No Option for burn to USB. Need Help. SOLVED

[Janesdf]

Hi,

I have decided to switch from Windows 7 to Linux. I am not interested in Windows 10. I have an extra computer that I can use to completely install Linux Mint Cinnamon, which I have read, is a good place to start for Windows 7 users. Once I am comfortable, I will switch my main pc over to Linux as well.

I have tried YUMI, Linux Live USB Creator, and Windows Burner, but none offer the option for burning to a USB stick, only to a DVD. I would have to purchase DVDs which I don't keep around when I have enough usb sticks ready and waiting.

I'm sure I am missing a step, but I have searched online and cannot find what I need to burn to a USB instead of a DVD for Linux Mint Cinnamon.

Please let me know what additional information you need.

Thank you in advance.

Jane

[Pierre]

assuming that you are still using that win-7 system,
then have a read of this Tutorial:
viewtopic.php?f=42&t=291093
and then read this Tutorial:
https://linuxmint-installation-guide.re ... /burn.html

as both of those Tutorials, should enable you to create an working Live Media Disk.

NB: you can use https://rufus.ie/ to create an usb stick, as well.

[Lord Boltar]

If you are using Windows you can also use Rufus which you can get from here

https://rufus.ie/

[cliffcoggin]

https://www.pendrivelinux.com/

is a good alternative if you still have Windows.

[Janesdf]

Thanks to all who have responded, however, I am beginning to think that just installing Linux is more trouble than it's worth. I followed the instructions (some of the terminology went right over me), and managed to have a virtual version install on my windows 7 pc. When I entered BIOS during booting, there is no option to boot from a usb drive. I went back into windows and as for the VirtualBox application (Linux Live Mint USB Creator)linu, I started it, and the look is so foreign to me that I cannot tell if I actually installed Linux Mint Cinnamon or not. I did find a youtube video on installing Linux Mint for beginners, and will try that. If that doesn't work, then I will give up. For someone like me, who is completely unfamiliar with Linux, and some of the text, supposedly for beginners, seeming to be written for someone who is already familiar with Linux, it's now becoming a waste of time.

I will try the youtube video. Hopefully, it will help.

Jane

[gittiest personITW]

Hi.
I did the same as you - came from Win7 a few weeks ago and I wouldn't look back now.

First to your problem - booting from USB.
When you first switch on your computer with the USB connected, it is possible to get to a 'boot device' screen by pressing (usually) F10 or F11 or F12 loads of times. Depends on your computer which one to press - so tap all 3 constantly till the boot screen comes up. Then, if BIOS is set up for your device (UEFI or not) you should be able to pick the usb key.
If you can't see the bootscreen then you'll have to look up instructions to do it, but it could be 'backspace' or 'F2', amongst others.
If you can't see your USB boot device, post back.

Secondly, in general....
If you change from the OS you are used to, to any other (even Win10) there will be differences and those differences will weigh on you and aggravate you till you either break the system or fix the problem.
With LM, there are a few basic differences from the OS you are used to but all in all, if you don't go digging, you probably don't need to know what most of them are unless you have a problem.

[JoeFootball]

... I have searched online and cannot find what I need to burn to a USB instead of a DVD for Linux Mint Cinnamon.

Augmenting the above suggestions, I'll add UNetbootin as an option for your consideration.

Joe

[Janesdf]

Before I go back and try again, a few questions.

1) Is there an online option to format my hard drive then download/install Linux Mint Cinnamon directly onto my pc?

2) When I downloaded LMC to my pc, should I also move it to the usb drive where the Linux usb creator is installed?

3) Whoever created LMC, is there some reason why usb install was not made part of the software? Each time I click the iso, only the DVD option appears.

