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

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ankurocks

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

Post by ankurocks »

I have followed the tutorial step by step for installing Mint17 along with windows 8.1 but still getting the error message:
"grub-install failed /dev/sda1" fatal error

System details:

System: Host: mint Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine: System: Dell product: Inspiron 5547 version: A04
Mobo: Dell model: 0598GM version: A00 Bios: Dell version: A04 date: 05/09/2014
CPU: Dual core Intel Core i5-4210U CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 3072 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 9577.12
Clock Speeds: 1: 768.00 MHz 2: 768.00 MHz 3: 768.00 MHz 4: 768.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: Intel Haswell-ULT Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0
X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1366x768@60.0hz
GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio: Card-1: Intel Lynx Point-LP HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Card-2: Intel Haswell-ULT HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network: Card-1: Intel Wireless 3160 driver: iwlwifi ver: in-tree: bus-ID: 02:00.0
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Card-2: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 01:00.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
Drives: HDD Total Size: 1002.3GB (0.1% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10JPVX size: 1000.2GB
2: USB id: /dev/sdb model: DataTravelerMini size: 2.1GB
Partition: ID: / size: 3.9G used: 220M (6%) fs: overlayfs ID: swap-1 size: 8.39GB used: 0.01GB (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: 198 Uptime: 42 min Memory: 1082.0/7866.1MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4

please help solving the problem.
please help
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Spearmint2
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Spearmint2 »

tried installing it to the drive instead of the volume on the drive? /dev/sda
All things go better with Mint. Mint julep, mint jelly, mint gum, candy mints, pillow mints, peppermint, chocolate mints, spearmint,....
gold_finger

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

Post by gold_finger »

ankurocks wrote:I have followed the tutorial step by step for installing Mint17 along with windows 8.1 but still getting the error message:
"grub-install failed /dev/sda1" fatal error
This is the "Tutorial" section of the forum -- it's not meant as a section for you to ask support questions. Please repost your question under the Installation & Boot section of forum.

As a head start -- it sounds like you may not have booted the live Mint disk in UEFI mode. I don't know about current Dell machines, but older ones used to have a boot menu show up when tapping on F12 function key right after powering on. Try doing that (with live Mint inserted) when powering on and see if there is a UEFI choice for booting the medium.

EDIT: Nevermind -- I just noticed you did make a post to that forum section earlier this morning.
rcgrasso

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

Post by rcgrasso »

HI, I'm new in this forum and also new with Mint OS. Thanks a lot for this step by step guide for installing linux along with Win8.1. It was very useful and easy to install Mint 17 on my ASUS X550LD laptop. The only thing I'd like to say is that for a newbie like me it would be useful a more specific informations for creating partitions needed for installation. I saw the link for Gparted documentation but I also found useful the guide found on this link http://www.linuxbsdos.com/2014/06/11/ho ... -firmware/.

THANKS!
sudneo

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

Post by sudneo »

Sorry if i'm resurrecting an old post, but i wanted to thank the author for the most clear and working guide available on the internet.
I'm a mint medium-advanced user , but i was having a lot of troubles installing Mint on my new laptop , because i had never fought against EFI boot yet.
Before the successfull installation i have done 7 failed installations and 1 restore to factory (messed up with boot partition...) , then i followed this guide step by step and it worked flawlessy.
My laptop is :

