I am *NEVER* going back to Windows- and I am really happy

[tcc]

Let me give you the background story....

I am a CompSci student at University in England. I have (for about 3 years on and off) dual booted Linux and Windows (XP/Vista/7) and I found myself increasingly using Linux more, appart from where I *HAD* to use Windows.

~~~ Magic wavy lines take us to another place in another dimension ~~~

Anyway, I decided today that I want to recover my system to factory settings, using the recovery partition, and then reinstall Mint using a shared NTFS partition as my Home folder for both Linux and Windows. Turns out, I messed up that recovery partition somehow (blegghhhh), and because windows wouldnt boot (again, dont know why, probbably something I done to it whilst I was making my computer 'better' after a few drinks...) I had to use the Manafacture provided recovery disc.

What.
A.
Fail.

It installed Win7..... but without the shed-load of propriety(sp?) software that came with the computer initially.
I thought that it wouldnt be too bad, the less bloatware and AOL free trials they give me, the better, right?

However, The screen resolution is MEANT to be 1366x768... NOT the 800x600 Steve Ballmer decided I should look at.

BUT, here is what done it for me-
Windows (straight out the box with NO manafacturer add-ons) could NOT detect the following:
-Sound
-Ethernet
-WLAN
-Graphics... etc.......
And, because Windows did not know how to connect me to The Information Super Highway.... I could not do a thing. Completley useless.

So: I just installed Mint as my sole OS, and I couldnt be happier- I find it more useable than Windows, and I *LOVE* that it recognises EVERYTHING straight out the box, no issues.

TLDR: Messed up my Dual boot pc, tried to install Win7 with manafacturer restore disc, but windows did not work out of the box..... and chances are, never will.
Linux works out the box with no fuss.

So, when people tell me that Windows "Just works" I will happily draw their attention to this example, where Windows was shown to be useless at installing itself from a cold start on a Samsung Laptop (it is a current model, too!)... and how Mint (and linux in general) Triumphed.

[xenopeek]

Moving this here I think

[The-Wizard]

ee lad had a bad day,

welcome to Mint and it's family forums

wizard

[chiefjim]

Windows has a nasty habit of getting messed up from almost anything. If you dual boot you add to the risk. Sadly the restore discs, if you even got one, aren't likely to protect your data should you need to use them.

For those people with cpu cases having a spare hard drive bay I recommend simply buying another hard drive. Disconnect the power and data cables and connect to the new drive.

Key benefits are the original drive lasts longer because it doesn't get power cycles. No chance of messing up the MBR, getting malware or viruses.

Since I only use Windows about twice a year, one being at tax time, switching the cables becomes a very minor task when compared to the hassles of a messed up Windows drive.

[Apoc220]

Windows admin here. It sounds strange that the restore CD did not install the drivers for you. In the six years that I have been supporting windows I don't think I have ever encountered a situation where I didn't need to download (or have handy) the drivers for the machine. Windows (on its own) definitely does NOT work out of the box for what most people need it to. That being said, my mint install was very smooth. The only driver I had to download was the broadcom wireless driver and it offered that on the "additional drivers" page. Maybe it's an issue with the way windows drivers are developed, I dunno. But if you ever have to install windows on its own it's always good to be prepared with at least a network driver. That way you can head out and install the rest of them.