I was going to suggest something similar. Basically, unplug the windows drive entirely, install linux on a dedicated drive. Then plug them both in and use the bios to decide which one to use. Basically don’t have them interact at all. That way, worst comes to worst, you can boot into windows exactly as it is.

If this was a personal machine you use for recreation, I would fully support just dropping windows entirely. But no matter how much I want to support a fellow Linux convert, if you make your livelihood from this computer, I wouldn’t risk any downtime that costs you money.