Best Linux OS Similar to Windows

[WillingToLearn777]

Greetings Friends!
Please advise which Linux OS is the best for Beginners and is most similar to Windows 11.

Regards

 

[kc1di]

Hello @WillingToLearn777,
Welcome to Linux.org forum.
Can't advise you on which one is most similar to windows 11 as I've never used it. Last windows I used was windows 7.
But I can recommend Linux Mint as a good Distro to start with.

Home - Linux Mint

Linux Mint is an elegant, easy to use, up to date and comfortable desktop operating system.

linuxmint.com

 

[arochester]

1) It might be able to LOOK like Windows, but it will still ACT like Linux.

2) I believe Zorin can, out of the box, LOOK like Windows.

3) Have you tried searching: linux look like windows
e.g. https://itsfoss.com/windows-like-linux-distributions/

 

[Brickwizard]

Please advise which Linux OS is the best for Beginners and is most similar to Windows 11.

You can make Linux look very closely to windows, but once you take the cloths off it is entirely different, so you will be on a learning curve.

No one distribution is any better than another in real terms, some popular builds for newbies are
Mint LMDE6
Ubuntu
Mint 21
MX-linux [ ahs version is better on latest kit]
Peppermint
Pop [but can be a pig to get working on non sytem 76 kit]
Parrot home
Linux Lite
there are others.

 

[KGIII]

Finally, an Answer to What is The Best Linux Distro? • Linux Tips

Finally, an attempt to answer to the age old question: Which Linux distro is the best? Read on to find out which distro is the best Linux distro.

linux-tips.us

I'd read that. None of them will be similar to Windows, though they may have a desktop environment that is close to what you've experienced with Windows. Linux is not Windows.

I'd then distill that to conclude that any major distro, that is the more popular ones, are fine starting points for someone beginning their Linux journey. I'd avoid the obscure ones, just because it's easier to get support when you're using a distro that's commonly used by those providing support.

 

[Condobloke]

G'day 'WillingToLearn', Welcome to Linuxx.org

pay attention to your user name. You obviously chose it with intent.

Out of all the hundreds and hundreds of Linux distros (operating systems) the simplest, most straightforward, best supported, most intuitive distro has to be Linux Mint

Don't be afraid to 'jump off the cliff'....Be willing to learn.

You will have a veritable mountain of support here.

Spoiler: try/experiment with Linux

I put this in a spoiler so that the size of my post didn't overwhelm you. The simpest way to try Linux, is to download and attach Linux mint 21.2 to a usb stick using Balena etcher. That will make the usb, bootable. Boot your pc to that usb stick....it will NOT affect the windows installation at all. Once you have it booted, play with the Linux mint...look everywhere.....try out some of the things you usually use your pc for...ask questions here...over and over until you understand. Immerse yourself in it. Just be aware that as soon as you reboot the pc, anything you have looked at or changed etc in the Linux mint will be lost. It will only become permanent when you install Linux to your hard drive (this will wipe windows from the drive. Give it some thought. Again....having support is the key ingredient.

 

[Cyberbleuet]

Linux Mint perfect O/S switch

 

[truckerDave]

Greetings Friends!
Please advise which Linux OS is the best for Beginners and is most similar to Windows 11.

Regards

I am a new Linux user and I chose to use Mint. At the time, I didn't even know Linux.org existed. So, I made my decision the way any self-righteous old man would. I watched YouTube! The general consensus seemed to me that Mint was the way to go for a new user.

I've had my system running for less than a month and I have had 1 issue. It was not recognizing my monitor. After a bunch of research, I updated the kernel and the problem was solved.

I like that the layout is similar to a Windows machine. I love that it's NOT a Windows machine. As Brickwizard mentioned above, for us noobs, there is a learning curve. How steep? Well, from what little research I have done over the last few months, I feel depends on what you want to use the system for. If using it for email and browsing the web, the learning curve is fairly flat. Anything more and it starts to climb. However, the support you'll find is unbelievable. Just type in Linux Mint (or whatever distro you're thinking about) into a search engine (assuming you can't find the info here, which I doubt) and have a look. Also, YouTube has many good videos from installation to tips and tricks or how to customize LM.


