Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

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tillymcsilly
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Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by tillymcsilly »

I got a new computer a few days ago, I can't afford top of the range, but managed to replace the integrated graphics and psu, to give it bit more of a boost.

Quick system specs
16gb ram
2TB hard drive
Nvidia GFX 1050 ti 4gb
Corsair 650w psu

Here's the partition setup I had planned on installation, but I think I'm overestimating the capacity (and possibly) the swap size, and wondered if I could get any advice on the sizes.

Windows 10 500GB (200GB plus all the other stuff already there) - Just several applications, udpates, and room for two games or more (one being Skyrim). Ffxiv works in Linux Mint lovely, but alas Skyrim doesn't. I'm going to being using Mint XFCE as my main operating system. If it weren't for gaming, it would be a lot smaller :)

Boot - 300mb

Media partition - estiamted at 1.5tb, for music, pictures, wallpapers, Skyrim mods, formatted to NTFS so Windows and Linux can access both.

Root - 200GB

Swap - 16gb ram - I've read several sources from using search and it is still bit confusing, I'm assuming it depends what I want to do, which will be some gaming, editing large files (namely image files). I thought 16gb would be a good place to start, and watch the usage of the swap.

Thank you for any advice, it is much appreciated :)
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kc1di
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Re: Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by kc1di »

I don't believe with 16gb ram you'll need much swap room. The old adage when ram was limited was 2x the installed ram for swap but that is not needed as much when you get above 2gb of ram or so. 4 or 5 gb swap should be plenty for all but the most intensive file conversions, such as HD video etc.

With 16gbs you should be good to go. good luck.
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Linux Mint Installation Guide: http://linuxmint-installation-guide.rea ... en/latest/
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Sir Charles

Re: Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by Sir Charles »

For more modern systems (>1GB), your swap space should be at a minimum be equal to your physical memory (RAM) size "if you use hibernation"
swap.png
source: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwapFaq
tillymcsilly
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Re: Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by tillymcsilly »

Thanks guys, that's answered my questions about the swap size :D
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Pierre
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Re: Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by Pierre »

do pre-partition that drive, first off,,
- then install the Win-10 system
- then install the Linux system
you get a easier installation, that way.
8)
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tillymcsilly
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Re: Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by tillymcsilly »

Pierre wrote: Fri Mar 16, 2018 7:33 am do pre-partition that drive, first off,,
- then install the Win-10 system
- then install the Linux system
you get a easier installation, that way.
8)
The system came with Windows 10 pre-installed, with OEM installation :roll: just with the chipset and wireless driver discs... I do have a Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit hiding somewhere. I was saving it, along with my old hard drive, for a barbecue in the backgarden involving a flamethrower and a sledgehammer :lol: If it weren't for gaming, I'd completely switch to Linux, thank you again for the response.
michael louwe

Re: Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by michael louwe »

@ tillymcsilly, .......
tillymcsilly wrote:.
.
Your Nvidia graphics card may have screen freezing problems during booting ... viewtopic.php?f=46&t=122257
https://linuxmint.com/rel_sonya_cinnamon.php
For Nvidia, if still unsuccessful, try modprobe.blacklist=nouveau

Give the Live LM 18.3 Xfce USB/DVD a test-drive before installing, to check for hardware(= device drivers) compatibility.
.
For some guidance on dual-booting LM alongside Win 10/8.1 in UEFI and GPT-disk mode, please refer to .......
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126 (dual-booting UEFI computers)
http://linuxmint-installation-guide.rea ... en/latest/
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2147295
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... ct/windows
https://sites.google.com/site/easylinux ... nt-install
https://www.tecmint.com/install-linux-m ... uefi-mode/ (note step 17 - if Win 8.x/10 could not boot, try <sudo update-grub>)
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=122276 (manual partitioning Tutorial for Legacy BIOS mode and MBR/ms-dos disks)[use as a guide]

Ensure that Secure Boot, Fast Boot and CSM(or Legacy BIOS) are disabled in BIOS setup, Fast Startup is disabled in Win 10/8.1(>Control Panel >Power options), the Live LM media(DVD or USB-stick) is booted in UEFI mode in BIOS setup.

To dual-boot, you only need to pre-shrink the Windows partition if you intend to use the manual "Something else" install method, ie no need to do so if you intend to use the automatic "install LM alongside Windows Boot Manager" method, which will be followed by the LM Installer auto-partitioning the disk and auto-installing the Linux Grub bootloader onto the Windows ESP. Only a root / and swap partition will be auto-created with a total default size of about 20GB. The user will be given the option to increase this default size by moving a slider on the colored Partition table, subject to the maximum available free space in the Windows partition.

For the "Something else" install method, manually partition the pre-shrunk free space accordingly, eg 50GB for /, 1.5X RAM size for Swap(at the end of this space) and 200GB for Home; and ensure that the "Device for boot loader installation" is the Windows EFI System Partition(= ESP = fat32/about 104MB/mount point is /boot/efi) which is usually dev/sda1.
.
.

P S - Certain OEM Win 8.x/10 computers, eg Acer, Asus and HP, have an obstructive or pro-M$ UEFI-BIOS setting for "select an UEFI file as trusted for executing",(= Linux cannot boot). For the fix, please refer to ...
https://itsfoss.com/no-bootable-device-found-ubuntu/
viewtopic.php?t=236560

The above latest(= 2017) OEM laptops, eg Acer E and S series, may have even removed this UEFI-BIOS setting(eg "No bootable device" after installing Linux and cannot be fixed), but may be restored by a new BIOS firmware update from the OEMs = update through Windows only. This was after many complaints from affected users. ...
viewtopic.php?f=46&t=254948
... Another workaround is ...
https://askubuntu.com/questions/862946/ ... re-es1-533

Sometimes to boot from the Live LM USB Flash-drive in new Acer computers, eg Acer ES 15, you need to enable the F12 boot menu in the Main section of the BIOS setup, then pressed F12 instead of F2 during power up. Will then be given the option of Windows Boot Manager or Linux (Flash-drive).
tillymcsilly
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Re: Dual Booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint XFCE

Post by tillymcsilly »

Thank you very much Michael for the detailed reply, I will take notes from the information you provided, it was very helpful :)
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