Linux

Zorin

There are two “just works” distros I recommend to new users: Bazzite or Fedora.

Start with Bazzite. It is familiar and has lots of guardrails so it’s nearly impossible to break.

If you decide you want more control over your system later, switch to Fedora KDE.

If you decide you want even more control and flexibility, consider CachyOS or OpenSUSE Tumbleweed.

You will see Mint recommended a lot, but I don’t like it. The default desktop — Cinnamon — is very Windows 95, and I much prefer KDE Plasma, which doesn’t work well on Mint. Mint also has driver issues with newer hardware. But if you like retro and your hardware is older, give it a try.

Avoid Pop_OS right now. It’ll probably be amazing in a year, but the new Cosmic desktop (currently a beta) has a lot of annoying bugs with common linux GUI packages.

The distro I find easiest to recommend to folk in my life looking to move to Linux is the distro that I'm using/most familiar with, because it makes it easier to help them out if they run in to an issue.

I use CachyOS, and previously, I was trying to support Mint etc, but having zero experience with the way the way Mint handles packages, with its default apps, update process etc, I found myself having to research an OS I don't use, and offer 2nd hand advice. I moved them over to CachyOS, and even though technically, it's not as beginner friendly, my day to day familiarity with it meant that it was easier to help out when troubles arose.

OpenSuse of course

This really depends on her hardware specs and what applications she needs to use.

Without knowing any of that, I would suggest Linux Mint. It is desktop user focussed and a good general OS. It includes drivers and common software in their version of an app store.

Debian is my distro of choice, but is not ideal for a new Linux user.

I would suggest checking what apps she needs and making sure they are available on Linux, or that a close equivalent is. Any apps that will be replaced, try the replacement out on Windows first if available. For example Adobe Illustrator to Inkscape, or MS Office to Libre Office.

For data transfer:

1. As others have said. Backup the current computer fully. This in probably best done on an external hard drive. Make sure you know how to reinstall windows and restore from the backup.

2. Copy all her data onto a different external hard drive. This is not the backup. It is a separate drive.

3. Make sure all the data is actually on the external hard drive and readable from a different machine. Ideally boot from a Lunx live USB and check that the data can be accessed from the external drive.

4. Install her distro of choice.

5. Copy her data from the external HDD to her user account's home folder of newly installed Linux.

So you know basically as much as her. You guys can experience it together how great.

I can recommend Debian or Fedora. They are both mature distros that are pretty easy to install and generally work well with minimal fuss and are easy to maintain. I often see Linux Mint recommend, including in this thread. I've never used it so I can't speak to it. But I have every reason to believe it's a solid choice.

As for transfer process, since you mention using spare disks, NTFS filesystems are supported and you may be able to just copy files off of them. I don't know if bitlocker is supported.

Debian or Ubuntu because they're stable and well-funded. Makes a lot of stuff easier.

Everyone hypes Mint but if you're working with newish hardware you might have a bad time due to the drivers taking a while to mature and filter down through all the distros. If her rig is a couple years old it should work just fine though. I would also suggest trying out Kubuntu, Pop!_OS, PikaOS, and Zorin if that is the case.

If she is on brand new hardware then something Arch based is the way to go IMO. CachyOS, Garuda, and EndeavorOS are all Arch based distros that make setup easy and they've all worked great for me out of the box. Honestly if you have snapshots configured with timeshift or something being on a rolling distro isn't as scary as it's made out to be. Fedora is an option too as they get updates every 6 months, but there is a little extra setup to do after install like media codecs and proprietary drivers etc.

Cachyos was my personal pick and it's working perfect for me so far.

Fedora Silverblue (GNOME) or Kinoite (KDE) are great for a "hands-off" OS. They are atomic so very hard to accidentally fuck up the system. Apps are installed easily via the GUI software center. I tried both when I switched to Linux and found I loved the simple but powerful and delightful-to-use experience of the GNOME desktop.

Opensuse tumbleweed. It's solid, stays up to date because it's a rolling release, and Yast can be a life saver for new users.

Always great to see more people curious about Linux, especially when the motivation is escaping ms-bullshit..

If she wants something that just works but still feels polished and professional, I’d actually give openSUSE a look. Leap is rock-solid and perfect for people who want a stable system that behaves consistently and doesn’t demand much maintenance. Tumbleweed, on the other hand, is rolling release, so it’s always up to date but still surprisingly reliable thanks to openSUSE’s testing process.

Both use YaST, which is one of the best control panels in the Linux world. You can do a lot with YaST, like manage users, partitions, updates, drivers, and networking all from one place without ever touching the terminal.

Mint is also a fine choice as well....