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Tool to install a linux distro in dual boot directly from Windows? Without live USB (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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I always hear that a normal computer user would never install an OS and that is the main reason Linux has not a higher market share. But I guess what we mean by that is that a user would never create a live usb, access the boot options and boot from there to install the new OS.

Is there a hard technical limitation when it comes to create a tool that installs a linux distro from a "normal" windows exe file, provided that the user first disables secure boot and fast boot (which are things a tool with admin privileges should also be able do on first run)?

Does such a tool already exist?

I feel like there's something I'm missing, forgive my ignorance

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[–] 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Hmmmmmm... I think the hardware bugs might be rare, but common enough to make this a tricky product to sell consistently to the unknown masses.

Also, I think storage partitioning could be a problem; assuming some number of people would have other drives that they had OS/media together, or just separate storage with files they wanted to keep. Those would be NTFS, which can read/write on Linux but you won't have the best compatibility with Linux program execution (depending on a ton of factors).

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (2 children)

    As I said, most of the people who would be in the target audience for this age highly unlikely to have separate storage drives. These are the people who go to Costco or Staples and just get the laptop in their price range.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    That same target audience would be the least equipped to install a new drive or handle any problems that do come up. How many John Q public people have even opened up their laptop to dust it out?

    Problems might be rare, but if I am selling a product (in this case new storage with Linux on it) I need to be able to charge enough to cover all my overhead. Every time I sell it and it doesn't work out of the box that's time spent helping the customer, more shipping/return costs, or both. Markup has to cover all that, and I'd guess that it's not viable as a business model to charge a high enough price to deal with all the random static from computer illiterate people.

    I get what you're saying but I just don't see it being a viable business strategy to sell this product to that target audience.

    Anyone who knows enough to seek out and purchase a Linux OS drive can just download and install it themselves.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago

    Fair point. Support for this may be tricky.

    Although I think something like replacing a drive is doable by an average consumer given enough instructions/tutorial videos, there's bound to be issues that come up. One way to minimize them may be by matching the OS installs on drives to commonly available hardware out there. Something akin to Amazon automotive "it will fit your car" matching.

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