[TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1/10 Computer

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Dirkoir
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Dirkoir »

Thanks for the tutorial. The following are two thoughts that occurred to me, and - I think - may need clarification for other Linux noobs like myself.
To make things easier, disable "Secure Boot".
It is probably important to do ONLY that, not also enable legacy boot as other tutorials and threads suggest (tutorials and threads which are about being able to boot from a Live DVD/CD or USB flash stick or about dual installs on traditional BIOS systems without EFI). The reason: the LM installer DVD might otherwise not boot via EFI, which - I suspect - could mess up the boot settings during LM install. This is just speculation on my part. Anyway, ONLY disabling "Secure Boot" but leaving the boot choices on UEFI ONLY and CSM Support on NO (on a ThinkPad E540) apparently worked well for me in the sense that the Live DVD of LM 17 Cinnamon 64-bit not only booted but my checks confirmed it did it in EFI mode. :-)

-- Root partition = 20GB size, Ext4 file system
-- Swap partition = 1-2 times amount of RAM, formatted "linux-swap"
-- Home partition = Ext4 file system, rest of available space (should be the largest partition)
Various people suggest to keep the /home partition small and make an additional data partition for "personal data" (docs, photos, etc., i.e. the files users create or store) so that those personal data can be separated cleanly from configuration files (which remain on /home) and so those files can more easily be shared among different OSs in multi-boot setups. It's more work but has advantages, especially in upgrade or recovery situations. I think I want to go this route. I know, we are only talking about personal preferences in this case, but I think it should be mentioned to newcomers that other partition setups could be preferable, especially in dual-boot situations where one may wish to share "personal data" among OSs. The installer and many tutorials push people into having only "/" and "swap" or "/", "swap", and "/home" partitions, possibly causing them trouble later-on.

I am new to Linux, and hence no LM guru. Please read these two thoughts with that in mind. I myself am just a noob trying to get a dual install right. ;-)

:-)
______
Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon 64-bit | LM19 Cinnamon | LM20.1 MATE | LM20.3 Cinnamon
Dirkoir
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Dirkoir »

Another issue: Making Win8.1 restorable.

This seems to be no trivial matter. A lot of people (myself included) have found Win8.1 refusing to make a System Image Backup, and threads like http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 62#p872262 suggest that a recovery drive, even if successfully made, won't be of much help after the dual installation (a successfully made System Image Backup might be no better, for all I know). Also, backup-and-recovery schemes for Windows done on Windows might happily destroy one's Linux installations, I could imagine. This issue seems to require some serious thought and testing. The best method would probably be one which would allow to restore the Win8.1 partition only, not touching anything else.

So, how to really make a restorable backup of one's Win8.1 installation before one messes with partitions and boot loaders and possibly breaks the Win8.1 installation (or for any other later emergencies)?
______
Linux Mint 17 Cinnamon 64-bit | LM19 Cinnamon | LM20.1 MATE | LM20.3 Cinnamon
gold_finger

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by gold_finger »

Dirkoir wrote:Thanks for the tutorial. The following are two thoughts that occurred to me, and - I think - may need clarification for other Linux noobs like myself.
First -- you're welcome.

Second -- thanks for your suggestions.

Regarding confusion of booting DVD/USB in proper mode, I took your advice and changed that section of tutorial to make it easier. The primary thing people need to do is to use the session Boot Menu instead of the general UEFI Settings Menu when booting the DVD/USB. That makes booting in the correct mode easy and does not require that they mess with the general boot mode of computer (which is likely not going to need changing if it already boots Windows in EFI-mode.)

Dirkoir wrote:Various people suggest to keep the /home partition small and make an additional data partition for "personal data" (docs, photos, etc., i.e. the files users create or store) so that those personal data can be separated cleanly from configuration files (which remain on /home) and so those files can more easily be shared among different OSs in multi-boot setups.
I agree with you on this and actually use that method myself and have a tutorial for doing that here: http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/1609. However, I chose not to include that in the partitioning section because it has the potential to cause a lot of confusion for newcomers to Linux. Wanted to keep the focus on getting system installed and not open up a "can of worms" with the endless possibilities for partitioning arrangements.