Just my 2 cents

 

[MikeWalsh]

I haven't used Windows for at least a decade. And I won't 'pretend' that 'Puppy' Linux is even remotely like Windows to use. However, I do design all my own desktops from scratch.......and I WAS rather taken by the leaked desktop screenshots of the upcoming Windows 12. So I tracked the wallpaper down, and the two of 'em got "married".....

I DID modify the colour of the wallpaper. That 'orrible lilac tone to the desktop background was so sickly, and just....."ickk". Blue looks SO much better..!

Mike.

 

[truckerDave]

However, I do design all my own desktops from scratch.

Love the look of your desktop. Awesome job. 20 years ago I would have loved to have been able to design my own desktops. I did a whole lot of graphic design back then. A little known fact (and one I don't/won't mention very often) to give one an idea of how long ago that was, I was the first to design a skin for the Windows Media Player that had multiple color options. It was the DRM2.0. That thing was in their skin repository for several years and was downloaded over 4 million times the last time I was able to check. Of course, with updates and the like, it disappeared years ago.

Not enough time in the day nowadays.

 

[MikeWalsh]

@truckerDave :-

Funnily enough, despite not using the Redmond beast for a long time, my desktops are all constructed using a Windows graphics app - PhotoScape, from an outfit called Mooi Tech.

I got so handy with it under XP, that I was chuffed to bits when I found out it was one of those rare apps that was 100% fully-functional under WINE. I could reproduce that functionality in Linux, but I'd have to use 3 or 4 different apps to do so.....

I'm just NOT that pedantic. Many Linux users refuse outright to have anything to do with WINE, but we have something of an advantage with Puppy. The way she's designed to work, it's entirely up to the user whether or not they decide to save the results/contents of a session or not, so if you suspect you might have "contracted" summat nasty ya just let that session disappear into cyberspace.

Goes without saying that anyone with a lick of sense will save to an external, attached drive anyway. One that can be easily removed as & when you're finished.....

(shrug...)


Mike.

 

[bob466]

Welcome to the Forum.

No Linux Distro that I've tried is similar to windowz and thank god for that.

Why would anyone want that as the object is to get as far away from windowz as possible.

Some say Linux Mint is similar to windowz but I can't see it...you could always do this...

 

[truckerDave]

Some say Linux Mint is similar to windowz but I can't see it...you could always do this...

Well, it's nothing like Win 10/11. But I feel it is a little reminiscent of Win 7 or 8. I think it's really just how it's laid out. The clock, volume etc. down in the lower right corner. Start menu in the lower left. The most often used items available for quick access in the start menu.

But that is really as far as it goes, IMO.

 

[f33dm3bits]

But I feel it is a little reminiscent of Win 7 or 8. I think it's really just how it's laid out. The clock, volume etc. down in the lower right corner.

You can customize Linux to look however you want, most people here just use the default theming, scroll through r/unixporn on Reddit. Just use Windows if you want something similar to Windows.

 

[truckerDave]

You can customize Linux to look however you want, most people here just use the default theming, scroll through r/unixporn on Reddit. Just use Windows if you want something similar to Windows.

For me anyway, I don't think it's so much "wanting something similar to Windows", as it is not wanting something so far removed from what I have become accustomed to that it feels like I just got tossed off the bus in a foreign country where I don't speak the language. Even though I know Linux and Windows are extremely different, with Mint, it still has a familiar feel to it.

 

[KGIII]

Even though I know Linux and Windows are extremely different, with Mint, it still has a familiar feel to it.

When I introduce people to Linux, I like to have them watch as I install it - or install it while I watch.

After that, as I'm not starting them off with something all that different, I just tell them that things are where they'd expect them to be. I tell them to think logically.

For example, if they want to do office tasks, look in the application menu under 'office'. If they want to browse the web, look in the 'internet' menu. If they want to install software, a task for an administrator, look in the 'administration' section of the application menu. I'll also show them how to preserve their /home directory and how to perform updates.

I usually show them how to disable taskbar application grouping, connect to their network if it's not automatic, and then leave them to their own devices where they can learn and break things on their own.

