I recently wiped my drive and performed a clean install. I started with fedora and about 15 minutes later I was 100% back together - programs and all.

Then I moved/installed my RETAIL copy of win11 pro to a virtual machine. It took like 4 hours, and I swear I’m not dumb! :)

• getting the iso onto a flash drive without a windows machine was way more difficult than it needed to be. Ventoy ftw.
• then you have to either: bypass the tpm stuff with Rufus, or set up a vm based secure boot/tpm module via vm additions. Not too hard, but annoying. Why it can’t be a normal option to install in a vm without a tpm module is beyond me.
• the install took forever. It asked SO many questions and shoved so much crap in my face “subscribe to 365”. “Turn on one drive”. “Try this syncing thingy with your phone.” “Here let me turn on all the telemetry - oh you don’t want that, here’s more screens to click through.” It was endless and annoying.
• activation was surprisingly difficult. It of course detected the hardware change being moved to a VM. Then I had to pick some obscured hyperlink to get to a screen where it showed literally dozens of machines (like every install I’ve ever done over decades) to pick the install I was transferring. It was not as easy to find the right install as you’d think. It kept complaining “that copy was already in use”. Or “already transferred” but they were all the same pc installed with the same retail license. I realized right there how screwed up it all is behind the scenes. I eventually clicked on one that activated thank god.
• mind you, it was REAL EASY to skip the above step and PAY for a new license. That screen is shoved right in your face.
• once it was finally installed and booted, then the worst part came - updates. It literally took like 2 hours to update. No my internet connection isn’t slow, and no, the VM isn’t resources strapped. I couldn’t believe how many times it updated and rebooted and stated another update. Why a freshly downloaded iso required so many sequential updates is beyond me. It was connected to the internet during install, why didn’t you grab the latest then? /facepalm.

The whole process was extremely painful. And I gave in years ago and I login with a Microsoft account - you’d think the ONE advantage I’d get for that would be: “oh hi sir, I see you are installing your one and only retail copy of win11, HAVE A NICE DAY!” NOPE.

I’ve been installing OSes since the days of dos 5.0 and I couldn’t believe how low Microsoft has fallen with the shovelware and bad updates process.

And after all that - I don’t even use the win11 VM. I just installed it because I had a valid retail license and “why not? I can move the VM around I the future if I want”. My software runs just as fast, if not faster in Linux - but I’M much faster because my OS gets out of my way, doesn’t shive ads and crap in my face, and I’ve tailored it to match my workflow.

Windows is dead folks. If you’re stubbornly hanging on, you really shouldn’t.