Dirkoir wrote:Another issue: Making Win8.1 restorable.
My suggestion in the tutorial is to back up important data files and make recovery media for Windows before putting Linux on the computer and I provide a link near bottom of tutorial for doing that. If your and other peoples' Windows installations don't perform that function properly ... well, I don't know what to say. I don't have Windows 8, have never used it, and have no desire to look up further info on solving its problems. Sorry.
Dirkoir wrote:Also, backup-and-recovery schemes for Windows done on Windows might happily destroy one's Linux installations, I could imagine.
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if the recovery media destroyed the Linux installation. I would imagine that it would probably re-install Windows as it was originally on the computer, which would wipe out Linux. But, the main thing to me is that people have a means to re-install Windows if they need to in an absolute emergency. If that need arises, the logical thing for most people would be to back up anything important on computer first, then do the re-install. Basically, that's the same thing we recommend -- backup anything important before installing Linux just in case the worst happens and Windows gets wiped out. Fortunately, Linux only takes 30-45 minutes to re-install and update, so as long as data is backed up it's not that big of a deal if it gets wiped out. A pain in the a** -- yes! But, not nearly as big a deal as having to spend countless hours re-installing and updating Windows.

If you happen to come across some links and/or have suggestions to make those Windows-related problems easier for people, please feel free to post them here. PM me if you do that so I know to look at them. What I may do is add a link to your post about that in the tutorial to make it easier for people to find the info.

Thanks again for your input.
ndugu

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by ndugu »

Thanks for this tutorial, I'll point this to my cousin's nephew who will surely find this helpful! :)
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Spearmint2
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Spearmint2 »

Dirkoir wrote:Another issue: Making Win8.1 restorable.

This seems to be no trivial matter. A lot of people (myself included) have found Win8.1 refusing to make a System Image Backup, and threads like http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 62#p872262 suggest that a recovery drive, even if successfully made, won't be of much help after the dual installation (a successfully made System Image Backup might be no better, for all I know). Also, backup-and-recovery schemes for Windows done on Windows might happily destroy one's Linux installations, I could imagine. This issue seems to require some serious thought and testing. The best method would probably be one which would allow to restore the Win8.1 partition only, not touching anything else.

So, how to really make a restorable backup of one's Win8.1 installation before one messes with partitions and boot loaders and possibly breaks the Win8.1 installation (or for any other later emergencies)?
This shouldn't be a problem where windows is installed on one physical drive and Linux on another. It also isn't a problem where Linux is installed on a flash card or USB thumbdrive and has to be inserted before boot to Linux. It only seems to become a problem when both are on the same drive. What makes it that way? The first bootloader that sits in front of both windows and linux. How did it get there? AFTER windows was installed.

Like goldfinger, I don't have and will not spend time or money on windows 8, but my guess is that approaching the problem with UEFI and GPT drives to solve the problem when BOTH windows and linux share a physical drive isn't that much different from earlier windows and MBR setup drives. You restore the windows (not a factory type install), then restore the GRUB bootloader. The alternative is for those with windows 8 to add a hard drive for Linux, or fastest USB3 flashdrive they can, and then restore windows 8 on the one drive and reinstall the GRUB on the Linux drive, if it even needs to be reinstalled in that scenario.
All things go better with Mint. Mint julep, mint jelly, mint gum, candy mints, pillow mints, peppermint, chocolate mints, spearmint,....
royal finest

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by royal finest »

Just a simple tip for newbies on dual-booting.

