# Repurposing an old Window 7 to Linux **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** computer-hardware\ **Created:** [March 8, 2025, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309 "2025-03-08T22:20:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/41 "2025-03-09T20:20:11Z")
Hi @Tripler , If you are able to get to the installer screen, then you have pretty much done everything right. I have not installed Linux Mint recently, but a couple of weeks ago I needed to put Ubuntu on an old laptop. Note that you can set up UEFI or old-school boot, and I opted for the latter, in this case by booting via Ventoy and choosing the Legacy boot from the one-time boot menu. Just pointing this out in case it makes a difference or you need to do it for some reason. The installer has the option to pick a disk, wipe everything on it and automatically install the operating system, so that way you should not end up with any Windows recovery partition booting because Windows will be gone. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/42 "2025-03-09T20:31:43Z")
One more hint related to the above in case it matters. I have no idea about Linux but with Windows-based USB boot images like Windows PE and Windows RE, if you’re using UEFI boot, the USB stick must be formatted FAT32, not NTFS. With old-school boot, either will work. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/43 "2025-03-09T21:39:46Z")
Thank you all for the encouragement!! I am glad to announce that after two-hours of Windows repairing itself, I got to reboot the machine. There, I booted from the USB stick, and let the laptop do it’s thing for _twenty_ minutes (just to be sure). UPOn coming back onto ‘the Bridge,’ an excited “_Huzzah!_” escaped my vocal cords, as it came to the Mint screen on the laptop (I’m at this step [here](https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/install.html)). As soon as I finish this post, I’m going to click “Erase Disc & Install Linux Mint.” Oooh, this is kinda exciting!! Tripler Aaaaaaannnd . . . _ **done!!** _. The _Reliant_ is installing upon itself! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/44 "2025-03-09T21:48:29Z")
I’m fascinated to know whether you’ll face the compatibility griefs that I faced with Linux, involving drivers and such, or whether you will cheerfully sail on to the final frontier, where no man has gone before! Keep us informed! I am a Win-doze slave and would be of no help whatsoever, but apparently we have many Linux aficionados here! ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2025, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/45 "2025-03-09T22:32:11Z")
Well, one thing that’s nice about Linux on an older laptop is that the vast majority of the older hardware has a compatible driver written for it by now. The older the hardware is, the more likely it is that someone else has already run into that hardware on their own system and bothered to write a driver for it. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/46 "2025-03-10T07:37:35Z")
Yeah, I haven’t encountered driver issues for quite a long time. It used to be that the install would go well but WiFi wouldn’t work, so you’d have to identify your chipset and try to find a driver or use a Linux wrapper for the windows driver and that would work, but unreliably. That hasn’t happened to me for over 5 years, probably longer. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/47 "2025-03-10T12:43:54Z")
Ubuntu being the Windows of Linux means, among other things, that all the basic drivers you need are likely to be included and work out of the box without extra or manual configuration, somewhat more so than let’s say FreeBSD. There is also an `ubuntu-drivers` script included that can automatically install drivers. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 12:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/48 "2025-03-10T12:51:57Z")
A 2011 computer might be underpowered for Ubuntu. I just repurposed an old computer to be a VPN server and I used BunsenLabs Linux ([https://www.bunsenlabs.org/](https://www.bunsenlabs.org/)). The interface looks nothing like Windows, but it has short-cut keys for all the necessary tools, and a listing of the shortcuts is always on the screen. ETA: Bunsen is based on Debian, just like Ubuntu, so you get most of the same packages and the online guides work really well. I tried Ubuntu on that old machine first, and it was a total dog, barely functional. BunsenLabs works fine. I’m really surprised you can’t boot off a USB stick. What did you use to create the boot stick? ---
**Author:** ![Historical\_Vagabond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/historical_vagabond/32/18705_2.png) [@Historical\_Vagabond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Historical_Vagabond)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/49 "2025-03-10T12:52:50Z")
I’m not exactly handy, but so far I’ve installed Linux Mint on a Win 8 Dell laptop and my old 2011 iMac. For both I also replaced the HDD with SDD and they run like new. For the laptop, it runs better than it ever did. The only real problem I’ve encountered with compatibility is Xfinity streaming won’t work with Linux. But I can still log onto individual streaming services with my Xfinity account. If Mint is too much, there are some even lighter distros for older machines. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/50 "2025-03-10T13:08:34Z")