Code: Select all

System:    Host: daniele-Lenovo-Y50-70 Kernel: 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.2) 
           Desktop: Gnome Distro: Linux Mint 17 Qiana
Machine:   System: LENOVO product: 20378 version: Lenovo Y50-70
           Mobo: LENOVO model: Lenovo Y50-70 version: 31900058WIN Bios: LENOVO version: 9ECN31WW(V1.14) date: 08/18/2014
CPU:       Quad core Intel Core i7-4710HQ CPU (-HT-MCP-) cache: 6144 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 19954.5 
           Clock Speeds: 1: 800.00 MHz 2: 800.00 MHz 3: 800.00 MHz 4: 800.00 MHz 5: 1200.00 MHz 6: 800.00 MHz 7: 800.00 MHz 8: 1200.00 MHz
Graphics:  Card: Intel 4th Gen Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller bus-ID: 00:02.0 
           X.Org: 1.15.1 drivers: intel (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) Resolution: 1920x1080@60.0hz 
           GLX Renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Haswell Mobile GLX Version: 3.0 Mesa 10.1.0 Direct Rendering: Yes
Audio:     Card-1: Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3/4th Gen Core Processor HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:03.0
           Card-2: Intel 8 Series/C220 Series Chipset High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.13.0-24-generic
Network:   Card-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller 
           driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: 3000 bus-ID: 09:00.0
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter>
           Card-2: Intel Wireless 3160 driver: iwlwifi ver: in-tree: bus-ID: 08:00.0
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter>
Drives:    HDD Total Size: 1000.2GB (0.8% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD10SPCX size: 1000.2GB 
Partition: ID: / size: 19G used: 5.0G (29%) fs: ext4 ID: /home size: 256G used: 2.4G (1%) fs: ext4 
           ID: swap-1 size: 16.00GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
RAID:      No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 53.0C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 0 
Info:      Processes: 200 Uptime: 2:16 Memory: 1764.5/7897.5MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.2 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4 
I want to add that Mint seems to be fully compliant with Wireless card (i read there were some problems) and graphic card (gtx860M , that is not displayed above).

I hope to comfort some y50-70 user who is experiencing some problems with boot , so that he will be able to exploit this great hw on a seriour OS :)

Thanks a lot to the author again, u made my day.
COINTELPSYOP

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

Post by COINTELPSYOP »

You can also boot into the live disk. Open a terminal and enter sudo apt-get install grub-efi answer with a y.
Then exit the terminal and proceed to Install Linux Mint, by double clicking the icon on the home screen's desktop. That works for me, because even when booting in efi mode, grub-pc will still be used as your grub installation, as you can see when you do the command described above that it proceeds to remove grub-pc (which is a non efi bootloader) and then installs grub-efi-amd and another grub program. Correct me if I am wrong about something as I am definately no expert, but I have installed Linux ubuntu, debian, mint on a number of 64 bit machine's this way, duel booting windows of course.
gold_finger

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

Post by gold_finger »

COINTELPSYOP wrote:You can also boot into the live disk. Open a terminal and enter sudo apt-get install grub-efi answer with a y.
Then exit the terminal and proceed to Install Linux Mint, by double clicking the icon on the home screen's desktop. That works for me, ....
I'm curious -- can you expand a bit on exactly how you install please.

The key steps in tutorial are to make sure the live DVD/USB is booted in EFI mode, make sure the EFI System Partition is mounted at "/boot/efi", and to point boot loader install to the EFI System Partition. When those things are done, Mint will install and boot properly in EFI-mode -- so I'm guessing that during the install it automatically downloads and installs "grub-efi" itself.

You say you install "grub-efi" to the live environment first, then start the installation; but you don't go into any detail on what other steps you may or may not do during install. Do you also set the partitions manually, or do you choose the "Along side Windows" option and let it do the partitioning automatically? I guess what I'm asking is: what are the main differences between your method and the one shown here?

Thanks.
lmintnewb2

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

Post by lmintnewb2 »

Kickbutt tutorial, it's good to see detailed info about this topic for sure. :)

Just wanted to mention a moldy oldie, not specific to win8-8.1 but still applies. The good ole M$ immovable files trick, they’ve used forever. Window$ sinks teeth into drivespace and won’t shrink to install gnu/Linux etc.

Found it really helps to turn off paging file ( at least temporarily), turn off and delete system restore and restore pts, hibernate, then defrag and shrink the sucker. Frustrating when window$ won’t give up a persons diskspace and have seen people mention they got so frustrated, resorted to using an outside disk util to force it. Which can of course lead to window$ borkage.

