[HowTo] Install LMDE alongside Windows 10

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cpedretti
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[HowTo] Install LMDE alongside Windows 10

Post by cpedretti »

In this HowTo I will describe the procedure to install LMDE alongside with Windows 10.

The maneuver is more complex because it lacks the option found on Linux derived from Ubuntu.


Prerequisite:

- An GPT scheme disk
- UEFI by default in the bios

To check if GPT => https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/848 ... ndows.html

To change the disk scheme without data loss => https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/window ... mbr-to-gpt


First step.


We need to install Linux Mint 20 to create the grub bootloader and the main partition, just follow a traditional installation, at the time of the type of installation choose the option install Linux Mint alongside Windows 10, then choose the allocated size for Mint.

Image

The bootlader will be installed in the /boot/efi partition from windows 10 and an single partition for Mint are created.

Now we have the necessary base to install lmde, just create an bootable media with the LMDE iso. (Don't forget to verify your iso)


Second step.


Boot on the created media, arrived at the installation type menu choose the option "Something else":

Image


After that we go into the LMDE partitioning menu, we will delete the partition created previously because it does not include any swap partition, select modify partitoons and an gparted window appears:

Image

Image


Now it's time to create the partitioning scheme, starting with the swap, by default the swap is equivalent to the size of the computer's onboard memory, just adapt according to your memory capacity, in my example 16G ram = 15,7G swap:

Image


Then we create the root partition for the system files, in my example 30G size in ext4 format:


Image


And finally the last partition, our home, with the remaining space as size in ext4 format:

Image


Now let's apply partitioning:

Image


After that we return to the initial partitioning menu, where we will choose the necessary mount points for partitions:

just made an right click on the second partiton after swap and choose the "/" for root, for the last right click then choose "/home".

Image


Next step will install the grub bootloader, choose the partition on which /boot/uefi is present, in our example "sda2", to adapt according to your partitioning scheme:

Image


Then we have the summary of our partitioning scheme:

Image


To finalize just select Install and done!


Overview after lmde is installed alongside Windows 10:

Image


The result at the boot menu:

Image

Image


The both OS start without any incident.
Last edited by cpedretti on Sun Oct 08, 2023 5:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
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3kspl0r3r

Re: [HowTo] Install LMDE alongside Windows 10

Post by 3kspl0r3r »

When Grub install freezes the system

1. Print out this instruction.

2. Install the rEFInd Boot Manager version 0.12.0 onto an USB stick.

3. Disable fast boot in Windows.

4. Reboot into UEFI and enable booting from F12 (this can be disabled after it’s all done), disable Secure Boot and put the harddrive into the first boot position.

5. Via F12 boot into USB LMDE live system and disconnect from the internet until after step 8. Follow the install instructions, but create a second ESP partion about the same size as the other, name it "ESP Linux" and write down the partition number of "ESP Linux".
Delete the mount point from the Windows-ESP by leaving the mount point settings empty and set the mount point for the "ESP Linux" partition to "/boot/efi".

6. Uncheck GRUB install option and make sure in the summary that GRUB will not be installed.

7. After installation, a) reboot via F12 into USB rEFInd Boot Manager and click on Image and choose "ESP Linux" as install destination for the rEFInd Boot Manager.

b) To make sure the "ESP Linux" partion is getting booted first, load the EFI Shell from the boot menu in USB rEFInd and hit a key within 5 seconds. There is already a list of all partitions, starting with "FS0:". In the middle of the path strings there is "…/HD(n,GPT…", n being the corresbonding partition number. Find the entry with the matching partition number that thou wrotest down earlier and write down the matching FS number (e.g. FS1:).

c) Then type bcfg boot dump to show the list of boot entries. If there is an entry with the description "rEFInd Boot Manager", move on to d).
Otherwise create one with bcfg boot add 3 fs1:\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi "rEFInd", replacing the 3 with the next available option number in the boot entry list and fs1 with the FS number thou wrotest down earlier.

d) Then move the entry with the description "rEFInd Boot Manager" to the first position with bcfg boot mv 3 0, replacing the 3 with the matching option number. This example here moves the entry from "Option: 03" to "Option: 00".

e) With exit leave the EFI Shell and reboot without the USB stick into the rEFInd Boot Manager on the harddrive.

8. Boot into the installed LMDE, open the Package Manager (Synaptic) and make sure that GRUB is completly removed from the system. Otherwise future updates get irreversibly stuck during their installation.

9. Now thou canst connect again to the internet.

If thou hast trouble to shut down thy computer completely, reboot into the rEFInd Boot Manager and shut down from there.
JaguarNight
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Re: [HowTo] Install LMDE alongside Windows 10

Post by JaguarNight »

My experience on a 15 year old 32bit laptop( made circa 2005, old clunker ) - dual boot win 10 pro + lmde 4 32bit , 2 gigs or ram + 250g regular hard drive,
lmde installation was straight forward and went without a hitch... ( I was pleasantly surprised )

The easiest way:
PART 1: win 10 installation
- install win 10 always first before installing linux distro
- check that win 10 stable and working
- boot in win 10 -> computer management -> disk management -> right click on win 10 main partition -> shrink volume to whatever size you need for LMDE installation, example in my case win 10 before was 250Gb, I shrunk it in half to 125 and left 125Gb for LMDE installation
- on your hard drive you will have typically 3 partitions now: 500mb win 10 + main win 10 partition + unallocated space ( for linux install )
- restart windows after shrinking hard drive volume to make sure windows still boot fine and works
PART 2: LMDE installation ( cinnamon )
- in windows, download lmde and burn it onto USB stick using RUFUS ( don't use universal usb installer as it does not have lmde support ) + will have downloaded and learn how to use rufus usb iso burner
- in bios enable boot from usb stick
- boot into lmde usb stick and verify that lmde is working on your hardware before actually installing it, verify sound, wifi, etc make sure all hardware is working
- next, start installing lmde
- at the step where it's asking you how to install select custom ( obviously do not select overwrite disk )
- next open gparted and create ext4 partition on that unallocated space on your hard drive ( + swap partition if you need it, I did not as I went the swap file route )
- exit out of gparted into the previous screen
- right click on ext4 partition and assign it to root ( the / sign )
- on the next screen where you specify where grub bootloader will be placed I left it as is with no change
- continue on the rest of the remaining steps
- after finished installing, reboot and grub boot loader will work fine

Again 32 bit old crapper laptop ( no webcam, 2g ram, 250G hd ) - win 10 pro and lmde 32bit ( cinnamon ) dual boot WORKS JUST FINE !!! :D
windows is a bit slower than lmde, still usable and responsive enough, slight lag in snappiness in cinnamon...

BONUS, if you need hibernate working in lmde 32 bit, see my post -->
viewtopic.php?f=247&t=336570

And thanks a million to the developers for LMDE 4 32 bit !!! probably the last 32 bit lmde we will see...

SCREENSHOT attached.

Regards.
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