Its all Open Source Software, but IMHO the best thing about FreeBSD is the permissive licencing. Since Linux is licenced under the GPL family of licence (GPL-2) this puts restrictions on what you can do with it. Roughly its free to use and sell, but any code changes you make/add must be published publicly and allowed to be used by anyone else under this same licence (you GET **OUR** free code, but you must GIVE **YOUR** code extensions back). This type of “copyleft” (copyright, get it?) licence scares away businesses who want to lock their code away as proprietary. FreeBSD is licenced under the BSD family of licence which is so permissive as to put almost 0 restrictions on your use of it. Want to borrow it and lock away the code as proprietary? Sure. Who cares what you do with it. Companies can use this to create their own OS’s for hardware that they develop without worrying about legal ramifications. Apple took large sections of FreeBSD to develop MacOS (Darwin), If you game on a Playstation you are using a modified version of FreeBSD, Netflix is running FreeBSD to deliver its streaming service to customers, and so on. If you are just a simple end-user though, (and not a business who’s selling routers/kiosks/etc) the benefits of FreeBSD (to you personally) are just outweighed by the benefits of Linux. Linux is more compatible, has a larger user base, more software development, just a better general experience (again, all my opinion). However if you have network security concerns perhaps you might benefit from FreeBSD’s work on this end. ETA: Also, most people who develop the desktop environments to Linux, also provide the same applications to FreeBSD. So the “look and feel” of one distribution of Linux CAN be replicated in FreeBSD without much hassle. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/51 "2025-03-10T13:29:47Z")
> [@Kedikat](#): > > I am in the midst of setting up a Proxmox server. To run Home assistant and Frigate. Got Home assistant running, Just integrating Frigate. I love home assistant. I have a VM running a Home Assistant OS on my server right now. I make use of it to automate a lot of things around my house (mostly lights, but sometimes other niche things). I would suggest you to take advantage of the community add-ons (Node Red is good visual scripting software, and [hassio-google-drive-backup](https://github.com/sabeechen/hassio-google-drive-backup) is a life saver as HomeAss is under development and prone to bugs -not as much now-a-days thou). Also, allow me to share with you [a collection of scripts](https://tteck.github.io/Proxmox/) which streamline the deployment and provisioning of LXC containers and VM’s in Proxmox. It is a great tool for cutting out 90% of the tedious work of setup. Well loved by Proxmox users. > [@Mangetout](#): > > I was harrassed by Linux users for not hating Microsoft enough. > I was also similarly attacked by Windows users for some imaginary slight against that OS too. Humans simply confuse me. They should go get angry at real stuff instead. It still won’t change much, but the targets are more deserved. > [@Tripler](#): > > Aaaaaaannnd . . . _ **done!!** _. The _Reliant_ is installing upon itself! Huzzah! Good luck. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/52 "2025-03-10T14:37:02Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Since Linux is licenced under the GPL family of licence (GPL-2) this puts restrictions on what you can do with it. Roughly its free to use and sell, but any code changes you make/add must be published publicly and allowed to be used by anyone else under this same licence (you GET **OUR** free code, but you must GIVE **YOUR** code extensions back). This type of “copyleft” (copyright, get it?) licence scares away businesses who want to lock their code away as proprietary. You say that almost like it is a bad thing, instead of exactly why that license exists in the first place. IIRC something about Stallman sending out free copies of his printer drivers\[1\] to anyone who asked, and the same people not giving back modified drivers in return 🙂 The point is that Linux now does have decent driver support, but also that people can and do use Linux to design nuclear weapons, do their taxes, fly spacecraft, play commercial games, do research, and even heavily modify the operating system (and use it privately) and all that is completely legitimate. There have been occasional public-relations issues like the Linux Foundation’s non-transparent handling of sanctions against Russian maintainers that have caused people to react critically. Back to FreeBSD, of course you should be able to install it on a 2011 laptop along with all your favorite software. I have one laptop that old running FreeBSD + KDE Plasma 6. There is a higher chance you may have to do something like open a terminal and manually enable/configure a driver for your graphics card or wifi card, like I said, which if you are not comfortable with that sort of thing (and recovering from potential contingencies) you should be aware of. * * * 1. Not drivers for Linux, because Linux did not exist in the 1970s–1980s. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/53 "2025-03-10T15:08:04Z")