[cliffcoggin]

Thanks to all who have responded, however, I am beginning to think that just installing Linux is more trouble than it's worth. I followed the instructions (some of the terminology went right over me), and managed to have a virtual version install on my windows 7 pc. When I entered BIOS during booting, there is no option to boot from a usb drive. I went back into windows and as for the VirtualBox application (Linux Live Mint USB Creator)linu, I started it, and the look is so foreign to me that I cannot tell if I actually installed Linux Mint Cinnamon or not. I did find a youtube video on installing Linux Mint for beginners, and will try that. If that doesn't work, then I will give up. For someone like me, who is completely unfamiliar with Linux, and some of the text, supposedly for beginners, seeming to be written for someone who is already familiar with Linux, it's now becoming a waste of time.

I will try the youtube video. Hopefully, it will help.

Jane

Jane.

Whether it is worth while is a matter for you to decide. I would say that you will need to persevere to get anywhere, but it will be worth while eventually. In particular try not to be overwhelmed by the jargon and acronyms that all computer enthusiasts, (and indeed every expert in every field,) love to surround themselves with. I found it hard going two years ago when I left Windows. At that time I was barely aware what an operating system was, and had never heard of partitions and formats, yet I managed to install Mint on my computer.

There are some useful videos on Youtube, but there are an awful lot more misleading and nonsensical videos, so choose carefully. I can recommend those by Joe Collins. He speaks clearly, shows sharp images, and explains well his actions.

[AZgl1800]

Before I go back and try again, a few questions.

1) Is there an online option to format my hard drive then download/install Linux Mint Cinnamon directly onto my pc?

2) When I downloaded LMC to my pc, should I also move it to the usb drive where the Linux usb creator is installed?

3) Whoever created LMC, is there some reason why usb install was not made part of the software? Each time I click the iso, only the DVD option appears.

the ISO is the same for all methods of installing.
what is different is the utility you use on Win7 to create the boot media.

you seem to only want a USB install, so use Rufus to do that for you.

https://rufus.ie/

[Janesdf]

As I stated earlier, I do not keep dvds around. I'd have to buy a pack just to install linux. I may go ahead and do that anyway. Otherwise, it seems I will have to take a course and do much reading just to install it.

I will try again, but I am losing interest in Linux.

[athi]

Before I go back and try again, a few questions.

1) Is there an online option to format my hard drive then download/install Linux Mint Cinnamon directly onto my pc?

2) When I downloaded LMC to my pc, should I also move it to the usb drive where the Linux usb creator is installed?

3) Whoever created LMC, is there some reason why usb install was not made part of the software? Each time I click the iso, only the DVD option appears.

1, 2. With most Linux distribution, you download an ISO image which you will use a utility to burn (decompress and write) to either DVD or USB drive. The utility will varies depending on what O/S (Win10, Mac etc.) and what media (DVD or USB) you will write to. Most people now use USB drive for convenience and some PC does not even have a DVD drive. For Windows, you can use any of the above suggested utility to burn the ISO image to USB (I prefer Rufus for Windows PC). ISO images are compressed data files with special characteristics (bootable, file system etc.), which requires a burning utility to preserves these properties when the ISO image is decompressed and written to the media.

2, 3. The reason that you only get the DVD option is when you try to open the ISO with Windows, the default program linked to the operation thinks that you want to burn the ISO to DVD (Windows does not have a pre-installed USB burning utility). That is why you need to get 3rd party USB burning utility. When you run the burning utility, you will need to browse to the ISO image that you want to burn and tell the utility what device to burn the image to.

Do you have a make/model or specifications of the PC that you want to try Mint on? From these details, we can provide suggestion to what version of Mint would be most appropriate and gives you the best user experience on your trial run. For example, you do not want to run Mint 19.1 Cinnamon on core2 duo with 2 Gb of ram, since Cinnamon requires better hardware and will be very sluggish on this older PC.

[athi]

Janesdf, as others stated, there will be a learning curve learning to use Mint. But with the end of support for Win7 fast approaching, currently you have the choice of either running Win7 without additional security patches or switch to Win10. You will have a learning curve when you switch from Win7 to Win10 anyway, which to me would be steeper than going from Win7 to Mint (Mint was purposely made to be familiar to Win7 user). So, trying out Mint will gives you another option to choose from. And for me, unless you require Windows only software, Mint or other Linux distribution would be a valid option.

