Recently bought a gaming PC but it came w/ Windows 11, so I'm tryna see if I can either switch to a different OS entirely - most likely gonna go w/ Linux Mint Cinnamon - or just use a VM to run a diff OS. I have basic computer skills and have seen VMs being used before and whatnot, never really had the equipment or time to try anything out on my own, so I'm just tryna get a better understanding of things and see what options are best for me. I mostly use my PC for gaming (think Marvel Rivals, BG3, NieR, etc.) and am trying to get into light coding w/ it too.
Now!! My main question is:
If I were to use a VM to run Linux, but in the background my main OS (Win11) happens to install a real screwy update to itself and breaks somehow, would I still be able to access the VM? I feel like this is maybe a bit of an obvious answer, but I wanted to hear the opinions of people who usually work w/ VMs, so any personal anecdotes would help a lot!
Outside of that, the only other questions I have are about user-friendly VM software recs, if anyone has any?
Thanks a bunch, and I hope my questions aren't too complicated/silly 😄