Install alongside Windows 8.1 - Is it working?

[epdatmoc]

I'm completely new to Linux. I am trying to install Linux Mint on an old laptop. I chose to install along side Windows 8.1 and followed those steps. I got a message something to the effect that first the existing data on the drive would need to be rewritten and a warning that it could take a long time. I continued and the screen reverted to the screen where you choose to install alongside vs erase or something else and the continue button was greyed out. No indication of status or progress. It's been about 24 hours and I can't tell if the process is running or if it never started or has failed. Is there a way to check on what is happening?

[Cosmo.]

Your information is too short.

Which version of Mint?

Which program does give the described message?

[epdatmoc]

linux mint 21 cinnamon

I am running the installer from the usb drive. Can't tell if anything is happening.

[diabolicbg]

Until two days ago I used such an installation and it worked. If you want to keep Windows 8.1 select install together.

[epdatmoc]

That's what I did. I selected to install alongside windows 8.1. then I accepted the suggested partitions and when I continued I got a warning that it would first have to rewrite the existing data on the disk and that it could take a long time. I continued and it reverted to the screen where you select to install alongside Windows 8.1. there is no status bar or any other indication that anything is happening. Is there a way to tell if it's working or if the process has aborted somehow?

[mikeflan]

Is there a way to tell if it's working or if the process has aborted somehow?

No way that I know of, except maybe listen for disk writing. That is assuming it is a spinning disk, which is probably the case if you have win8 on it.

I hate operations that don't provide an indicator of progress.

[epdatmoc]

Is there a way to tell if it's working or if the process has aborted somehow?

No way that I know of, except maybe listen for disk writing. That is assuming it is a spinning disk, which is probably the case if you have win8 on it.

I hate operations that don't provide an indicator of progress.

That's what I've been doing. It is a spinning disc and it does seem to be making some noise but it could be the fan. It does not seem to be any heat buildup which I would expect if the existing files on the disk were being rewritten to accommodate the new partition. The lack of an indication of progress or some sort of error message is the problem here. It's been running for a day and a half now. Thanks for your help.

[epdatmoc]

No way that I know of, except maybe listen for disk writing. That is assuming it is a spinning disk, which is probably the case if you have win8 on it.

I hate operations that don't provide an indicator of progress

That's what I've been doing. It is a spinning disc and it does seem to be making some noise but it could be the fan. It does not seem to be any heat buildup which I would expect if the existing files on the disk were being rewritten to accommodate the new partition. The lack of an indication of progress or some sort of error message is the problem here. It's been running for a day and a half now. Thanks for your help.

I'll have to spend a little more time to figure out how to quote a post.

[Moem]

I'll have to spend a little more time to figure out how to quote a post.

One of your quote tags had lost a bracket, it looked like [/quote and that made it not work.

[AndyMH]

Installing alongside win, I always use win's disk management tools to shrink the C: partition and leave the space unallocated. That gives mint somewhere to install to. If you don't do that I believe the installer asks you how much space you want for mint and shrinks C: for you. Large HDD, a lot of data this could take some time.

Win8 - don't know if you are booting UEFI or legacy. If legacy and you have a number of other partitions on the drive the installer may have hit the limit on the number of primary partitions and hung. On a legacy drive you can have a max of 4 primary partitions or three primary and one extended (you put logical partitions in the extended partition). Legacy boot LM21 will want to create an EFI partition (a bug, it doesn't need it) and try and put everything else in a logical partition in an extended partition.

[epdatmoc]

Thanks everyone for all the help so far. I was hoping to find some way to determine if the process is still working and just taking very long or has failed. There doesn't seem to be a way to do that that I can figure out. I guess I need to think about where to go from here and I guess I will give up on trying to save Windows 8.1. in that case I can install using the erase disc and install Linux mint option when choosing installation type.

A couple of questions on that. Right now the computer is booted from the USB drive in the live session ( my understanding). I don't know if I'm booted using UEFI or legacy as has been mentioned. Also, I don't know if the computer would restart and reboot from the USB again or have I damaged that process. So, should I just try to erase and install Linux mint while I'm still in the install application here? Or should I try to reboot the computer and then run the installer again? Any other ideas? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

[diabolicbg]

A couple of questions on that. Right now the computer is booted from the USB drive in the live session ( my understanding). I don't know if I'm booted using UEFI or legacy as has been mentioned. Also, I don't know if the computer would restart and reboot from the USB again or have I damaged that process. So, should I just try to erase and install Linux mint while I'm still in the install application here? Or should I try to reboot the computer and then run the installer again? Any other ideas? Your advice is greatly appreciated.

In the live session, use the Disk application and see the status of the computer's hard drive. If you're not going to keep Windows 8, it doesn't really matter if you install in a legacy or UEFI bios. It may matter in the future if you are trying two systems at the same time.
If any installation is currently in progress, you should either wait for it to finish, which may have dragged on too long, or abort it and reboot the computer with USB and start a new installation with a disk wipe. I recommend you run Gparted from the live install and format the disk to make sure there's nothing on it.

[AndyMH]

Legacy or UEFI - boot your mint install stick, open a terminal and efibootmgr:

Code: Select all

andy@T432 ~ $ efibootmgr
EFI variables are not supported on this system.

If you get this you are booting in legacy mode, anything else is UEFI. Another clue is the output from sudo parted --list. This tells you about your drives and partitions.

Code: Select all

Model: ATA WDC WDS240G2G0A- (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 240GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: msdos
Disk Flags: 

Number  Start   End     Size    Type     File system  Flags
 1      1049kB  31.5GB  31.5GB  primary  ext4         boot
 2      31.5GB  136GB   105GB   primary  ext4
 3      136GB   189GB   52.4GB  primary  ntfs
 4      189GB   240GB   51.3GB  primary  ntfs

Booting legacy you will typically have an msdos (legacy) partition table. UEFI boot is usually associated with a GPT partition table and you will have a small EFI partition (where the bootloaders live)*. It has the flags esp & boot set.

Mint installs in the same mode the stick boots in.

* there is a bug in the mint installer, when installing in legacy mode with 'erase and install' or 'install alongside' it will still create an EFI partition even though it doesn't need one.

[epdatmoc]

I looked in the Disk application as recommended and it appeared that nothing had been done to the Disk. I restarted the computer and it restarted as normal. I rebooted again into the USB live session and started the installer again and decided to try again to install it alongside Windows 8.1. last time I never got to the screens to enter computer name password etc. This time I got to that screen enter that information and eventually got to the point where it showed me a little slideshow about Linux mint and down below a status bar that shows the installation is proceeding. I don't know what went wrong the first time. I did the same thing this time. I will post again to let everyone know how this resolves. Thanks again.

[diabolicbg]

I looked in the Disk application as recommended and it appeared that nothing had been done to the Disk. I restarted the computer and it restarted as normal. I rebooted again into the USB live session and started the installer again and decided to try again to install it alongside Windows 8.1. last time I never got to the screens to enter computer name password etc. This time I got to that screen enter that information and eventually got to the point where it showed me a little slideshow about Linux mint and down below a status bar that shows the installation is proceeding. I don't know what went wrong the first time. I did the same thing this time. I will post again to let everyone know how this resolves. Thanks again.

I hope it works out this time! Good luck!