Big thanks to the guy for rEFInd and gdisk, the info he’s put up is invaluable in demystifying GPT-UEFI and secure boot nonsense.

Just some other nuances kinda things, wanted to add in case it helps anyone. Prefer prepartitioning w window$ own disk utils personally and always do a chkdsk afterwards and just format with whichever filesystem using the installer. Just to do everything possible to make sure window$ doesn’t freak out and BSOD on me.

Thanks again for putting up this tute OP, well written and detailed info. Definitely agree it's just much easier and a better idea to disable secure boot (in firmware/bios) and the fast boot ( in the win OS’s settings.)

Have seen many people say that leaving fast boot enabled not only messes up installation. Also leads to data-loss and corruption in things like a ntfs shared partition.

Edit: Found something weird, while not exactly related, is in a way and would like to ask about it.
gold_finger

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

Post by gold_finger »

lmintnewb2,

Glad the tutorial was useful for you.

I'm aware of problem of MS page file positioning limiting how much one can shrink the Windows partition, but didn't go into that in tutorial for these reasons:
  • Tutorial already covers a lot and is pretty long. (At some point, too much info ends up just causing confusion.)
  • Process for disabling paging, etc. differs from one version of Windows to the next and I'm not familiar with newer versions of Windows.
  • I figured that if someone wasn't able to shrink enough to make room for Linux they would post in the forum for help and we could take care of that on an individual basis at that time.
Thanks for bringing it up though -- some people may give up thinking that it's impossible to do, unaware that there is a way around it. What I will do is add a note to the tutorial recommending that people post for help if they can't shrink Windows enough.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by srs5694 »

lmintnewb2 wrote:Big thanks to the guy for rEFInd and gdisk, the info he’s put up is invaluable in demystifying GPT-UEFI and secure boot nonsense.
You're welcome!
Just some other nuances kinda things, wanted to add in case it helps anyone. Prefer prepartitioning w window$ own disk utils personally and always do a chkdsk afterwards and just format with whichever filesystem using the installer. Just to do everything possible to make sure window$ doesn’t freak out and BSOD on me.
Although shrinking the Windows partition(s) in Windows usually make sense, I generally advise against creating Linux partitions in Windows. This practice is riskiest when partitioning MBR disks, since the standard Windows partitioning tools have the nasty habit of converting a straight-up MBR configuration to MBR plus Logical Disk Manager (LDM). It's somewhere between difficult and impossible to install Linux on an LDM disk, so if you end up with that configuration, you've just created work for yourself in reversing it. That said, AFAIK Windows won't do this to a GPT disk, and since most EFI-based computers use GPT, it's much less of a concern for EFI than for BIOS. (In fact, Windows ties GPT to EFI, so the only way you'd run into this problem on an EFI-based computer is if it has two or more disks, in which case the non-boot disk might be MBR.)
lmintnewb2

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

Post by lmintnewb2 »

Not kidding at all, really do appreciate the kickbutt, detailed and quality info you've posted Mr Smith. Spent more than a few hours researching secure boot, GPT and U/EFI and was starting to get dizzy. Wondering if the dated info was still valid or information on the subject was distro specific etc.

Finally came across your site and things started snapping in place and sinking in. Plus have seen you several places posting ... helping gnu/Linux users trouble shoot secure-boot,GPT-UEFI issues far and wide. Appreciate the above tip too. Systems I've had experience with are single internal drive setups, so haven't run up against LDM yet.

Reason for using window$ native tools was thinking, know the GPT standard allows no gaps between partitions on the disk and was worried one disk util to the next might have a difference in opinion about how partitions should be setup. Strongly distrust M$ ( since about forever. :)) and was worried they might've cooked in a gotcha that could misalign partitions, cause overlap or whatever. Know this is borderline paranoid thinking but we're discussing M$ here. ;)

Am sure either disk util ( or combo thereof) gets the job done no matter what. Just can't shake the habit of always looking over shoulder, to see if/when M$'s software is trying to stick a knife in my back. Jmo ... any time M$'s involved, someone should be on guard.

