I downloaded linux mint on a usb drive, eventually switched to nobara or nobaru anyway i broke my usb drive and im not buying another and my laptop doesnt have a disc drive and i desperately want to switch back to windows because linux has none of my main apps i use and i have no idea on what to do how to switch back and stuff
Assuming your hardware meets the requirements for a Windows 11 and came with a license, Microsoft wants to make it easy to install Windows 11, so you should look for help from Microsoft and Windows user forums.
I’m assuming that you no longer have any windows partitions on your laptops drives.
The simplest approach without using removable media is:
- Download the Windows ISO.
- Create a small NTFS partition.
- Unpack the Windows installation files there.
- Configure the bootloader to start Windows Setup from that partition.
I suspect you might struggle with this - your easiest option would be to drop a few of your local currency on a small USB thumb-drive.
tried this too but didnt know how to do it right i got 4 errors sometimes 3 the ones i can remember is no such device found{the partition thing} missing file which was nfts.mod sometimes it couldnt detect the iso
Borrow a USB stick from a friend - it’ll be far the easiest option for you.
I’d recommend getting another (you’ll probably do more than 2 OS reinstalls eventually 
)
Some random fair in town had a car/house insurance booth with info and a jar full of Sandisk USB drives; I showed some interest and the guy gave me a handful of em 
(I gave some to others free but kept 1 as a convenient diagonstics Linux LiveUSB)
A big-store near me sells drives for $2, and I have SD cards + adapters.
I’ve heard of Android tools that present ISOs over USB as a regular device for PC booting, but iirc might need root or particular kernel config for a USB mode switch.
Another idea is network installing/PXE(?)
A potential idea is to resize space on the internal drive, dump a Windows ISO’s files onto it, boot it, then from Windows install environment diskpart delete the other partitions, and install.
i tried to use grub multiple fails and now im trying efi boot
i have no friends man
for example 530 sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom
531 sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
532 sudo reboot
533 sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom
534 sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
535 ls
536 ls (hd0,gpt6)/
537 insmod fat
538 insmod chain
539 set root=(hd0,gpt6)
540 chainloader /bootmgfw.efi
541 boot
542 sudo nano /etc/grub.d/40_custom
543 sudo grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg
544 sudo dnf install efibootmgr # just in case it’s not installed
545 sudo efibootmgr
546 sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/nvme0n1 -p 6 -L “Windows 11 Installer” -l ‘\bootmgfw.efi’
547 sudo efibootmgr
548 sudo efibootmgr -n 0002
549 sudo reboot
550 sudo efibootmgr -b 0002 -B
551 sudo efibootmgr -v
552 # Create the new boot entry
553 sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/nvme0n1 -p 6 -L “Win11Setup” -l ‘\bootmgfw.efi’
554 sudo efibootmgr -v
555 sudo efibootmgr -n 0002
556 sudo reboot
557 sudo efibootmgr -v
558 lsblk -f
559 history
My fear here is that the potential for you leaving yourself without a working linux installation, no windows installation at all, no USB drive and a laptop which is now effectively a door-stop… is quite high
One wrong move and you’re hooped.
I’d really just order a small cheap USB drive from somewhere, or borrow one; that at least gives you the ability to easily install windows, or any other OS you fancy with minimal risk.
Is Windows on the drive still?
I’d go to BIOS/UEFI set-up and boot bootmgfw.efi directly (most UEFI allow selecting a .efi file to boot).
There’s a good chance most of that isn’t needed (GRUB afaik would detect Windows on os-prober and put it on the menu vs needing manual chain/commands); and efibootmgr can be done in all one-step no reboots (albeit unnecessary with selecting the file from UEFI boot menu)
lemme go try that
update in my bios i cannot edit my uefi boot mode so i decided toturn on secure boot so it boots into"security violation" w a blue screen so thhen i can enrlll keys etc but i couldnt find a way to see my windows stuff unless i move it to the fedora boot folder maybe? btw windows was gone when i downloaded mint
If you are in a large city there are often computer users groups that will help people in your situation. Some groups are focused on either Windows or Linux, others on both. Ask at local computer shops, libraries, or technical schools.
Did you actively decide to blow away the Windows installation when you installed Mint or was that an error?
If there is no copy of windows anywhere on the disk, you’re not getting it back without either a USB drive to put the ISO on or an NTFS partition to unpack the downloaded windows ISO onto.
I LOWKEY cant remember
speaking of configuring the bootloader i almost had it i just get some unable to read file system errors now
It shouldn’t be too difficult to figure out if you have a possible Windows install, assuming you have a functioning OS at all, running lsblk in the terminal will show you every partition on every drive in the system and it’s size. Mine, for example shows me this:
Adam@fedora:~$ lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
sda 8:0 0 953.9G 0 disk
└─sda1 8:1 0 953.9G 0 part /home
sdb 8:16 0 3.6T 0 disk
└─sdb1 8:17 0 3.6T 0 part /mnt/Linux Data
sdc 8:32 0 931.5G 0 disk
├─sdc1 8:33 0 100M 0 part
├─sdc2 8:34 0 16M 0 part
├─sdc3 8:35 0 124.3G 0 part
├─sdc4 8:36 0 554M 0 part
└─sdc5 8:37 0 806.5G 0 part
sdd 8:48 0 1.8T 0 disk
├─sdd1 8:49 0 16M 0 part
└─sdd2 8:50 0 1.8T 0 part
sde 8:64 0 1.8T 0 disk
└─sde1 8:65 0 1.8T 0 part /run/media/Adam/Backup
zram0 251:0 0 8G 0 disk [SWAP]
nvme0n1 259:0 0 232.9G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 1.9G 0 part /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 9.5G 0 part [SWAP]
└─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 221.4G 0 part /
nvme1n1 259:4 0 1.8T 0 disk
└─nvme1n1p1 259:5 0 1.8T 0 part /mnt/Linux SSD
Everything with a mountpoint is Linux related and though it’s not obvious at first glance because I have so many drives and am very particular, every partition on sdc is Windows related. If you have a partition of 20GB or more that doesn’t have a mountpoint then there are good odds that’s a Windows install.
here ░▒▓ ▓▒░ ◦•···································································•◦ ░▒▓ 42ms ▓▒░
··• lsblk
NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
zram0 253:0 0 7.5G 0 disk [SWAP]
nvme0n1 259:0 0 476.9G 0 disk
├─nvme0n1p1 259:1 0 600M 0 part /boot/efi
├─nvme0n1p2 259:2 0 2G 0 part /boot
├─nvme0n1p3 259:3 0 195.3G 0 part /home
│ /
├─nvme0n1p4 259:4 0 8.8G 0 part [SWAP]
├─nvme0n1p5 259:5 0 143.3G 0 part
└─nvme0n1p6 259:6 0 97.7G 0 part