My situation: I have a brand new laptop that has never been booted before and comes with Windows preinstalled. On first power-on it normally starts the Windows initial setup, but I don’t plan to use Windows at all and would like to install Manjaro instead.
This may be an obvious question, but I couldn t find a clear answer: can I skip the Windows setup completely and install Manjaro directly by booting from a USB installer and erasing the entire disk? I am mainly wondering whether it is necessary to boot into Windows even once (for example to check or disable BitLocker), or if it is safe to remove all Windows partitions, including the recovery partition, and just let Manjaro use the whole drive?
Boot from an USB with Manjaro and install using the whole disk (erases Windows). If you ever need Windows again, you can download the Windows 11 ISO disk from Microsoft webpage. The installation key is saved inside your computer.
However, you might consider cloning the existing Windows disk (disk to image) using CloneZilla, or similar, in case you ever need the possibility to install Windows again (you would need a USB disk available). Naturally, if you’re confident you’ll never want to do that, then ignore the suggestion.
There is no need to boot Windows at all – boot with the Manjaro Installer USB and allow Calamares to replace the contents of the disk by choosing the erase disk partitioning method.
Bitlocker typically isn’t enabled in an OEM Windows by default – you would need to specifically configure it during Windows Setup – as it stands, there should be no issue.
Edit:-
You will, of course, need to disable Secure Boot in UEFI/BIOS
– Secure Boot is unsupported by Manjaro
It’s not a bad idea, although preinstalled Windows in some brands come with so much bloatware (antivirus, “utilities”, games, demos, etc.) that it’s better do a clean installation even on new computers.
While I don’t disagree that a clean install is preferable, being that it’s an OEM installation, keeping a copy in the manner I suggested could make the difference between paying money for fresh Windows media, or not.
I’m aware there are (legal, and not-so-legal) ways to avoid that, but they typically require more knowledge of such workarounds than the average Windows user tends to possess.
I’m afraid Windows comes with bloatware no matter whether or not it’s an OEM install – one can’t easily avoid it.
sorry for the late reply if you’ve already nuked windows. i’m not sure how relevant this is anymore. but i’ve had instances where in some laptops, for some peripherals (WIFI cards, HDMI on video cards to name a few) to work it needed working in windows with proper drivers installed first for the said peripherals to work properly under linux. maybe a non-issue mostly.
just keep in mind if you run into one of those, could very well be this. otherwise nuke windows with all your might.
