Better option is to wipe the drive and install Linux. The Windows OEM license is tied to the hardware, so you can always reinstall Windows Home from scratch later if you end up reselling it.

That said, calling Windows flaky for shipping disk encryption on a laptop seems odd to me. On a device that’s easy to steal, that’s a feature you want. You can turn the cut-down BitLocker that Home gets back on in the security settings: search “Device Encryption” in the Start menu and you should land on it.