I hate Home windows. Full cease. I’ve to make use of it for work, like lots of you, nevertheless it’s only a mess to make use of. It is change into a product that continues to deal with us all just like the factor being offered as a substitute of the client. There are adverts within the Begin menu, telemetry that is exhausting to disable, and an AI assistant we’re nonetheless not asking for. Via all of it, although, what retains me utilizing Microsoft’s bloated OS is gaming. Though I have a tendency to consider myself as a console gamer, I’ve a fairly respectable Steam library. For years, Linux (and macOS, which I actually favor), simply wasn’t an choice.
That is altering, although. Proton, Valve’s compatibility layer for operating Home windows video games on Linux, continues so as to add an increasing number of video games from the Steam catalog. Bazzite is a gaming-focused Linux distribution constructed on Fedora Atomic that ships with all the pieces this gamer wants (and extra), pre-configured and able to go, together with Nvidia drivers, Steam and Proton all prepared out of the field. I put in Bazzite on my MSI Cyborg mid-range gaming laptop computer alongside Home windows to search out out if it is lastly adequate to make the dual-booting a factor of the previous. After some testing, I’ve a solution, although it comes with a phrase or two of warning.
What you want earlier than you begin
Get your Home windows machine prepared earlier than you contact the BIOS
Digvijay Kumar / MakeUseOfCredit: Digvijay Kumar / MakeUseOf
The very first thing I wanted to do was disable Quick Startup, which saves a partial system state to disk on shutdown to hurry up boot instances. It will possibly trigger issues when dual-booting. I hit Win + S, looked for Select an influence plan, clicked Select what the ability buttons do, then Change settings which might be at present unavailable. I then unchecked Activate quick startup.
Subsequent I needed to disable Safe Boot. After a restart, I made my means into the BIOS by hitting F2 again and again, then used the arrow keys to get to the Safety tab. I set Safe Boot to Disabled, as on my MSI, it is a simple toggle within the BIOS display.
Then I attempted to shrink my Home windows partition to get Bazzite on it. That is the place issues acquired annoying. Home windows would solely let me shrink a tiny fraction of my drive due to some unmovable system information. I attempted disabling hibernation with powercfg /h off in an Administrator Command Immediate, restarted, and tried once more. Nonetheless no luck. Lastly, I simply determined to let the Bazzite installer handle the partitioning, and that went lots higher.
I grabbed the ISO from https://bazzite.gg/, selected the choices that match my Nvidia GPU machine (Different Laptop computer, Nvidia, KDE, and Desktop), and skipped Steam Gaming Mode. The ISO was round 5 GB, so I made positive my USB drive had not less than that a lot (I used an previous 32 GB drive).
Making a bootable USB and putting in Bazzite
Flashing the ISO and putting in is pretty easy
I used Rufus on Home windows to flash the drive. It warned me that the ISO wanted DD picture mode, which I used to be capable of affirm, then ignore. The entire course of solely took a couple of minutes. As soon as the drive was prepared, I restarted my PC and hit F11 again and again to get to the boot menu. I chosen my USB drive and let it load up into the Bazzite dwell atmosphere, one thing Linux makes use of to allow you to strive before you purchase, so to talk. The primary display confirmed my {hardware} specs, and I might see that the Intel Iris Xe and the RTX 4050 I’ve onboard had been already detected. I launched Set up to Exhausting Drive on the desktop, launching the Anaconda installer. I selected my language, set my username and password, related to Wi-Fi, and went to the partitioning step. I chosen the primary drive within the machine, and selected customized partitioning. I allotted half the drive to Bazzite, leaving the opposite half — 244 GB — for Home windows in case I have to seize some screenshots for work later. The installer flagged a warning, recommending I take advantage of 500GB minimal, however I simply ignored it. All labored out OK. I hit Start Set up and waited. It completed up fairly shortly, after which I pulled the USB drive and restarted. The reboot began up Bazzite by itself, and I used to be able to roll.
Getting Steam and video games operating
Steam comes pre-installed
Steam simply launched robotically on my first boot into Bazzite. I did not must obtain, set up, or anything. It was simply there, ready for my Steam login. I used the QR code through my Steam cellular app to check in with out typing a password, and it simply labored. My complete Steam library was there instantly.
For video games with a local Linux construct, it ought to be simple to put in, launch, and play. For Home windows-only video games, that you must allow Proton. Go to Steam > Settings > Compatibility and toggle on Allow Steam Play for all different titles. On Bazzite this will likely already be enabled by default. I examined it with Palworld (a Home windows-only title with no native Linux construct) and it launched and not using a single immediate or warning. Proton dealt with all the pieces within the background invisibly.
My different take a look at was Baldur’s Gate 3, which has a local Linux construct. First launch triggered two rounds of shader compilation, which took a couple of minutes — regular on Linux and a one-time course of that will not repeat on subsequent launches. It launched and even introduced up my present save from Steam Cloud from August of 2025. The sport regarded and carried out the identical means it does on Home windows on this similar laptop computer, giving me 60-70 fps when actively taking part in on the RTX 4050 with default settings, no graphics configuration wanted.
The DualSense controller from my PS5 related through Bluetooth extra simply than it ever did on Home windows, and the sport acknowledged it immediately, altering all of the button prompts to PlayStation buttons with out having to the touch a single setting.
Sadly, Straightforward Anti-Cheat video games like Rust and 7 Days to Die, two of my favourite video games to play with pals, do not work reliably on Linux. Rust’s developer has even mentioned there aren’t any plans to help Linux or Proton. So if I need to maintain taking part in these, I have to maintain them on the Home windows facet.
Bazzite may very well be my day by day driver, too
The desktop expertise is fairly nice
KDE Plasma is the default desktop atmosphere on Bazzite, and it is most likely probably the most Home windows-like DE I’ve used. The taskbar sits on the backside, the system tray appears to be like and behaves the way in which you’d anticipate, and the app launcher is just like the Begin menu. I did not really feel misplaced on the interface as soon as, all the pieces was both the place I believed it will be or it was a simple intuitive discover.
On a regular basis apps are simply put in with Bazzite’s Bazaar app retailer, which pulls from Flathub, the primary Flatpak repository. Discord put in prefer it does on another app retailer, although Bazaar did flag it as “excessive danger” as a result of it makes use of the legacy X11 windowing system and its proprietary nature. That is not a dealbreaker, after all, that is simply how Discord works. It’s good, although, to see a stronger dedication to privateness than different OSes I take advantage of day by day.
Must you ditch Home windows for Bazzite in your gaming laptop computer?
If I had a second Home windows machine, I completely would. My Steam library, minus the 2 talked about video games above, is pretty single participant and co-op with out aggressive anti-cheat options. Bazzite is genuinely prepared for me to make use of it on a regular basis. My RTX 4050 was acknowledged robotically, the DualSense controller paired quicker than regular, and Steam was already there.
The set up course of took longer than it ought to, although that was extra Home windows’ fault than Bazzite’s.
For those who’re a Home windows-only gamer that has plenty of Proton-capable titles in your library, give Bazzite a attempt to see what you assume. I do know I am completed dual-booting for my gaming actions for good.
