#Hello. I want to flash my Windows 8 device with Linux Mint but want to have a Windows 8 backup.

40 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

vale latch
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I want to delete Windows 8 and install Linux Mint. How can I make a backup of Windows 8?

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Hello. I want to flash my Windows 8 device with Linux Mint but want to have a Windows 8 backup.

plucky bone
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you could clone your system drive to an external (USB) one

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if it isn't too much storage to backup

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clonezilla is one software often recommended around here to do that

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if it's too much storage size, you could also just backup your personal files via the traditional Ctrl+C Ctrl+V (copypaste) method
typing the address %UserProfile% in your file explorer will have you redirected to the one folder you should backup
be aware that often web browsers' profiles within will make this an incredibly long endeavour cuz they produce thousands upon thousands of little files to copy

vale latch
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How big is the Windows 8 OS? Is there no other way to reinstall Windows 8 after deleting it and installing Linux Mint?

plucky bone
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that depends. you could calculate it, first you need to know how much space you're using in total

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then you can right-click the folder that %UserProfile% resolves to, in order to see its size
and subtract its size from the former value
total_used_disk_space - user_folder_size

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this includes your installed programs

vale latch
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Actually I just wanted to have the ability to reinstall Windows 8 in case I do not like Linux Mint or if I am to incapable of using it.

plucky bone
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ah, then you have better faster choices

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you can simply flash a usb thumb with the live iso so you can boot linux from that usb thumb, test things out

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or you can install a virtual machine software in windows and feed that vm the same live iso to actually run a full linux system within your windows system

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neither of which requires you to make a backup 👍

vale latch
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Other people wrote something about being able to reinstall Windows 8 with some sort of Serial Code?

plucky bone
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a serial code stored within the hardware, yes

vale latch
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How can I find and access that method to restore Windows if I should delete it?

wild widget
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You should be able to google that and its maybe stored in the "system information" section or can be found via slmgr cmd

vale latch
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I found the windows 8.1 key in the system information.

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Is it legal to download a Windows 8.1 iso?

unreal rock
vale latch
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Oh. My device has Windows 8.1. Is this an issue?

unreal rock
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Shi...ny th...ing I got to go!

wild widget
# vale latch I found the windows 8.1 key in the system information.

its more dangerous running 8.1 than 11 nowadays due to all the security vulnerabilities. I highly recommend backing up you user data to an external device and install window 11 compatible hardware and copy your data over if you're gonna keep a windows based OS as a bootable or reocvery option. Alternatively, use Mint when you transfer and commit :]

vale latch
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I see. I already flashed my USB drive with Linux Mint 22.1. I just wanted to make sure I still can reinstall Windows 8.1.

vale latch
vale latch
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How can I boot to the USB drive that was flash with Linux Mint?

unreal rock
vale latch
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Thank you. I ma going to try this!⭐

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F10 booted me to the menu.

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I click on Generic Flash Disk

unreal rock
vale latch
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None

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It already starts Linux Mint

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It showed me the Linux Mint logo

unreal rock
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cool 😄

vale latch
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But this is not installed, right?
This is just the file from the USB drive?

unreal rock