Can't get PC to boot from USB to instal Linux

ferry

Well two questions really.
I'd like to instal Linux alongside my old XP system just go see what it's like. I have downloaded Cinnamon to a USB stick, but despite setting my BIOS options to do so my PC just won't boot from USB.
Any ideas what I would be doing wrong?

Also, can anyone advise me with partitioning the hard drive to achieve the dual boot. A bit worried about losing stuff and having to reinstall everything.!

Thanks as usual
F x

Slithery

How did you create the USB drive?

You can't just copy the .iso file onto it, you need to use something like this...
http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/

Fightsback

Did you actually create a bootable USB stick rather than just copy the ISO to the stick ?

http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/05/how-to-create-bootable-linux-mint-usb.html

henm2

A good way of creating a bootable USB flash drive is by using Rufus
https://rufus.akeo.ie/ a windows program

Also if your computer is using XP then it is quite likely you need an operating system slightly lighter than Mint's cinnamon version. Try Mint's xfce instead.
Linux Mint 17.3 xfce 32 bit version http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
I use xfce on a netbook and cinnamon on my desktop (dual booted with Windows 10)

Before doing anything on your existing system always back up your existing important files pictures etc (you are probably doing this already aren't you?). The install procedure for Mint is very easy as it guides you carefully through and one of the screens offers to install the system side by side with your existing windows system. No need to get too involved with the partitioning process .Just click the defaults and you will have it up and running in less than 20 minutes.

ferry

Fightsback wrote: »

Did you actually create a bootable USB stick rather than just copy the ISO to the stick ?

http://www.everydaylinuxuser.com/2014/05/how-to-create-bootable-linux-mint-usb.html

Yes.I used Unetbootin to create the ISO to stick. Looks a lot like PendriveLinux.

Can I bypass this effort and install xfce direct to hard drive partitioning along the way during install?

henm2

At one time I used to use unetbootin when I created USB flash drives with multiple linux ISOs. I then found Yumi from the same site http://www.pendrivelinux.com/yumi-multiboot-usb-creator/ was more reliable when it came to doing such stuff. I nowadays still do multiboot linux sticks but use something called Multisystem, but you need an existing linux system to do that one.

For your needs I would recommend Yumi for booting off the flash drive (Rufus is another easy method). You can get several different Linux ISOs on to your stick using Yumi. Boot Linux Mint 17.3 xfce from the flash drive and once you get to the 'live' desktop screen just click the install icon and follow the steps previously mentioned. All very easy and you will have a dual boot Windows/Linux system in no time.

ferry

Thanks. I may have missed something but will I need to get BIOS to boot from the usb drive with Yumi as I have have an issue doing this?

stator

Another useful tool:
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

esuhl

I always seem to have problems booting from USB images. I gave up trying long ago and always use CD/DVDs now.

As for partitioning, ALWAYS backup your data before playing around. Personally, I like to prepare the partitions before the installation process by booting a GParted CD.

http://gparted.org/livecd.php

Note that 512-byte block devices should have partitions aligned to cylinders, whilst 4KB block devices need to be aligned to MiB. You can check the block size of a device by examinig the contents of /sys/block/sdX/queue/physical_block_size or by using hdparm:

# hdparm -I /dev/sd[I]X[/I] | grep Physical

It's generally a good idea to mount /home on a separate partition to make it easier to keep your files and settings if you need to reinstall the OS. A swap partition is also a good idea (as it performs better than a swap file). And personally, I have a separate /boot partition.

If you have an SSD, you might want to keep /var on a separate partition to minimise SSD-writes.

I tend to use the ext2 file system for /boot, ext3 for /home (due to it's reliability), ext3 for / (root) or ext4 if it's on an SSD, and ext3 for /var, although I was tempted to use ReiserFS for its efficiency at working with small files.

Oh, and the lsblk command will give you a list of block devices, which should help identify the device name for each drive/partition.

Hope that helps. :-)

henm2

To access the BIOS, you’ll need to restart your computer and press a specific key at the start of the boot process. Every computer brand has a different key This key is generally displayed on-screen during the boot process. For example, you may see a message that says “Press <DEL”> to enter setup” or “Press F2 to access the BIOS.” Press the required key at the correct time and your computer’s BIOS will appear. Once in you should be able to change the boot order easily so that it boots from usb flash drive.
If your computer does not support the changing of boot order in bios to usb flash drive then use this utility https://www.plop.at/en/bootmanagers.html

virgo17

henm2 wrote: »

A good way of creating a bootable USB flash drive is by using Rufus
https://rufus.akeo.ie/

Another vote for Rufus. Over the years I have used most of the USB boot stick creators including those mentioned in this thread.

I always seem to come back to Rufus as it seems to handle any ISO I throw at it, linux, windows, recovery boot ISO's etc etc ...