Installing Mint 19 on an inactivated Windows 10 Upgrade Box

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ancientwithanattitud

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#240062 18-Aug-2018 14:57

I ordered a upgrade box without an OS. When it arrived I find it has a inactive Win 10 on it.I did not want , do not want it, and cannot use it.

The box has a 120GB SSD, a 1T HD, and ASUS Prime 310M-A motherboard.

My original plan was to install Mint 19; Root on the SSD, and Home/swap on the HD.

Is this a viable option? Other suggestions?

How do I get rid of all the WIN 10 rubbish on the two drives to make an installation of Mint possible?

The vendor (retailer) is being very obtuse and unhelpful, I fear m only option in the end could be to take him 'to the cleaners'; Commerce Commission etc.

I have tried to keep this post brief and concise but happy to provide any additional information necessary.

Many thanks in advance.

michaelmurfy

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#2075320 18-Aug-2018 15:05

Just install Linux and it'll overwrite everything...

/ - on the SSD
/home - on the HDD
swap on the HDD - Make this partition the same size as your ram.

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ancientwithanattitud

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2075346 18-Aug-2018 16:00

michaelmurf:

Your prompt reply is appreciated

I have two questions:

1. Will mounting / on the SSD automatically create boot?

2. Will I have to resize the HD to create a swap file or will mounting it as Home do this?

Thanks

MikeB4

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#2075400 18-Aug-2018 17:22

ancientwithanattitud: michaelmurf:

Your prompt reply is appreciated

I have two questions:

1. Will mounting / on the SSD automatically create boot?

2. Will I have to resize the HD to create a swap file or will mounting it as Home do this?

Thanks

The install of mint will guide you through. If you have new unused storage the process will be very simple. Boot to live disk of your install media, check with Gparted your HDD and SSD and ensure teh space is unused. When you install use the "do something esle" choice and it will

clearly show when to add root (/) , home and swap. I believe that Mint as with Ubuntu 18.04 the swap has been changed from a swap partition to a swap file and will be automatic The Root will be your boot partition which I assume will be your SSD.

ancientwithanattitud

9 posts

Wannabe Geek

#2077542 22-Aug-2018 16:00

Folks thanks for all your advice. here is an update.

The suggestions from this forum and another seem largely to agree so I formed a plan of attack based on these.

This was unsuccessful. Not only was the install slow - really slow, hours not minutes - it eventually fell over and spewed out a lot of error messages. Most of these concerned the boot manage and the EFI protocol Not long ago there was discussion about Mint's inability to install with this switched. Having a new motherboard I was not familiar with I was reluctant to delve into the deeper parts of the BIOS. Out of the above discussion came the suggestion that Ubuntu did not have any problems or gotchas with EFI. So I tried Ubuntu. Within ten minutes I had a fully functioning Ubuntu OS on my system. I could not believe how quick it was. While I would have preferred MI int (I am in PC speak 'Visually challenged) I can live with Ubuntu (it has always been my second choice of OS) and over time try to 'personalise' tit yo my needs I know I can dual boot and have Mint 'piggy back' on Ubuntu.

Thanks all for your time.

ANglEAUT

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#2077668 22-Aug-2018 19:42

ancientwithanattitud:

... My original plan was to install Mint 19; Root on the SSD, and Home/swap on the HD.

Is this a viable option? Other suggestions? ...

As per the installation manual, you could just wipe the disks during the install process and easily remove Windows.

If Linux Mint is the only operating system you want to run on this computer and all data can be lost on the hard drive, choose Erase disk and install Linux Mint.

What you don't want is

If another operating system is present on the computer, the installer shows you an option to install Linux Mint alongside it.

Because of your two disk scenario,

If you want to manage the partitions or specify which partitions to use, select Something else.

Looking at the screenshot in the blue !Note section, you would want to ensure you select the option to format your partitions. To achieve your goal, the partition editor would look similar to

/dev/sda (SSD)

/dev/sda1 | type = ext4 | mount = / | format = Y

/dev/sdb (HDD)

/dev/sdb1 | type = swap | mount = | format = Y

/dev/sdb2 | type = ext4 | mount = /home | format = Y

The partitioning guide deals with your request to separate / and /home. There is a specific section dealing with EFI problems.

It is possible that during your live boot, the decision was made to install Mint alongside Windows and thus had to resize partions and move data around, resulting in such long installation times. That does not address the sluggish performance afterwards though.

Please keep this GZ community vibrant by contributing in a constructive & respectful manner.

cddt

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#2077693 22-Aug-2018 21:06

If you want it to look like Mint, you're thinking of the DE (desktop environment), rather than the OS itself. Fortunately with Linux, you can mix and match these. You'll want to check out MATE and Cinnamon.

Personally I use Fedora with Cinnamon, it works well for me. :)

amiga500

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#2094617 21-Sep-2018 15:39

Glad to hear that Ubuntu worked so well! Another way to do this and how I have my PC set up. Doing it like this is very very simple.

1.) Disconnect the 1tb sata cable so the setup will only find the SSD

2.) Do a full install of Ubuntu/Mint choosing the option to delete all partitions.

3.) Once you have Mint/Ubuntu set up the way you like & printer installed & have done the updates, shut it down & re-connect your 1tb drive.

4.) Use the disks program to format the 1tb to Ext3/4.

5.) As your SSD fills up, just copy files across to the 1tb drive. (I like easy & simple!)

In case of any problems there is always Gparted.

The Mint/Ubuntu setup dvd/flash drive should also have Gparted - a simply fabulous piece of software for deleting partitions & setting up partitions. It has never failed me!

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amiga500

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#2094639 21-Sep-2018 16:25

And when using the Disks program or Gparted check about 3 times you are working on the correct disk. Very easy to delete the wrong disk if you are tired and it's late at night... speaking from personal experince btw. lol.

MikeB4

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#2094642 21-Sep-2018 16:37

amiga500:

And when using the Disks program or Gparted check about 3 times you are working on the correct disk. Very easy to delete the wrong disk if you are tired and it's late at night... speaking from personal experince btw. lol.

been there done that, good way to catch up on unused expletives though