Clean installation from Win8 using USB

[Denis362]

I hate to open up a new thread because I know there's an answer out there but I was unsuccessful in searching for it.

I keep failing to install a fresh Mint (no dual-boot whatsoever) via USB and I'm not sure what exactly is the problem but I'm guessing making USB bootable is where it fails.
Like suggested, I format my USB stick (8 gigs) to FAT32 (although I've also tried FAT16 with diskpart), run the Universal USB Installer, select Mint 14 (md5 matches) and browse to the latest mint cinnamon iso, select the usb drive and hit next and wait it out. Supposedly it finishes successfully but when I restart my PC, hit F12 and try to boot from usb-hdd it either doesn't recognize it, or I get the "no default or UI configuration directive found" error. If it counts for anything, I didn't have problems with Windows installations from USB, so I guess I shouldn't have problems with booting Linux installation from USB either, but I'm not sure.

[bigj231]

Never used the Universal USB installer. Try Unetbootin or LinuxLive. I've never had a problem with either. I usually use LinuxLive because it installs virtualbox and your live system on the same USB. Also, it's a bit prettier than Unetbootin. It takes care of the formatting on your USB stick too, so don't worry about that. You can get it here: http://www.linuxliveusb.com/
You also might need to disable/bypass secure boot if you haven't done so already.

[zerozero]

moved here
as far as i know the problem you are experiencing has nothing to do with the way you are making the usb-stick but with UEFI in that machine.
- do you have an option to enable legacy bios?
- have you already disabled secure boot?
so far those are the 2 only ideas i can offer (i never worked with UEFI systems) but surely here you'll better advise.

[Denis362]

Hey, thanks for the reply, going to give LinuxLive and Unetbootin a shot, back here with results. I don't have UEFI, but I'm not too sure if I have the secure boot disabled, I don't think I've stumbled upon it in BIOS, going to check that out.

[zerozero]

is this a new machine that came with win8 pre-installed?

[Denis362]

It isn't. The motherboard is a bit older.. Gigabyte P35 I believe. Just checked bios, no secure boot option.

Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

[zerozero]

ok then false alarm
if it isn't one of those new win8 machines you don't have to worry with secure boot.
try the other suggestions listed above and tells how it goes.

[Denis362]

Okay, I sucessfully booted up the Mint installation, seems to have been the BIOS issue since it looks likeit didn't want to respond by booting from the F12 menu.
Can you point a way to the partitioning guide? I'd like to make two partitions, one system (50 gigs) where Mint will be stored along with programs, and the second partition for data.