinking the Windows partition in anticipation of the
> Linux
> >    dual-boot install. Can anyone recommend a good tool for doing the disk
> >    clone? Or am I better off to just fresh-install Windows on the new
> drive,
> >    and restore my data from the old one?
> >
> >    2. I want to have one partition for data that is visible regardless
> if I
> >    boot Linux or Windows. Previously the most reliable filesystem
> readable by
> >    bothwas FAT32. Should I still do that? Is Linux support for NTFS good
> >    enough now? Even better, can Windows be taught to read ext4?
> >
> >    3. I've never used snap or flatpack before. Others have told me to
> >    install as much native (ie, .deb packages) as possible, use flatpack
> when
> >    it's the only option and uninstall snap. Any comments or caveats
> here? And
> >    why did app installation sources become needlessly complex?
>
> I have avoided them so far by not using a distribution with such silly
> additions. :)
>
> I think even Mint Linux based on Ubuntu has removed it.
>
> As for cloning and resizing, clonezilla should do the job well.
>
> --
> Len Sorensen
> ---
> Post to this mailing list talk at gtalug.org
> Unsubscribe from this mailing list
> https://gtalug.org/mailman/listinfo/talk
>
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