 

[truckerDave]

I just tell them that things are where they'd expect them to be

That right there. Yup, I may not fully speak/understand the language. But I know where Walmart and McDonalds are located.

 

[APTI]

Agreed the purpose is to NOT be windows. The learning curve is less than a couple hours. I give people a 200 page printed manual when I give them linux or convert them. If we wanted it to look and act like windoze we would just either install windoze or beat the computer up with a sledge hammer (pretty much the same thing).

 

[Mike13Foxtrot]

I have found Mint to be my familiar distro. I have kind of settled on MX Linux as my daily. Have it running on an older laptop at the shop, Dual core Intel with 2GB of DDR2 mem and not upgradable to even 4. Even on that MX runs and the other guys, one who does not like computers uses it just fine.

I dip into a few all the time. Try on Virtual, play with it then sometimes install it on a laptop. Have so lately with Voyager Linux. Which is very much W11 looking, but so it Ubuntu right now. Mint and MX are more W10 looking desktop wise.

The thing about Linux is be not afraid to replace it if you don't like it. Over the years building PC's for a long time and being around people who do so, they always freak out at the OS install, even getting a pre-built and turning it on the first time and setting up W 3, 95, 98 , 7 , 8 , 10, 11 etc.... is always a pain. Let alone starting from scratch. Installing Linux usually is quicker from scratch then setting up already installed W in any number.

It is also about control what you want instead of being forced to, I have 2 W10 still, systems and have to edit each so that some of the things like backing up registry, which was a thing and is now not, it makes you instead of being able to repair a W install you have to start from scratch. Have a printed full page of Terminal things I have to do every time I install W10 or now 11 on someone's PC. Just refurbished a lightly used Desktop for my Niece, S0 45 minutes of installing W10 and "fixing it" later, I also installed in 15 Minutes, Mint to dual boot and let her have the option. And get her started on playing around with Linux.

 

[wendy-lebaron]

The thing about Linux is be not afraid to replace it if you don't like it.

I feel bad when I have to take down a Linux installation. It's like killing a penguin for dinner. It's like having a friend and then sending them to the other side of the world for one silly reason usually.

Recently I had to ditch ROSA and totally give up on RPM-based distros, especially those featuring KDE. Because that distro has too-weird handling of user's file permissions, starts UID at 500 for some reason. Also Ark doesn't work properly, at least dealing with DLL-suffix files inside ZIP. It thinks the DLL is a folder so it tries to create a folder first, then it comes across it again as regular file and tries to unpack it on top of the folder it vainly created. Then I get the dialog surprising me about overwriting a file.

I tried Linux Mint three times. But I have never gone as far as Spiral Linux Cinnamon, as far as Wine is concerned. I tried to install a 64-bit Windows program via its EXE file installer or whatever. I get a dialog box saying that it doesn't recognize 64-bit programs. The same thing when I run a 64-bit Windows application that worked without problems on other installations with Wine properly installed. Then I run some other Windows installer for a 32-bit program but it gets confused about which "see-program-files", complaining loudly it cannot do 64-bit.

I tried the same thing as above with Spiral Linux Budgie, both with the same Debian "Bookworm" base upgraded from the old "Bullseye" ISO. Things work as expected over there. But not with Cinnamon D.E. I cannot understand why.

I had to ditch NeptuneOS "Faye" or "Ada" or whatever it wanted to call itself which was its v7. Because Dolphin suddenly refused to let me open another partition. No other operating system, especially with KDE Plasma did that to me before. Also the thing was booting so very slowly, I was going to fix it but declined and installed something else.

I have left behind Manjaro KDE for much the same reason and because my computer seems barely able to handle it, while it's great with MATE "unofficial" "community" edition. However once I had to redo Manjaro MATE installation because something happened to the previous one which, accessed from a different Linux OS, caused read-only permissions set on everything. I have learned a lesson about it: avoid copying and deleting on a partition that is not activated as the main system.

These are just a few examples I have in my experience, with having to abandon certain distros after having them installed for a while.

I'm sorry for off-topic but I agree that if a Linux installation is not working for someone, it should be replaced. But this is not a decision to be taken lightly. Backup your stuff and be sure of it twice or thrice.