Key takeaway: A "live USB" lets you run a genuine, fully working Linux desktop directly from a USB stick, with absolutely nothing installed or changed on your PC — remove the drive and Windows is exactly as it was.
If the idea of installing Linux feels like a big leap, there is a genuinely risk-free way to try it first: running it live from a USB stick. Nothing is installed, nothing on your hard drive is touched, and your existing Windows installation is completely unaffected. It is the single best way to get a real feel for a distribution before deciding whether to install it properly.
What a "live" USB actually does
A live USB contains a complete, working copy of a Linux distribution that runs entirely from the USB drive itself, using your PC's RAM for temporary changes, without ever touching your internal hard drive unless you specifically choose the installer option. You get a genuine, full-speed look at the desktop, its software, and roughly how it performs, though slightly slower than a proper installation since USB drives are generally slower than internal storage.
- Download the distribution's official installer file (an ".iso" file) from its website — see our guide on creating a bootable USB with Rufus or balenaEtcher for the full process of preparing the drive itself.
- With the USB drive prepared and plugged in, restart your PC and enter the boot menu, usually by pressing F12, F11, Esc or Delete repeatedly right after powering on (the exact key varies by manufacturer).
- Select the USB drive from the boot menu list, rather than your normal Windows hard drive.
- When the distribution's boot screen appears, choose "Try [Distribution name]" rather than "Install" — this is the key step that keeps everything risk-free.
- Explore the desktop as if it were properly installed: open the file manager, connect to Wi-Fi, try the pre-installed software, and get a feel for how it looks and performs on your specific hardware.
- When finished, simply restart the PC and remove the USB drive during shutdown; your PC will boot back into Windows exactly as before, with nothing changed.
Tip: Because a live session runs from RAM, any files you create or settings you change during the session are lost when you restart, unless you specifically save them to the USB drive itself or an external drive — this is expected behaviour, not a fault.
What you can genuinely judge from a live session
A live session is excellent for checking hardware compatibility — whether Wi-Fi, sound, graphics and touchpad gestures all work correctly out of the box — and for getting a real sense of the desktop's look, layout and included software. It is a slightly less reliable guide to long-term performance, since running from USB is inherently a bit slower than running from an internal SSD or hard drive after proper installation.
Before you start: Double-check you select "Try" rather than "Install" or "Erase disk and install" at the boot menu — these options look similar but do very different things, and only "Try" is fully risk-free.
Frequently asked questions
- Does a live USB session affect my Windows installation at all?
- No, as long as you choose "Try" rather than an installation option, your hard drive and Windows installation are completely untouched throughout the session.
- Why does everything feel a bit slower in a live session?
- USB drives are generally slower than internal SSDs, and the system is also using your RAM for temporary storage during the session — a properly installed system will typically feel noticeably faster.
- Can I try more than one distribution this way before deciding?
- Yes, and it is a good idea — prepare a couple of USB sticks with different distributions and compare how each one looks, feels and performs on your specific PC before committing to an install.