If u have faulty DVD (iso), don't try to proceed with the installation. I need to share this because sometimes newbies are not aware whether faulty media stall is just part of the "installing,,," process or it is in fact due to a faulty media. As a clue, a good boot from CD should immediately take you to the smooth screen or activity transitions during the process. Any stall should be immediately considered as a failure. Do not proceed because you are jeopardizing the MBR. Burn a new iso and try again.
Ayiti

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Ayiti »

This tutorial worked great for me! I installed mint 17 alongside windows 8 and everything works like it should. My computer is a Dell Inspiron 3521 with windows 8 preinstalled from the store in uefi mode. The hardest part was getting it to boot the live dvd, I had to press F2 immediately after pressing the power button when powering on. If i waited a couple seconds until I seen the prompt to press F2 or F12, it would freeze and nothing would happen at all. It took me a while to figure this out. But once i got it booted in efi mode, everything else worked just like this tutorial said it should. Thanks!
crisparmour

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by crisparmour »

Mint 17.1 and Windows 8.1 dual boot on Acer Aspire ES1-512

I'd like to add my thanks to the long list and to add a bit of specific info. I just got my first Windows computer since abandoning XP for Mint in 2008.

It's a laptop for my wife who is a technophobic teacher who needs Windows to run educational resources.

The laptop is an Acer ES1-512. I took a bit of a chance on this because I have seen a lot of tales of struggle with Acer laptops running Linux and W8.1. Posts like this on forums gave me the confidence to have a go. In the end I have had to scratch around to overcome some difficulties but as I write I have the system running the way I want it. This model does have a few peculiarities in the BIOS but more later. Dreading the usual run of Windows infections and reinstallation I wasn't going to let my beloved loose on the laptop until I got a proper OS alongside the Windows junk. So I took a deep breath and worked on it all afternoon.

I first shrank the C drive. Bear in mind the laptop was straight out of the box so there was a clean installation on the C drive. I disabled virtual memory in Windows, rebooted, defragged and found I could, if I wanted to, shrink the C drive right down to 25GB. In the end I plumped for 70GB and created a large NTFS partition in the resulting empty 390GB for data to keep her stuff separate from the OS and still accessible to Linux. I moved all the "Documents", "Music" and other default storage locations over to the new partition.

I left 80GB unallocated to install Mint 17.1 and leave some empty space for a future installation, though hopefully an LTS Linux will probably see us through. There's now a 35GB "hole" in the drive I can fall back on whenever I choose for whatever I want.

I created a live USB installation with Rufus using Windows on the laptop using an ISO of Mint/Cinnamon 17.1. I specified UEFI/GPT mode when creating the Rufus drive. The laptop has a GPT partition layout and a UEFI partition so this seems most appropriate. I left the secure boot function on. I could find no option for Fast Boot to disable. I just told Windows to Restart every time I wanted to go into the BIOS.

The rather meagre BIOS is accessed by an early tap on the F2 key as you boot. It has pages titled Main, Security and Boot.

In the Main page you need to enable the F12 boot menu.

On the Security page, create a Supervisor Password to unlock the menu. Make it a very memorable one! Make a note... don't lock yourself out!

Once the password is created you can go to "Select an UEFI File as trusted". I started by enabling the EFI file on my USB stick For some reason there are two .efi files on my Mint 17.1 USB drive. I think I got it working with /efi/boot/grubx64.efi rather than /efi/boot/bootx64.efi but if it has to be the other way round anyone going through this step will find out by trial and error. I know I did.

When you select an EFI file to trust, the BIOS asks you for a name for it. This will appear both on the F12 boot menu AND the boot order list on the Boot page of the BIOS so make the BIOS name of your USB efi meaningful, e.g. USB0M17grub or USB1M17boot depending on which USB socket and which efi file you have chosen. Some care is needed here because my USB drive was listed by the BIOS under port USB0 [there are also USB1 and USB2]. The EFI file on the Boot menu remained linked in the BIOS to the port I first inserted the USB drive. It wouldn't boot in the other sockets. So use the same USB socket throughout.

Once the EFI file is picked out in the Security menu it appears at the bottom of the boot order list on the BIOS Boot menu. But you can access the same device on the F12 menu when booting so this is enough for now.

Booted using the F12 menu, ran the live distro and partitioned, rebooted and ran the installation exactly as instructed above. Just do what it says. The EFI partition is sda2. After installation I went back to the BIOS to Select an UEFI File as trusted to enable the new permanent Mint EFI file. This resides in the EFI folder in the ubuntu folder listed by the BIOS on the hard drive HDD0. Selecting the grubx64.efi file did the trick.

