Installer only tries to install on bootable USB

[frogmonkey]

I am trying to install Linux Mint alongside Windows 10 on a Dell XPS 15. I shrunk the hard drive to make room for it, booted from the USB and started the installation process. For some reason it won't connect to my wifi, and then it tells me there isn't enough room on my drive because it seems like it's trying to install on the USB. I'm not super computer savvy, and I'm completely stuck.

[michael louwe]

@ frogmonkey

For some guidance, please refer to ....... viewtopic.php?f=46&t=247678&p=1330652#p1330652

You only need to shrink the Win 10 partition when choosing the "Something else" install method, which is then followed by manual partitioning of the disk for LM 18.1, ie you do not need to do the shrinking when using the "Install Linux Mint alongside Windows Boot Manager" install method.
....... The latter method results in the LM Installer automatically allotting about 15GB of free space from the Win 10 partition for LM 18.1, partitioning the disk and installing the Linux boot-loader.

So, if you have chosen the latter method and the Win 10 partition has < 15GB of free space after being shrunk, the LM Installer will throw an error of insufficient disk space.

[frogmonkey]

@michael louwe

I shrunk my Windows drive by 40GB, so it should have been sufficient space. Regardless, I expanded the drive back to where it was and tried to install LM again, and I got the same message, "You need at least 10.3 GB disk space to install Linux Mint. This computer only has 4.1 GB." The usb drive I'm using is 4 GB, which is what makes me think it's trying to install on the usb drive.

[michael louwe]

@michael louwe

I shrunk my Windows drive by 40GB, so it should have been sufficient space. Regardless, I expanded the drive back to where it was and tried to install LM again, and I got the same message, "You need at least 10.3 GB disk space to install Linux Mint. This computer only has 4.1 GB." The usb drive I'm using is 4 GB, which is what makes me think it's trying to install on the usb drive.

This likely means that the LM Installer in the Live LM 18.1 USB flash-drive is not detecting the internal hard-drive. Maybe, you did not boot the Live USB in UEFI mode through the UEFI BIOS settings. Or the hard-drive setting in UEFI BIOS was not properly set, eg AHCI vs RAID.

Please refer to ... http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads ... ch.800703/

[gold_finger]

frogmonkey,

You need to slow down and READ thoroughly the links provided on michael louwe's referenced post. Just so you don't have to click through multiple posts to get them, they are:

1. viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126
2. https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... ct/windows
3. https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... nt-install

Instead of just quickly skimming them to see if anything matches your problem, read to see how you should be conducting the install and you will likely discover some things that you either did not do (that were necessary), or did incorrectly by mistake.

Based on the limited amount of info posted so far, I can only make a "best guess" as to cause of your problem.

1. MOST LIKELY -- You booted the Mint install USB in Legacy mode instead of UEFI/EFI mode. (It's a virtual certainty that Win 10 is installed in UEFI mode, so you need to boot the Mint USB in that mode to do a proper dual-boot install.)
2. LESS LIKELY -- you did not disable Win10 "Fast Startup" before trying to install Mint.
3. QUITE LIKELY -- you didn't do either of the above before trying to install Mint.

The instructions on those links clearly state that you need to boot the USB in UEFI mode and you need to disable Windows Fast Startup. So, if my guess is correct and one or both of those things are causing your problem, that is why I'm assuming that you just skimmed quickly through the links rather than actually taking the time to read them.

[frogmonkey]

@gold_finger

Your blatant distaste for me is uncalled for. I was/am in UEFI mode, fast startup disabled and secure boot also disabled. I still get the same results.

@michael louwe

I'm hesitant to switch to AHCI from RAID. I've read horror stories of people not being able to boot back into Windows and having to completely reinstall it.

[gold_finger]

I wasn't trying to express any distaste for you and apologize if that's how it came off.

But, I definitely was trying to make sure you slowed down and read the links that were given to you by michael louwe. I'll try to explain (from my perspective) why I had assumed that you had only skimmed through that info.

All I knew about you from your posts before mine:

• You're brand new to the forum and seemingly to Linux as well.
• You're trying to install Mint (apparently for the first time) as a dual-boot with Windows 10 on a new(er) laptop.
• You state "I'm not super computer savvy".
• You describe a problem that many newcomers do run into.

So far, no problem. You're no different than many, many other people who have posted here asking for help, especially when it happens to involve a computer with UEFI firmware and Windows pre-installed.

I know from experience that the situation you described is most likely caused by one or two things over 90% of the time. I see that someone, michael louwe, posted info that would help. I sit back and wait rather than post the same info he already did.

At this point, most people would reply back indicating that they now knew to disable "Fast Startup" in Windows and that they now realized that they needed to boot the USB in UEFI mode. (Understandably, they did not know to do either of those things before.) But many of them run into trouble trying to boot the USB in the correct mode and that is usually the next question.

Sometimes, (maybe 10-15% of the time), people rush through the linked info and miss those two important points. That's what I assumed you must have done because:

• You made no mention of "Fast Startup" or UEFI mode booting of the USB stick in your reply. Almost always a newcomer in this situation would at least acknowledge that they had seen the previously unknown (to them) information and at least tried to do those two things.
• Again, I know from experience that over 90% of the time one or both of those things can cause the problem you're having.
• And again, based on what you said, I'm assuming you have limited experience installing Linux (or any other OS for that matter).

Hope that makes sense to you. I wasn't trying to be nasty, but had wrongly assumed you were rushing through things, therefore was trying to firmly get you to slow down.

[michael louwe]

@michael louwe

I'm hesitant to switch to AHCI from RAID. I've read horror stories of people not being able to boot back into Windows and having to completely reinstall it.

Seems, you have to go into Safe Mode in Win 10 to safely change the UEFI BIOS hard-drive setting from RAID to AHCI mode (or vice versa), in order to be able to install Linux alongside Win 10. IOW, you have to go into Safe Mode in Win 10 and change the setting to AHCI whenever you wanna boot Linux; ... and change back to RAID while in Safe Mode whenever you wanna boot into Win 10.

Since mid-2016, many new high-end OEM Win 10 laptops had their hard-drives configured in fake-RAID mode using Intel RST, supposedly for better disk performance. To reinstall Win 10 in RAID mode requires the Intel RST driver to be installed first, eg via a USB-stick. Easier to reinstall Win 10 in AHCI mode. Linux does not support Intel RST's fake-RAID mode.

If I were you, I would reinstall Win 10 in AHCI mode and then install LM 18.1 alongside Win 10, esp if using an SSD. In this way, you get a Grub menu on startup that gives you the option to boot into LM 18.1 or Win 10, ie no need to go into UEFI BIOS settings.

[frogmonkey]

@gold_finger

Understandable. I'm horrible at including adequate information in initial posts. I'm not completely unfamiliar with Linux. I have Ubuntu running on my Mac, and it was so easy to install that I guess I assumed it would just as easy to install LM on my new PC laptop. Turns out I was terribly wrong. I don't know much about computers, but I am good at following directions, which is why I was so confused when LM kept trying to install on the usb drive.

@michael louwe

I like that idea. Thank you very much!