If you are not afraid of the command line, then there is dd for windows(or in wsl) which you can use to write an .iso file to any disk. Command usually is dd if=path\to\iso of=path\to\disk bs=4MB
this post was submitted on 05 Oct 2026
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Just to point it out: Having a USB stick with a Linux ISO laying around can be a lifesaver.
Even if you decide to go back to Windows or whatever.
Because you can actually boot off of the USB stick into a practically fully functional OS, so without installing, and then access the files on the hard drive, in case your installed operating system bites the dust (so long as the hard drive and filesystem is intact).
So yeah, might be worth the invest...
I and others agree... It's funny when someone says "I want a solution besides X" and we all kinds to to say "uhhhh, srsly, X is the answer" - - also another shout out for Ventoy. Compete game changer. I have a 16GB drive with Win10 IoT LTSC, new install apps and drivers for Windows, and 2 or 3 Linux distros.
I'm not doubting a usb is better, i uaed those to install windows in basically every PC I've built for me or friends. But...usually I am borrowing other ppls. Now I work seasonal jobs and don't have a permanent home so...can't really quickly access a store if I'm in the middle of nowhere in a national park
Setting up a flash drive with Ventoy is something I'd highly recommend. Then you can just drag-n-drop isos as you see fit and boot any of them from a nice menu. I keep one around with Fedora, CachyOS, Arch, and Clonezilla isos. I also think I may have an older version of Garuda on it. It's a super useful thing to have around.
This is a tricky question, mostly because you tagged it as "Noob"... It is technically possible, but it does require jumping through some hoops I would not normally recommend to a novice. Attempting through a VM is probably the safest option, but pointing a VM to an entire physical disk isn't typically something I would recommend, but is likely much safer than doing live partition editing manually and on the fly.
So...I'm not a noob to computers, I run my own jellyfin server, minecraft server, I almost had a comp sci minor in college, but I've just been so in the windows ecosystem that I don't really know what applies for linux and rather than act like I "know computers" I'll be honest, linux is something I know nothing about, windows I can do basically all my troubleshooting on my own+internet access
You can use a raw disk in VirtualBox. Just make sure you install an initrd and kernel which has drivers for all of your hardware. If you let something autodetect hardware, it will detect the virtual hardware, not the real one.
I had tricks using native disks reliably in VirtualBox which I had been dabbling with for more than 15 years, and I had to move to using QEMU for my NAS disks. I quotient recommend these paths for noob level project.
I've never tried it, but you can use UNetbootin to do that.
Wow, I did not know about this, very cool!
I think you can also use Ventoy over the network (which I have never tried either).
Yes there are lots of methods to do this. Format the disk to something like ext4, untar a distro to it, then with wsl chroot into the disk, finish installing and configuring everything, then reboot to the new disk. You will need specific time to do an this, but should be fairly straight forward.
I essentially did exactly this for my current setup.
There are other ways to.
I make a partition on my main drive which I load any .iso on to it. Usually I keep a Linux Mint .iso there in case I need a basic set of tools outside of my main Operating System for when I mess up my main OS. I can load that .iso partition at boot through the BIOS menu.
I'm sure you can do the same with an NVME drive. You may need to check the BIOS boot order to make sure you start your preferred OS when booting your system.
I used to do this too, I confirm this works and is a good idea, it is convenient especially if you plan to distrohop a bit or know you will reset a couple times to experiment a bit
I installed from inside vmware before, with the linux drive mounted natively, then removed the windows drive.
This feels wrong but I don't know why. It just feels like it would break somewhere. I've never given a vm its own physical drive though.
When my freebsd home server died I just put it's disks into my gaming rig and connected them to a VM and it booted with no hassle. It will work for linux too, unless you have architecture differences or some whacky secure boot setup, or highly customized kernel or something.
Passing physical drives through to a VM is the only way I install Windows anymore, that way it can't fuck up my boot order or EFI partition, since I use Linux daily. Can't wait for the day I don't need Windows, alas, medical device update software often requires Windows/Mac, and passing the USB through to a VM doesn't work.
You might have a MicroSD or SD cars lying around which you can use as a USB stick with a $1 reader e.g. from Aliexpress.