Installation problem [Solved]

[ricksavery]

Hello all.
I thought I was OK with PCs until i discovered Linux!

I will try to be brief. Trying to install Linux Mint Cinnamon 18.3 onto a Windows 10 laptop. Managed a dual boot with Windows 7 on an old one but shiny new one has UEFI (? not come across this before) rather than a BIOS.

Used Win32Installer to write to a 16GB USB stick, which gives me a roughly 2MB partition with a folder called 'efi' in it. There are also two partitions either side of it, as it were, visible in Disk Management, one of just under 2GB, the other of just over 12GB. Both are unallocated and do not show up in Windows Explorer.

Boots into Live version of Mint OK, but when I tried to install it as a sole OS (wiping Windows 10), it pretty much spent the whole night not finding locations on the USB stick, one after another - if that makes sense.
Deciding to cut my losses and restore Windows 10 from a backup USB I had made, I found that Windows 10 had not been touched at all.

Also, whilst in the Live version of Mint, I am unable to mount the installation USB stick - which may be normal.

When you have all finished slapping your foreheads in disbelief and amazement at my stupidity could anyone tell me where I am going wrong please?

I have not filled this post with technical info, as I am not sure what is needed but will endeavour to provide whatever is asked for.

The ultimate object is to have Linux Mint as the sole OS on the laptop - or maybe it would be better to dual boot and then remove Windows 10 later ?

UEFI may be more modern than BIOS but it's more of a bugger to use!! At least as far as I am concerned.

Thanks for your help

Rick

[kukamuumuka]

[TUTORIAL] Installing Mint on a Windows 8/8.1/10 Computer -> viewtopic.php?f=42&t=163126

[ricksavery]

Thank you so much for this link. I will try and take it all in and will mark this question as solved if it works - which I am sure it will.

I should, perhaps, have searched for this before posting my question. Really appreciate it.

[ricksavery]

Again, thanks for the link, very interesting and useful. I have a couple of questions arising from reading this: First, although the live version boots up great now, I still can't mount the USB stick that I'm running it from -although that may be because I am running it from the |USB, not sure. However, the question is, I can't find my NVMe SSD listed in neither Disks nor Gparted, so I can't create / resize any partitions. As I understand from reading around, the drivers for NVMe are already part of the kernel of Mint, so not sure why I'm not seeing it.

The second question is about dual-booting. The link talks about dual-booting with Windows 10 - which is why I was looking for the partitions on my SSD - but still not sure whether it would be best to dual-boot and get rid of Windows 10, or just start with a clean boot as it were, of Linux Mint, in which case, the link doesn't cover that scenario./

Thanks for any and all help with this, and apologies for the probably obvious questions
Rick

[wheatpenny]

If you are looking to wipe the drive and replace Windows with Linux, the installer will offer you a choice: install Linux alongside your other OS or erase the drive and install only Linux.

[ricksavery]

When I last tried to wipe the drive it went through a long process of not being able find location after location. I am just wondering if this may be a symptom of not finding the SSD so it effectively doesn't know what to wipe?

[michael louwe]

@ ricksavery, .......

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With Win 10 present, have you disabled Fast Startup, ie >Control Panel >Power options.?

[ricksavery]

Yes, quick startup / boot is disabled both within Windows and in UEFI. Reading around on the interweb, it would seem that Linux will not see my NVMe as I have pseudo-RAID, Intel RST enabled rather than the AHCI driver.
However, I also seem to be reading that the Intel RST driver(?) has power-saving implications, with better battery life and (possibly) lower temperatures. Now, i don't know if this is true, or if it is, whether the differences would be minimal, so I suppose my question is whether to change the setting to AHCI from Intel RST, or wait until the Linux kernel changes to take account of this.
In the meantime, I will use the live version from USB with some persistence so I can possibly download programs etc and make it feel 'more real'.
Any suggestions / advice please?

[michael louwe]

@ ricksavery, .......

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Please refer to ... https://triplescomputers.com/blog/uncat ... operation/ (solution-switch-windows-10-from-raidide-to-ahci-operation without the need to reinstall Win 10 in AHCI disk mode)
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter ... t/19659260

The OEMs preinstalled Win 10 in fake-RAID 0 mode using the proprietary Intel RST driver, mainly in order to increase hard-drive performance. Linux cannot detect any hard-drive that uses this proprietary mode.

[ricksavery]

Many thanks for your help with this question, and indeed to all who gave me advice and links. I now have a USB stick that I can confidently boot Linux Mint live from, and am reasonably OK with changing from the Intel RST drivers to the AHCI ones.
I still have a question about persistence on the live USB stick, but it seems reasonable to mark this thread as closed and open a new one, as it isn't really about installation issues any more.
Thanks again
Rick

[ricksavery]

Except I don't know how to mark it as closed / solved !!!! SDo, tiny bit more help please

[ricksavery]

Should have read an earlier post by the moderator properly! Think I've got it now. Thanks again

[Moem]

Think I've got it now.

Not quite: marking a post as [SOLVED] should be done in the title of the first post so that it can be seen from the overview page. Find the edit button on the first post in the thread and go from there.

[michael louwe]

@ ricksavery, .......

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Keep in mind that to reinstall Win 10 in RAID disk mode requires the Intel RST driver to be installed first(eg via a USB-stick) because the Win 10 Install media(= DVD or USB-stick) cannot detect the hard-drive without this driver preinstalled. The Intel RST driver is available for download at the OEM website.
....... Reinstalling Win 10 in AHCI disk mode will be like normal.

Future Win 10 inplace-upgrades in RAID disk mode may be problematic, eg upgrade from Version 1709 to 1803.

[ricksavery]

Not quite:

Thanks for that - did wonder how that was going to show in the topics list Clearly I don't use forums much !
All (hopefully) sorted now

[Moem]

thumbsup150.jpg

[ricksavery]

@ ricksavery, .......

.

.
Keep in mind that to reinstall Win 10 in RAID disk mode requires the Intel RST driver to be installed first(eg via a USB-stick) because the Win 10 Install media(= DVD or USB-stick) cannot detect the hard-drive without this driver preinstalled. The Intel RST driver is available for download at the OEM website.
....... Reinstalling Win 10 in AHCI disk mode will be like normal.

Future Win 10 inplace-upgrades in RAID disk mode may be problematic, eg upgrade from Version 1709 to 1803.

Thanks for that - thought I had replied to your post but can't find it so maybe I didn't ! Read around a bit, looked at the links you mentioned, looks to be not as a simple as I first thought so will proceed with caution when/if I go ahead with this.
Still not sure which driver is best - more research needed
Thanks again