So by the end of day 1 I had a working dual boot system. I changed the boot order to put the Mint Grub at the top. The resulting Grub menu had an option to boot the Windows boot manager which then goes straight into Windows 8.1.

Day 2 and I turned on the laptop only to find that both the installed and USB versions of Mint wouldn't boot. I went into the boot options and disabled the splash and quiet options so I could watch the process. It was hanging at the same point every time. The solution was found at http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.p ... 19#p937590 and in the post below it.

If you want to run Mint on one of these laptops you may well run into this problem from the start. If your boot hangs [either from the USB or installed hard drive version], go back to the Grub menu and select the line used to boot Mint. Don't press Enter, press "e" before the time runs out and you will see a lot of boot options which are editable - you can just run down with the cursor and add and delete text as you will. After the line with "quiet splash" enter the following text:

Code: Select all

modprobe.blacklist=dw_dmac,dw_dmac_core
You should then boot into Mint using the F10 key or Ctrl-X.

When you have a successfully installed system you will need to make the blacklist entry permanent to avoid the tiresome boot edit process. In your installed Mint system run a terminal and enter

Code: Select all

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
Edit the file by adding these lines to the end:

Code: Select all

blacklist dw_dmac
blacklist dw_dmac_core
Save the file and reboot. All should be well. This also fixes the shutdown process which fails to complete without this modification.

The Acer ES1-512 is not expensive, it's a mighty big screen and a reasonable spec for £200 UK. I'm no guru, I just take the time to read up before I attempt a project like this and I have to say that despite the risk I took where no-one appears to have gone before [looking for specific help with this model returned nothing] it has paid off handsomely.

I hope that other potential buyers will find this information useful and reassuring!
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Spearmint2
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Spearmint2 »

and created a large NTFS partition in the resulting empty 390GB for data to keep her stuff separate from the OS and still accessible to Linux.
Windows can still see it, and windows malware can still affect it directly. Anything windows can see can be affected by any infection of windows. Virtualizing Linux makes hardware interface easier with windows being host system and both systems can be run at the same time. Networking can then be used to "share" a Linux folder to windows, but maybe "read only" so any windows infection can't do more than data collection from that folder. Password protection should be sufficient to stop even that.

There's also a TrueCrypt version which creates volumes that can be accessed by either Windows or Linux, but when not opened are encrypted. One boots into the system, opens TrueCrypt program, then opens the encrypted Volume. There is also a "windows only" and a "Linux only" version of TrueCrypt. So, even a shared folder can have added protection against data collection from a trojan. However, an intranet shared folder on an encrypted home folder area of Linux won't be accessible from windows when the virtual boxed linux isn't booted, while just running the windows. Safest protection is an encrypted flash drive storage.

UPDATE;
forgot to add thanks for the very detailed steps you took to accomplish the dual boot.
Last edited by Spearmint2 on Thu Dec 25, 2014 10:51 pm, edited 1 time in total.
All things go better with Mint. Mint julep, mint jelly, mint gum, candy mints, pillow mints, peppermint, chocolate mints, spearmint,....
crisparmour

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by crisparmour »

The Estimable Other Half will be working in Windows for the foreseeable and virtualisation in a Linux host is not an option - a password too far... but I'm not going to run a virtualised Linux in Windows. I need it to stand on its own to be there to bail out Windows when it goes wrong.
The concept of running an Internet-facing Windows computer fills me with horror but she will find out the hard way. I like the idea of having a sentinel system on the side where I can run protective scans and rescue operations while the Windows partitions are asleep. Plus a proper OS to deal with non-educational matters in a more reliable way.
The plan is that the Windows installation will be for her work and the Linux system for browsing and multimedia: I will make it so that it is easier to do the fun stuff in Linux and warn off using the Windows system for casual browsing. The files stored under Windows will mostly be teaching resources and lesson plans. And, like the OS files, backed up. Not exactly confidential information. It's just that she has a lot of CDs with windows executables running flash and shockwave and similar interactive stuff which needs Windows to run and running it in a VM which isn't totally seamless is beyond her impatience. Outside that we have two Mint PCs in the house which take care of all the rest with Samba shares serving music and video [to which I will link only from Linux on the laptop to encourage her to use it]. After all that, I recognise that there will be times the Windows system is online and at risk. I wonder how long it will hold up?

