I switched from Windows 10 to Bazzite, but the system is not working well on my PC and I want to reinstall Windows 10. I have been trying to create a bootable Windows USB from Bazzite, but BalenaEtcher did not produce a USB that appears in the BIOS, and I cannot use Rufus or Microsoft's official Windows tool from this system. I have also noticed extra partitions appearing on my SSD and am worried that repeatedly creating or deleting them could damage the drive. What is the safest way to make the Windows installer USB and completely remove Bazzite during the Windows installation?
4 Answers
If you can temporarily use another Windows computer, use Microsoft's installation-media creator or Rufus to prepare the USB there. That is often the least troublesome method. During Windows Setup, choose the custom installation option and remove the existing partitions on the target SSD before selecting the resulting unallocated space. Be absolutely certain you are deleting partitions on the SSD, not the USB drive.
The extra partition entries are not going to wear out your SSD. Creating, deleting, or changing partitions mainly updates the drive's partition tables; it does not repeatedly damage the physical storage. Windows Setup can remove the old Linux partitions and recreate what it needs. Back up anything important first, because the installation process will erase the selected drive.
BalenaEtcher often is not the best choice for Windows installer images. Ventoy is a straightforward option from Linux: install Ventoy onto the USB drive, then copy the Windows ISO onto the Ventoy partition. Boot from the USB and select the ISO from Ventoy's menu.
Fedora Media Writer may also be available through Bazzite's application store and can write ISO images. If graphical tools continue to fail, a command-line tool such as dd can copy an image directly to the USB, but double-check the device name with lsblk first. Using the wrong device would erase another drive.
Ventoy is probably the easiest route here. It works well for making a Windows installer from a Linux machine.