End with many thanks again, YOU'RE THE MAN R Smith. :)
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by srs5694 »

lmintnewb2 wrote:Systems I've had experience with are single internal drive setups, so haven't run up against LDM yet.
LDM can be used on single-disk setups, so having such a setup is no protection against the Windows tools converting your system with little or no warning.
Reason for using window$ native tools was thinking, know the GPT standard allows no gaps between partitions on the disk
There's no such requirement in the GPT standard; you can have gaps between GPT partitions just as you can have gaps between MBR partitions.

You may be under this impression because of partition alignment issues that started coming into prominence at about the same time as GPT. Disk alignment issues stem largely from Advanced Format technology, which increases the sector size from 512 bytes to 4096 bytes. To date, most Advanced Format disks map each 4096-byte physical sector to eight 512-byte logical sectors for compatibility with older software that makes assumptions about sector sizes. This remapping has performance implications, as detailed in this article I wrote. These alignment issues apply to any partitioning system, though, not just to GPT. Furthermore, these issues don't mean that you can't have gaps between partitions.
and was worried one disk util to the next might have a difference in opinion about how partitions should be setup. Strongly distrust M$ ( since about forever. :)) and was worried they might've cooked in a gotcha that could misalign partitions, cause overlap or whatever. Know this is borderline paranoid thinking but we're discussing M$ here. ;)
One positive aspect of GPT that seldom gets mentioned is that, because it's (relatively) new, old crufty code for handling MBR gets thrown out. Many MBR partitioning problems are caused by old or obscure programs that have bugs or that don't handle modern partitioning schemes very well. In fact, the alignment issues I mentioned are an example of this; old MBR partitioning tools use cylinder alignment, which works poorly on modern Advanced Format disks. Most GPT tools, by contrast, are new enough that they've adopted the new standard of aligning partitions on 2048-sector boundaries. The end result is that you're less likely to run into incompatibilities between any two GPT partitioning tools than between two MBR partitioning tools. At least, that's my subjective impression.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Spearmint2 »

another rarely mentioned fact. If you have a windows machine, the only thing that keeps the "protective MBR" of a GPT system actually protected is if the motherboard has a UEFI-BIOS too. In fact, if you check the tables here, you will find that even the 64 bit versions of Windows will not protect that MBR with a GPT disc, unless there's the UEFI-BIOS in place. If the GPT is corrupted, the protective MBR replaced, then windows defaults on install to using MBR instead of the GPT.
All things go better with Mint. Mint julep, mint jelly, mint gum, candy mints, pillow mints, peppermint, chocolate mints, spearmint,....
lmintnewb2

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

Post by lmintnewb2 »

Guess was thinking GPT allows no hidden data. Definitely wouldn't argue the point with someone who's more knowledgable and experienced on the subject. Am glad to hear this, cause took to leaving a small gap, as a sorta buffer between partitions as precaution against overlap or misalignment. So will continue the practice w confidence.

Owe you another thanks Mr Smith ( aka: Srs5694). Had never heard of LDM and will have to add it to the things to look into list. Little or no warning is par for the course for M$ from what I've ever seen. Really am about to just cut the cord when it comes to window$ anyway. Like majority of people got a new laptop with win8 preinstalled.

Pretty much same retail price as getting it w/o an OS so thought why not check out window$ 8. Thing took it upon itself to upgrade me to window$ 8.1, even though never explicitedly chose for it to do so. Still wanted to see what a relatively "modern" M$ OS was like nowadays. Tweaked it to hades and gone and actually after much pita kinda like it now, arghhhh. Still decided it's time to move on and commit to gnu/Linux.

Srs5694 you wouldn't happen to be able to recommend a backup utility that's successful for using on win8.1 ? Many choices out there and with no experience actually doing it with win8.1, not sure which to try. Spent a lot of time getting this M$ install to where it is and would like to back it up just in case it's ever needed. Ahhhh, starting to feel like a help vamp and thread hijacker here.