The laptop is my response to her "why can't we have Windows like everyone else". She won't believe it until she sees it with her own eyes. It sticks in my craw to buy a Windows licence for my existing PCs but these laptops are currently being given away in response to being undercut by Chromebooks. The ability to hijack the giveaway hardware with Linux is a real sweetener on the deal for me... a deal which I have been unable to bring myself to contemplate for quite some time!
this

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by this »

Excellent tutorial, thanks for that. It helped me through my ordeal. I did quite a bit of research to get Linux Mint to work on my Acer VN7 Nitro 591G with Windows 8.1 so in case someone has the same machine, here is the whole thing I went through.

So it seems like I've been through every possible problem when installing Linux Mint but I've finally managed to get it to work with dual boot in UEFI mode with Windows 8.1.

I will explain everything I did and the problems that I had in case anyone has similar problems. This is relevant for people booting in UEFI mode only. If you're having trouble like I had, please backup all your data.

First off, I created the USB flash drive for Linux Mint 17.1 using the Rufus tool in Windows https://rufus.akeo.ie/ with GPT partition in UEFI mode option (should work if you have Windows 8/8.1), restarted, and in the UEFI boot menu I put my USB drive in top-most position.

First problem, it would get to the GRUB menu when booting but would then display a black screen and not do anything except blow some air out. In my case, the first problem was solved by disabling secure boot in the UEFI boot menu (On some systems you have to create a supervisor password in the UEFI menu to be able to do so. Remove it afterwards by inputting an empty supervisor password).

A little bit of extra info on UEFI for those who don't know. If you're following this guide, you probably have an OS installed in UEFI mode, which means that there is a FAT32 partition on your hard drive acting as an EFI boot drive that contains the files required to boot your OSs. The partition is flagged in Gparted as "boot" and set as EFI partition in Windows. I strongly recommend backing up that partition (by mounting it in Linux and using "cp" to copy it to a data partition) of the following.
A lot of extra info here http://www.rodsbooks.com/linux-uefi/

After that, I ran the Linux Mint install tool with the "Something Else" option to manually create partitions out of some previously freed space on the disk, for this follow a standard guide to mount the 3 root, home and swap partitions. Then, an important step is to set the boot device to the FAT32 boot partition!! This worked out fine but the installer couldn't install GRUB for some reason. On my system, for some reason, it turns out someone (most likely the manufacturer, Acer) decided to disallow tampering with this partition so the Linux Mint installer is unable to write to that partition, the files end up being corrupted). I tried repairing the disk myself using a disk repair utility but it ended up deleting all the data in the partition. Luckily I had backed up my partition. Anyway, don't do that, this problem has been noted down here https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+sour ... ug/1090829 . Instead of risking using the second workaround which might be cleaner, I just created a new boot partition (I shrank the existing Data partition using Windows and then used Gparted to switch the boot flag to the new partition). Alright, the second boot partition is created and set as a boot partition, but there is nothing on it yet. I copied the data from my original boot partition (except for the corrupt files in the ubuntu folder) by mounting both drives to folders, then just using a simple "cp" so that the original Windows boot files are copied. Then, using the boot-repair tool of Ubuntu here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair and selecting the Recommended repair, I was able to install Grub.

Then, I thought it would work but it still did not run. I disabled Fast Boot from Windows 8 in the power options / set what the power buttons do menu. Still nothing, so I did as told here in the troubleshooting section http://askubuntu.com/questions/221835/i ... -supported . Apparently Windows took hold of the boot manager anyway so Grub doesn't start. Just run a console in windows using administrator privileges and type "bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi".