[Janesdf]

Athi, thanks for explaining in a manner that I could understand. Below are the specs for the pc that I would like to use for Linux Mint Cinnamon. I removed my system name and replaced it with xxx.... Otherwise, the rest is intact. Please let me know if you have additional questions.

Thanks. Jane

OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Name xxxxxxxxxx
System Manufacturer LENOVO
System Model 7637AC6
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.80GHz, 2800 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date LENOVO 5CKT54AUS, 9/7/2009
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Windows Directory C:\Windows
System Directory C:\Windows\system32
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume2
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.24475"
User Name xxxxxxx\xxxxxxx
Time Zone Eastern Daylight Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 4.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 3.47 GB
Available Physical Memory 1.42 GB
Total Virtual Memory 6.93 GB
Available Virtual Memory 4.12 GB
Page File Space 3.47 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys

[Rocky Bennett]

With a system that old and limited I would use Linux Mint Xfce. Xfce is lighter and will be a perfect fit for that system. Just download Xfce and Rufus to your Windows 7 computer, open up Rufus and click on the Xfce file. The rest is automatic but it will take time, so be patient.

[tenfoot]

As I stated earlier, I do not keep dvds around. I'd have to buy a pack just to install linux. I may go ahead and do that anyway. Otherwise, it seems I will have to take a course and do much reading just to install it.

I will try again, but I am losing interest in Linux.

One solution which hasn't yet been mentioned is to buy a DVD or thumbdrive on which Linux Mint has already been installed.

Point your browser to: https://www.osdisc.com/products/linuxmint where you will see that a DVD will cost you $5.95 and a thumnbdrive $14.95. Doling it this way should remove all the hassles you are having and renew your faith

[athi]

With a system that old and limited I would use Linux Mint Xfce. Xfce is lighter and will be a perfect fit for that system. Just download Xfce and Rufus to your Windows 7 computer, open up Rufus and click on the Xfce file. The rest is automatic but it will take time, so be patient.

XFCE would be a fine choice for your Lenovo. Another option is Mint Mate, a bit heavier than XFCE but very similar to Win7 in layout. This similarity is the reason that I choose Mate when Mint split to Cinnamon and Mate. I am running Mint Mate 19.1 on a T60 with 3Gb of ram, functional but no speed demon.

Peppermint Linux is another light weight distribution that came up a lot for use on these older PC.

The beauty of these liveUSB is that they are full running O/S with built in installer, so you can try as many as you like without making permanent changes, and when you find it use the same USB to install.

Edit: Forgot to mention that these liveUSB have no persistent, so any changes you make is lost when you reboot. Advantage to some, disadvantage to others.

[Janesdf]

Well,I tried again using Rufus and it would only burn to the DVD drive. I tried to "save as" to the usb, but it just would not work. I will just go ahead and purchase a few blank dvds. This is not an easy install, nor is it free. If I ever do get it installed properly, I hope it will be worth the frustration and time.

Thanks again for all of your help. Once I have the dvds, I will post again with the results.

Jane

[athi]

Well,I tried again using Rufus and it would only burn to the DVD drive. I tried to "save as" to the usb, but it just would not work. I will just go ahead and purchase a few blank dvds. This is not an easy install, nor is it free. If I ever do get it installed properly, I hope it will be worth the frustration and time.

Thanks again for all of your help. Once I have the dvds, I will post again with the results.

Jane

You cannot select USB drive from the Device pull down menu (first item at top of Rufus window)?

Link to Rufus tutorial for burning Ubuntu, Mint will work the same way.
https://linuxhint.com/rufus_bootable_us ... 18-04_lts/

[Moem]

Hey there Jane,
I can see you're struggling and I really wish I could help! If I lived closer I'd come over, you'd make a big pot of tea and we'd get Mint installed on your machine together, if you liked it while trying out the live version. Don't lose the faith, we're here to help and I know you can do this. You sound plenty smart. It's just new, is all.