Hey all!

I'm a long time Linux user, and I've been avoiding it for the good part of the last ~15 years. Most of my Windows experience is from the XP times.

I've changed careers from agriculturing to ICT a few years ago (almost done with school), and while I can say I know my way around Linux pretty well, Windows is an alien landscape to me.

I got a job a few years ago as sysadmin (not so much, but still) / IT-support (more), and I find myself struggling to help customers with Windows / handle Windows servers. I would like to change that.

I have no intention on moving my personal computing to Windows due to privacy concerns, which is a bit contradictory to my goals, because AFAIK learning things this way is the "best" approach. It was the case with Linux for me, at least.

While i do learn Windows at my job, I'd like to compliment it with another approach, too.

Do you guys have any suggestions how I could learn Windows (the whole ecosystem, not just end-users computers)? I'd like it to be fun, as I get bored easily (breaking my Linux time and time again was really fun learning method) Maybe fire up some VMs and go from there, somehow? What do you think are the most essential skills for a Windows sysadmin? Active Directory, sure, but what else?

That is, a Windows must be booted and run completely from an external drive, be able** to save settings** and data, and all other stuff -- perform all the things that a Windows installed normally, on an internal drive, does.

As far as I know, WinToGo doesn't work anymore. And I even have never used it anyway.

What works nowadays? Will Rufus be able to do this?

I did find a table somewhere that said Logon Type 6 is related to proxies, but every other piece of documentation skips type 1. Why? Is it defunct? Too common to report?