It feels like Linux is reaching an inflection point. That's not a new sentiment, but for probably the first time since Valve introduced Proton, it's felt like the stars are aligning for the Linux curious to become full-on converts. Support for Windows 10 is ending, and Windows 11 is slowly morphing into a dumping ground for whatever AI features Microsoft wants to push. If there's ever been a time to try out Linux, it's now. Even JayzTwoCents, one of the most popular mainstream PC hardware YouTube channels around, recently published a video about switching to Linux.

Now is the time to try out Linux, but where do you start? Linux is defined by its flexibility, which can make the onboarding process extremely daunting. If you want to dip your toe into the Linux waters but don't know where to start, don't worry. A simple tool called Ventoy will give you plenty of room to play around with different Linux distros without uninstalling your main Windows setup.

Ventoy turns a USB drive into a Swiss Army Knife

Have a new OS in an instant

The majority of popular Linux distros have a live version available. Download the correct ISO, flash it to a USB drive with balenaEtcher, and select it as a boot option next time you load up your PC. This is how you "try" different Linux distros. You load up the live environment and poke around for a little, and if you like how everything looks, you can install the OS proper. The problem, of course, is going through the process of flashing a new ISO every time you want to try out a new distro, which can take quite a bit of time if you're trying to narrow down the right option for you.

Enter Ventoy. It's a bootloader that you can flash onto a USB drive, and it's what you'll load into if you boot off a Ventoy drive. Then, from Ventoy, you can boot into any live Linux distro you want. After you set up a drive with Ventoy, it's literally as simple as downloading the ISO and dragging it over to your Ventoy drive. I have a 128GB drive packed to the brim with different distros, and choosing between them is just a matter of selecting the one I want to use when booting off my Ventoy drive.

Ventoy is mainly something angled towards power users, allowing you to quickly load up a different environment or troubleshoot an existing installation with various distros. I think it's one of the best tools for new Linux users, though. Setting up Ventoy is no more difficult than using balenaEthcher — it's actually a bit easier, in my opinion — and it gives you a spot to experiment with different ISOs before committing to one. It also vastly lowers the barrier to entry for trying out a new distro. You don't have to go through the flashing process, so you'll probably be more likely to try out a distro you might not have without Ventoy.

As I recently wrote about in my experience dual-booting Linux for the first time, choosing the right distro makes all the difference when switching to Linux. I suspect a lot of the issues with switching come down to issues with individual distros rather than Linux as a whole. Ventoy gets around that problem. It allows you to toggle back and forth between various distros and see what they have to offer, all without disrupting a sitting Windows installation.

Setting up a Ventoy drive is dead simple

Even easier than installing Windows 11

It couldn't be easier to set up a Ventoy drive. I'd argue it's even easier than using Rufus or balenaEtcher to flash an ISO to your USB drive. On Windows, you just download the latest release from the Ventoy GitHub, run the Ventoy2Disk.exe file, select your USB drive, and hit Install. There's even an ARM version if you need it. If that doesn't work for some reason, you can also download an ISO of Ventoy and flash it onto a drive with a tool like Rufus — Ventoy has instructions for how to do that. Setting up Ventoy will format your USB drive, so make sure you have everything off of it beforehand.

And that's it. You'll see the drive show up as "Ventoy" in your file manager, and you just need to add ISO files to the root of the drive. When you next load your PC, pull up the boot menu — or go into your BIOS — and select the Ventoy drive as the drive you want to boot from. You'll be met with a menu of the ISO files on your Ventoy drive, and selecting one will boot that ISO. It really is that simple. Ventoy doesn't need any specific updates to work, either, so you'll be able to continue adding ISOs to your drive over time.

The vast majority of Linux distros should work without any issues, but there are a few outliers, most notably ReactOS and OpenBSD. However, Ventoy says that 90% of the top 275 distros on DistroWatch work just fine, and I've yet to encounter a distro that didn't work. You might run into some issues because there isn't technically support for everything, but I highly doubt it'll pose much of a hurdle.

You have Ventoy — now what?

Now you choose a few distros

You have a USB drive set up with Ventoy, now you just need to load it up with ISOs you want to try. There's really no wrong answer for what ISOs you want to put on your Ventoy drive, but if you're completely new to the world of Linux, I have a few recommendations. I'm focused on distros that provide a traditional desktop environment for use as your main PC here. Linux is highly flexible, so although distros like Proxmox are popular for applications like a home lab, they aren't a great choice for Windows users seeing what Linux has to offer.

I have a few options here, but there are a ton of different distros you can try out. Here are a few to take a look at:

• Ubuntu
• Linux Mint
• Fedora
• Pop!_OS
• EndeavourOS
• Manjaro
• Zorin OS
• elementary OS

Some of these distros are better suited for some purposes. For instance, EndeavourOS and Pop!_OS are a little more focused on gaming, Linux Mint and Manjaro offer a more Windows-like experience, and Fedora goes in a different direction with its GNOME desktop environment. There are also distros that allow an even greater focus in one area; for instance, CachyOS and Bazzite are both highly tailored for gaming. Just because a distro isn't here doesn't mean it's bad, or you shouldn't try it out. These are just some of the easier options to try out if you're coming from Windows.

See what Linux can do for you

Ventoy vastly lowers the barrier to entry for Linux. It's easy enough to flash Linux Mint or Ubuntu on a USB drive and call it a day, but you'll probably end up back on Windows before long. Venoy makes it easy to experiment and actually give Linux — and the hundreds of distros available — a fair shake. It's what finally turned me onto dual-booting Linux, and if you find the right distro, it'll probably move you in the same direction.