Grub loads and Linux finally runs.
gold_finger

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by gold_finger »

TO: Ayiti, crisparmour and this

Thank you for posting the information on your installations and the specifics of other necessary steps peculiar to your specific computers. That's the kind of info that's likely to greatly help others with similar models to yours.

gold_finger.
dkcomc

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by dkcomc »

I have Lenovo G50-70 Ideapad with lWindows 8.1 preinstalled in UEFI mode.
Steps which I followed to install Mint 17.1 in dual boot mode successfully are as below:-
1. Turned off Fast Boot in Windows under Control Panel->Power Options
2. Shrunk C Drive to free up some space for Mint
3. Created a Mint 17.1 Live USB using RUFUS. Here made sure that the Live USB is created for UEFI sytems. Do not remember exactly but this was the last option in dropdown. It is important to create Live USB in EFI mode else after installing Mint you will not get GRUB and it will boot in windows always. I did this mistake and had to re do the process with correct Live USB created with RUFUS. Live USB created with other utils on windows was not correct. While installing linux at the partition table screen if you do not see an existing partition as 'EFI' then your USB was not created to work in EFI mode. You will see this partition as FAT32 partition
4. In BIOS disabled Secure Boot. This has to be kept disabled even after installing Mint. If secure boot is enabled after installation then Mint does not work for me
5. In BIOS also disabled Fast Boot. This can be enabled after installing Mint. I guess this Fast Boot in BIOS is different from windows Fast Boot. Windows fast boot essentially puts the system to hibernate instead of proper shut down. The BIOS fast boot is something else, it suppresses logo at boot time and will boot from HDD always. So if it is enabled the Live USB may be skipped during booting
6. Left Boot Mode to UEFI. No need to change to legacy support as Mint is EFI enabled
7. After saving all of the above in BIOS. Rebooted machine. Important point at this step is to not go to BIOS but go to Boot Manager. Here saw EFI enabled Live USB in addition to HDD.
8. Selected Live USB and continued as instructed in the post by author of this thread above.
9.Wifi was not enabled after booting into Mint 17.1. Enabled it in Graphics Driver after upgrading the system.
10. Works perfectly :-). Able to work in Windows 8.1 as well as Mint 17.1 by selecting appropriate option on Dual Boot screen
11. Small glitch is my laptop has switchable Hybrid graphics. Intel HD 3000 and AMD Radeon discreet graphics card. The discreet graphics card is not recognized. I am looking for a solution
pjdjr

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by pjdjr »

After much wrangling, what finally worked for me was the opposite of what worked for @Dirkoir above. I have a Lenovo H430, and I am not doing a dual boot but the machine was originally Windows 8. In the UEFI the only setting I had to change was CSM (Compatibility Support Module) under the Startup tab. The remaining settings listed below defaulted after I set CSM to Enabled:

CSM [Enabled]
Boot Mode [Auto]
Boot Priority [Legacy first]
Quick Boot [Disabled or Enabled, either will work]
Rapid Boot [Disabled]
Boot Up Num-Lock Status [On] (shouldn't matter but included for completeness)
Keyboardless Operation [Enabled] (shouldn't matter but included for completeness)

After changing the CSM setting, Mint 17.1 booted without issue for me.
gold_finger

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by gold_finger »

dkcomc,

Thanks for posting the info. above.

Here's some posts to look through for possible solution to graphics issue: hybrid intel and amd graphics. If continue to have problem setting that up, make a new post requesting help in the Graphic Cards & Monitors or the Newbie Questions section of the forum.
mkg3103

(Dual Boot) Install Linux mint with Win 8.1 on Dell Inspiron

Post by mkg3103 »

Thanks Friends for this wonderful tutorial.
I am successful in installing Linux mint 17 and then upgrade to 17.1 without any problem in 2nd attempt on my new Dell Inspiron 3542 laptop.
I had to go for 2nd attempt because I missed that in my first attempt due to some booting issue EFI and other windows partitions were not accessible during the process. due to which grub can not be installed in EFI partition.
Thanks again.
My system configurations are as under:

