So I want to install Qubes on one of my older machines but this device has some “quirks” (read: hardware issues).
First off it’s a mostly stock MSI GF63 Thin 9SC-614US laptop. I did add a 1TB Samsung EVO SATA SSD, and another 8GB stick of identical ram to what it came with but no other changes hardware-wise.
Now, the quirks, which are why it’s no longer my primary system:
-The USB C port is extremely unstable (loses connection often) and only works for a basic flash drive. Seems it’s because MSI didn’t implement it to spec.
-If the discrete nVidia GPU gets called, I lose the ability to Tx on wlan (possibly eth but had no way to test). I have determined this seems likely a PSU fault but I have no way to fix this, nor is it under warranty. The issue does not occur with Intel integrated gfx.
So since this box is now useless to me for gaming I wanted to try Qubes on it and use it for more “secure” stuff however.
1 - how can I get around the GPU issue mentioned above? I already checked the BIOS and there’s no option to disable the GPU… Thus I’m worried I’ll experience the same issues with Qubes as Windows and Ubuntu on this device, unless I can tell it to ignore the GPU
2 - I’d like to keep my windows 10 install as an underlying VM but…
2a - this is an OEM install, not sure my recovery media would allow me to make a new one on VM
2b - I have no idea how I’d convert P->V, even if I did have to overwrite the disk it’s on. Is is possible to get a large enough disk, make an image of the install and convert that image to a VM Qubes can use? If so what is the process?
2c - Licensing… Specifically how to I grab whatever the heck Windows writes to my UEFI bios, and use it to verify my Windows VM license in a safe and secure manner?