Speaking of involuntary window$ upgrades ... see this. Looks like M$ is pushing people w win7 and 8/8.1 into migrating to win10. After all the time and headaches spent getting this win8.1 install tweaked personally would be MEGA-PISSED OFF if they tricked me into it. That M$ update sounds like exactly what win8 did to me.


@Spearmint2 ... Yeah I'd seen that mentioned, believe in yet another thread on the interwebz where Rod S was helping someone diagnose/fix a GPT/UEFI dual boot problem. Apologies to OP, if this rambling is out of line, would like for a Mint mod to delete or move it where it should be.

Oops, just wanted to say thanks to Spearmint2 for adding that though. Did find it and added it to the things to be on guard for when dealing w GPT/UEFI dual boot list. Though think if someone hadn't mentioned it, finding something like that after the fact would have to be really hard for people to figure out.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by srs5694 »

Spearmint2 wrote:another rarely mentioned fact. If you have a windows machine, the only thing that keeps the "protective MBR" of a GPT system actually protected is if the motherboard has a UEFI-BIOS too. In fact, if you check the tables here, you will find that even the 64 bit versions of Windows will not protect that MBR with a GPT disc, unless there's the UEFI-BIOS in place. If the GPT is corrupted, the protective MBR replaced, then windows defaults on install to using MBR instead of the GPT.
The tables you reference detail the ability of the OS to boot from a GPT disk. This has nothing to do with "protecting" the protective MBR. The protective MBR is simply a type-0xEE partition that covers the entire disk (minus the MBR itself and anything that extends beyond sector 2^32, if the disk is that big). As such, it's as vulnerable to damage as anything else on the disk, whether the computer has a BIOS, an EFI, or something more exotic. This last point deserves emphasis: The firmware type has no effect on protecting the contents of the disk, including the protective MBR. Once an OS has booted, it or the programs it runs can do anything they like to the disk.

From a Linux perspective, the biggest problem with this comes when a GPT-unaware utility is used to convert the disk from GPT to MBR form. Such tools often replace the protective MBR with a conventional MBR, leaving the rest of the GPT data intact. (The standard Microsoft Windows tools do this, too, despite the fact that they are GPT-aware.) Technically, such a disk is then an MBR disk; however, Linux's libparted library tends to get confused by this, and most libparted-based tools show the disk as being empty. IMHO, this is a bug in libparted. I suspect that this is the effect you're thinking of, because it can be caused by booting a Windows installer in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode and then forcing it to install despite the presence of a protective MBR.
lmintnewb2 wrote:Srs5694 you wouldn't happen to be able to recommend a backup utility that's successful for using on win8.1 ?
I've successfully used DriveImage XML with Windows 7, but I've not tried it with Windows 8 or 8.1.
lmintnewb2

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

Post by lmintnewb2 »

Arghhhhh, getting confuzzled again. :P

Nah, the thread I'd found w Rod S, remember involved changes to one of the protective mbr's on a GPT disk causing the firmware to revert to only booting in bios-mbr mode. Would have to dig it up to be sure, is in the GPT/UEFI research files somewhere. Think it would drive someone nuts trying to figure out why system or installer won't boot in GPT/UEFI mode if they were stricken with that oddity.

Personally, never planning on enabling CSM and this laptop ( HP ... btw: After experience I've had w this system, never planning on buying a new HP again, nother story.) but this HP's firmware like many has option to enable/disable CSM any legacy boot support and options to order the boot priority thereof.

Have it disabled ... so shouldn't have to worry about which mode anything boots in ? No need to worry about selecting UEFI in boot menu etc ? Still appreciate the terminal command the OP listed to ensure the installer is in UEFI mode. Added to GPT/UEFI poss pita's to keep in mind file.

Any distro ... that can't keep GPT/UEFI capable current for me, will just have to go into a VM, ie:KVM. If just can't live without trying or using xyz distro resistant to getting with the times. Considering this decision a win/win, get to play around more with KVM and shouldn't have to worry about an antiqued distro's installer potentially borking anything.

