Fedora 34. Better to use dual boot in regards to firmware updates?

I just purchased a MSI Bravo 15 AMD Ryzen 7 4800H 16GB 15.6" A4DDR-212IN laptop (Windows pre installed). I’m an average computer user and a Linux newbie. I only know the basics of computer tech. I don’t know CLI.

I was planning to totally wipe out Windows and install Fedora 34 with Gnome 40. No dual boot. But someone said I should use dual boot and keep Windows cuz I’ll need Windows to do firmware updates.

Is this true? Firmware updates can’t be done within Fedora 34?

If I really need to keep Windows and use dual boot, that’s not a problem. I want to erase Windows just to get the extra space.

This used to be generally true, but thanks to the awesome work of Richard Hughes, we have a thing called the Linux Vendor Firmware Service. If vendors upload new firmwares there, they can be easily updated within Fedora Linux. See this list of participating vendors — I see MSI is included, although I can’t be 100% sure that that laptop is covered.

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It’s also usually the case that vendors provide an alternate way to update firmware, for example by booting with a special, dedicated bootable USB image.

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The newer machines that I have used with UEFI bios seem to have an update tool built into the bios that, as has been said, can read from a usb and do the update.

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@mattdm Great info. Tips like this is why I love good forums. I’ll research it.

@mattdm @computersavvy Yep. I researched and MSI allows for BIOS updates using USB stick. Nice.

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Anyway to mark a topic as resolved?

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Yes. Click the “…” at the bottom of Matt’s post that gave you the solution, then click the one that says “Solution”.

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Got it. Thx!

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