I was finally brave enough to install Ubuntu Linux on the laptop sitting in my home office that serves as the family’s Plex Media Server. It helped that Windows Update messed up and rendered the machine’s original Windows 10 Home install unusable.

I got fed up trying to figure out how to fix Windows, so I burned a live USB installer for Ubuntu and tried it out. It worked very well, and made installing Plex Media Server a one-click operation. I turned Ubuntu’s automatic updates off, and hope that it will run smoothly, and not reboot sometimes for updates, like Windows 10 does, going forward.

I am well aware that Windows 10 Home or an old laptop are not appropriate for a “real” server. Someday I will have the money to buy a proper computer for this task.