That's the primary reason win8.1 is still lingering on this pc. Have to confirm all the GPT/UEFI and secure boot things I've compiled. Then sucker is getting wiped and tossed into card board box. :D

Thanks Srs5694, do have oem win8 and driver discs. Either way feel as if the CYA factor is covered no matter what. Am sure have looked that backup util over and will put a +1 next to it to look into it further for sure. Thanks again for all the info on secure boot, GPT-UEFI you've put up on the web. Was definitely one of, if not the best resource on the topic that made the thing comprehensible for me.

For awhile was starting to think I'd have to sign up for secure boot,GPT-UEFI trauma therapy or summin. :P
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by Spearmint2 »

KVM = Keyboard, Video, Mouse (switch used to control more than one computer with single mouse, keyboard, video monitor)

LVM = Logical Volume Manager

LDM = Logical Disk Manager

pay attention to the pink colored warning for Windows.

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GU ... tion_Table
All things go better with Mint. Mint julep, mint jelly, mint gum, candy mints, pillow mints, peppermint, chocolate mints, spearmint,....
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by lmintnewb2 »

Hope ya kidding, was referring to "KVM (Kernel-based Virtual Machine) is a virtualization infrastructure for the Linux kernel that turns it into a hypervisor, which was merged into the Linux kernel mainline in February 2007."

The long supported hypervisor integrated into the Linux kernel and championed forever since by some massive names in open source. ie: Redhat + others. Not planning on running a window$ VM no matter what, system is native GPT/UEFI, win8.1 OS is installed appropriately therefor.

Meant using KVM if run up against a distro want to install that might not be staying abrupt of GPT/UEFI ... any in that class should be becoming increasingly rare anyway. Still could just be more convenient to install as vm, rather than risking an gnu/nix installer potentially borking a setup, shrugs.

Lol ... no worries but yeah, link R Smith provided summarized that LDM, was/is a M$ quasi-equiv to LVM. Haven't gotten around to confirming whether or not this would matter when setting up additional partitions via window$ native util, tend to doubt it. Not sure why it's util would opt for any such thing on a single internal drive system. Will be on the look out just in case. Diskpart is showing me the drive is plain GPT.

Mentioned thanks to OP, contributors, esp R Smith, can't help but being grateful for all the detailed info he's shared and taking up rEFIt and the support for gdisk. Can only say it helped me mostly get a handle on developments involved in this topic.

Need to keep win8.1 installed native in all it's glory for awhile yet. Lotsa secure boot, GPT-UEFI dual and multiboot to confirm.
gold_finger

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

Post by gold_finger »

lmintnewb2 wrote:Apologies to OP, if this rambling is out of line
No problem here.

srs5694 and Spearmint2 are two of the people I've credited at the end of the tutorial. When they have something to add I always learn something too. I wrote the tutorial because one didn't exist here at the time for this type of install; but I never would have been able to if it weren't for them and others here on the forum. (I still don't have a UEFI machine myself and have no experience with Win 8.) Everything in the tutorial is basically just a summary of things I learned from them and others along the line.
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Re: [TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1 Computer

Post by srs5694 »

lmintnewb2 wrote:Nah, the thread I'd found w Rod S, remember involved changes to one of the protective mbr's on a GPT disk causing the firmware to revert to only booting in bios-mbr mode.
That was probably either my page on Gigabyte's Hybrid EFI or a thread in which the same topics came up. Basically, the Hybrid EFI was a particularly flaky UEFI implementation.

That said, in writing gdisk, I also experimented a lot with GPT data structures, and discovered a lot of differences in the way different OSes and BIOSes (this was before I had any EFI-based systems) treated disks based on relatively subtle differences in the protective MBR. The biggest of these is that the presence of a single non-0xEE partition causes Windows to treat a disk as MBR, whereas OS X and Linux both treat the disk as GPT. (FreeBSD gives access to both sets of partitions.) Windows' handling of such disks is actually closest to spec, but this divergence is what makes a hybrid MBR useful to Apple.
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