Is the distro situation still complicated these days? In the 2000s, there were so many to choose from that it was overwhelming. Red Hat and then Ubuntu became dominant for a while, but both seem to have fallen out of favor in recent years…? There’s Mint and others now, and on Macs it’s only Alpine (which has its own driver issues all over again?) How do you know which one to choose? Is there still a home-user friendly distro with a nice GUI and easy app store and built in proprietary drivers and such? ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/54 "2025-03-10T15:08:10Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > You say that almost like it is a bad thing, instead of exactly why that license exists in the first place. Well I’d like to add that I’m not trying to attach any moral value and judgement to either. Both (“copyleft” and “permissive”) are Free Open Source Software and provide an awesome service to the dev community and the wider society as a whole. However they have two distinctly different purposes. Copyleft licencing ensures that the technology used will contribute back to the community which is essential for furthering public software access/skill and raises the baseline of all technological development. Permissive licencing allows investors to start off with a common shared code base and function, with the goal of generating profit from furthering innovation. My take is, use copyleft software unless you have a good reason to choose permissive licenced software (it’s better developed in the areas that you need, or you personally need to take advantage of the licencing to create your own marketable product). ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/55 "2025-03-10T15:25:10Z")
If you are new, just choose Linux Mint. If you want something different here’s a rundown: 1. Debian based distros are stable, easier to use, and focused towards home use or servers. (PopOS, Ubuntu, MX Linux, Linux Mint) 2. RedHat/Fedora based distros are business based, feature innovators, and focused on enterprise software (Rocky, Alma, CentOS, or non-RedHat distros like OpenSUSE) 3. Arch is bleeding edge software, rolling release, infinitely customizable/remoldable only limited on your own skill level/desire. (if you choose this you love diy, no further recommendations) These are the three biggest distro families, servicing the three biggest concerns. There are more specialized distro for specialized concerns and use cases. - Lightweight distros are desired for VMs and particularly limited hardware (PuppyOS, Alpine, TinyCore, etc) - Gaming distros are geared towards having good provisioning for advanced hardware (SteamOS, Nobara, Bazzite) - Niche case distros serve some VERY niche purpose and are rarely based on anything else (NixOS ← mine, Slackware, LinuxFromScratch, Android, ChromeOS, etc) The variety is a bonus, not really a limiter. You have a need first! Then you choose a distro based on that need. Most often the need is “I hate Microsoft/Apple” so everyone recommends Linux Mint (a great familiar and easy to use distro). ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/56 "2025-03-10T15:51:14Z")
Great. Thanks for the awesome breakdown! I’ll try Mint on an old laptop. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/57 "2025-03-10T16:58:49Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Humans simply confuse me. They should go get angry at real stuff instead. It’s truly a wonder of the internet. Someone literally called me a fascist enabler for saying: > I don’t hate Microsoft as much as [some people] think I should. I am just not interested in joining that crusade, or indeed any faction in any crusade. I have problems of my own to deal with and one of them happens to be navigating a graceful transition from Windows to Linux, which is best done with a calm demeanour. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/58 "2025-03-10T17:01:16Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > Arch is bleeding edge software, rolling release, infinitely customizable/remoldable only limited on your own skill level/desire. (if you choose this you love diy, no further recommendations) As far as I can tell, the main reason for using Arch is so you can tell people you use Arch. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/59 "2025-03-10T17:03:44Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > As far as I can tell, the main reason for using Arch is so you can tell people you use Arch Also Gentoo. ---
**Author:** ![orcenio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orcenio/32/1036_2.png) [@orcenio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/orcenio)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2025, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309/60 "2025-03-10T17:34:01Z")
Well some people just like being able to build their own distro. Arch is for those people who hate “software bloat”. They don’t want a single program/application running on their system that they haven’t chosen themselves. Gentoo is for those people who want to COMPILE their own distro. They want their system to be built **by** their own hardware, **for** their own hardware. IMHO A waste of time for regular users, but there are some use cases (you have to develop an interactive OS that has one purpose and needs to run superb on the exact hardware your budget allows) > [@Mangetout](#): > > It’s truly a wonder of the internet. Someone literally called me a fascist enabler for saying: My original wording of that Arch-related quoted text was “I will not insult you by giving my own recommendations” 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/repurposing-an-old-window-7-to-linux/1015309.md?page=4)