CPU~Dual core Intel Core i3-4005U CPU (-HT-MCP-) clocked at Min:782.000Mhz Max:1700.000Mhz Kernel~3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 Up~1:14 Mem~1107.4/3857.8MB HDD~500.1GB(15.3% used) Procs~182 Client~Shell inxi~1.8.4
skaca

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by skaca »

Thanks for the great tutorial. Installed without problems. Here is my system config:

Code: Select all

inxi -Fxz
System:    Host: skaca Kernel: 3.13.0-37-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 17.1 Rebecca
Machine:   System: Hewlett-Packard (portable) product: HP Pavilion 15 Notebook PC version: 096D110800405F00000620180
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 22C5 version: 90.35 Bios: American Megatrends version: F.33 date: 11/21/2014
CPU:       Quad core AMD A10-5745M APU with Radeon HD Graphics (-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 sse4a ssse3 svm) bmips: 16767.6 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 1100.00 MHz 2: 1100.00 MHz 3: 1100.00 MHz 4: 1100.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Richland [Radeon HD 8610G] bus-ID: 00:01.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: ati,radeon (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Gallium 0.4 on AMD ARUBA GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.3 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:14.2
           Card-2: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD/ATI] Trinity HDMI Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:01.1
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-37-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8723BE PCIe Wireless Network Adapter driver: rtl8723be port: e000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller 
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: d000 bus-ID: 02:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (0.5% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: HGST_HTS541010A9 size: 1000.2GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 85G used: 4.6G (6%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 12.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   None detected - is lm-sensors installed and configured?
Info:      Processes: 173 Uptime: 11 min Memory: 873.9/7106.2MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 

Thanks again :D
ricardo28

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by ricardo28 »

Thank you for the tutorial
I still have one doubt though.

What changes if I want to have a partition for /boot?
I am particularly interested in knowing about the step
VERY IMPORTANT STEP!!! Near bottom of window, "Device for bootloader installation" should be the EFI System Partition. Select that one in the drop-down box.

which one should I select?

Thanks in advance
gold_finger

Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by gold_finger »

ricardo28 wrote:I am particularly interested in knowing about the step
VERY IMPORTANT STEP!!! Near bottom of window, "Device for bootloader installation" should be the EFI System Partition. Select that one in the drop-down box.

which one should I select?
Definitely select the "EFI System Partition".

ricardo28 wrote:What changes if I want to have a partition for /boot?
Honestly -- I don't know and have not heard of anyone doing that. I don't know if you can/should create a separate /boot partition when installing in EFI mode. My guess is that if doing that is allowed, it does not affect anything. All that I'd imagine would happen is that any boot related files that aren't in the EFI System Partition and are normally located in the boot directory under Root just get placed off on their own partition. If you feel like experimenting, go ahead and try it. Personally I don't really see the point of making that extra partition, but go for it if you want to. If the install fails, then do it over without that partition. No matter what you decide -- "Device for bootloader installation" should definitely point to the EFI System Partition.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Spearmint2 »

ricardo28 wrote:What changes if I want to have a partition for /boot?
The EFI is that boot partition, being that EFI is a separate partition. Your better question would be;
"How do you load multiple 64 bit EFI versions of Linux distros to create a multiple boot system with a windows 7,8, or 10 already installed?"
I've not tried that because I don't have such a system here to try it on. One thing I do know is everything must first go through that EFI partition, so your question about /boot partition resides past resolving that point.

My guess is if you create a /boot partition, then the Linux will install it's bootloader to it, the same as 32 bit systems do, but AFTER the EFI, and only need that single EFI entry since the multiple Linux distros would use the same EFI method and the different distro be accessed PAST that point through the /boot grub configuration.

The problem then would be distros which do not react with or load their information, into the EFI in the same mannger in which Ubuntu and systems derived from it do, such as the different method used by Fedora. Hopefully Linux and FOSS will eventually agree on one universal method to deal with it.

Maybe someone will give it a try and drop the information in here. You also could create a /boot partition and see what happens and enlighten us all.
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