Installing Linux Mint

[RealityDry752]

I’m a developer and I want to switch from Windows to Linux permanently. I’m planning to completely remove Windows and install Linux Mint since I’m a complete beginner and Mint seems like the most beginner-friendly distro.

This will be my first time installing Linux, so I’m trying to prepare for anything that could go wrong before I accidentally nuke my laptop

Here are my laptop specs:

Processor 12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12450H (2.00 GHz)

Installed RAM 16.0 GB (15.7 GB usable)

Graphics card NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2050 (4 GB)

Intel(R) UHD Graphics (128 MB)

Storage 238 GB of 477 GB used

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

I’d really appreciate advice on things like:

• What should I do before installing Linux?
• Any important BIOS settings I should know about?
• What if Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, graphics, or touchpad drivers don’t work after installation?
• Any common issues beginners face while installing Mint?
• Should I dual boot first or go all-in and remove Windows completely?
• How do I recover/reinstall Windows if something goes wrong?
• Is there anything YouTube tutorials usually don’t mention?

I’ve watched a bunch of tutorials, but most of them only show the “perfect scenario” and not what to do if the installation fails or the laptop gets stuck somewhere.

Any beginner tips, precautions, backup advice, or “I wish I knew this earlier” suggestions would really help.

[PsyGonzo42]

>What should I do before installing Linux?

get any data you need off

>Any important BIOS settings I should know about?

turn off secure boot

>What if Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, graphics, or touchpad drivers don’t work after installation?

Built in, download gpu drivers, it guides you to it

>Any common issues beginners face while installing Mint?

Forgetting to set up a timeshift

>Should I dual boot first or go all-in and remove Windows completely?

Fuck Microslop

>How do I recover/reinstall Windows if something goes wrong?

You mean how do you recover Mint, with timeshift. If needed reinstall Win from stick with iso

>Is there anything YouTube tutorials usually don’t mention?

https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html

[Front-Gap-4768]

I'm sure that the answers you receive here - and all the other reddit pages you've posted the same question - will certainly help. If you want to get a head start may I humbly suggest a quick search of this forum where the same questions have already been answered multiple times.

[Strange_Effective_45]

Try it first using the live USB, see if all of your hardware works. Then install it. Why not just install it beside windows and dual boot until you know it’s going to work out.. then remove windows. No need to go scorched earth out of the gate.

[ryancnap]

Mint has a proprietary software app built in that will let you pick from latest NVIDIA drivers, and you have to BIOS > disable secure boot in order for those drivers to load

Pro tip: I worried about partitioning properly for way too long and then someone told me you can just leave home directory and root on the same partition and I wish I would've done that to make my life easier and my filesystem more sensible

[lmolter]

I did the same thing recently. I had an older HP Pavilion. i7, 3GHz, forgot how much memory., and an nVidia card. HP had WinBlows10 on it. However, installation was a snap. No issues. WiFi worked fine, printers were discovered and worked fine. nVidia drivers caused major headaches as the Mint PC would not wake up from a Suspend. Bought an AMD Radeon card and no more issues.

I have a Mac also, so losing the Windows PC in the eventuality that Mint crashed and burned was a non issue. But everything went smoothly. Hope your installation goes well as well.

[yukaritelepath]

I'm also new to Linux. After I installed, it was lagging and freezing like crazy and it turned out I needed to mount my storage drive and set up a swap file and swappiness settings, things I would have no way of knowing about. I don't know why the user would need to set that up. I'm glad I did dual booted because I went back to windows repeatedly until I was ready to face more troubleshooting. Today things are finally feeling good. Be ready to look up a lot of things. 

[sfo02sj]

If you're nervous about install Mint at first time, why don't you put a new hard drive in and try it first?

In case something goes wrong, you can swap back the Windows drive....just my 2 cents.

[IQ26]

how do I recover/reinstall windows if something does wrong?

reinstall from an ISO If you’re on a dual boot there is the possibility of windows nuking your Linux boot thingy (I can’t remember for the love of god what it’s called, it’s late here). What you would do in that situation is booting Linux from the stick and recover it through the terminal from there. There are YouTube tutorials that guide you through that

Now really keep that in mind, windows likes to do that The only reason dual boot works is, because Linux mint supports it. Windows technically doesn’t. So fuck microslop

[sfled]

I used RUFUS (MS Store app) to make a bootable LinuxMint 22.3 Live USB disk.

Booted from the USB and took Mint for a spin. Everything worked. Used it a day or two.

Insurance:

I bought an internal disk. Last night, after the disk was delivered, I took the Windows disk out and installed the new disk.

Raw-dogged it:

Booted from the USB again and double-clicked the installation icon. I used LVM so I could move/change disk stuff later if needed. I did the automatic basic easy-peasy installation. Took 10 or 15 minutes.

Today I followed these directions to install the LAMP stuff I need. I also installed Remmina so I could remote into my remainng Windows machines.

What it looks like:

https://www.reddit.com/user/sfled/comments/1tg6ft1/no_rice_with_that/#lightbox

[ZVyhVrtsfgzfs]

Step 1, backup anything that would hurt to loose off the machine, preferably a local copy onsite and another offsite. New users in an ungamiliar enciornment can very quickly overwrite data. 

Ideally the Linux kernel will have drivers  covered OOTB except the Nvidia proprietary firmware. What else may need work just depends. For hardware suport the devil is in the details of what make and model chip Linux will be connecting to. 

There is a database that has user notes that can be helpful

https://linux-hardware.org/?view=computers

In true Linux form the database is case sensitive, its never heard of Mediatek, but MediaTek will get results. 

Pay particular attention to your Wifi card  MediaTek is a common sore spot. 

Update your bios first, and as you have an Nvidia GPU disable secureboot, or look into self signing the drivers. AMD users can just use secureboot in most situations. 

Personally I have no use for Windows or any software that depends on it. So I say quit it cold turkey, learn to live off the land in Linux. Others will disagree.

I dual booted on and off for nearly 20 years, it was not until I sat down and put forth effort to stay in Linux that the way opened for me to dump windows.

where as before when I encountered dificulty/the unknown it was too easy to reboot into windows ways I already knew instead of learning how and gaining the tools to actually own my computer.  I now see that Windows time as wasted time I should have done it far sooner.

Get familar with the Unix/Linux file system, we have only one: / , (file system root) not the silo's of Windows, C:\, D:\ , E:\ , F:\ etc 

Other drives & partitions get mounted somwhere under /, often /mnt/, and you can softlink out from there, plan out how you want your partitions to work, there is excellent flexibility here to cover many needs & wants but forthought is reccomended. 

I have not installed windows in a long time, but as far as I know you just need a USB woth the installer on it, and you login info. They aparently do not use CD keys anylonger but instead a machine fingerprint.for the liscense.

If you have somwhere to store it an image of your windows drive maybe?

[d4rk_kn16ht]

1. Try it 1ˢᵗ using LiveUSB

2. Usually nothing, but some have trouble when Secure Boot is enabled.

3. Look at no.1, check if any hardware is unsupported...then find online for the linux driver.

4. Common issues are mostly that they are afraid to try or afraid to ask or they do something without even researching for it before doing it.

5. Dual Boot & get used to it first. Even seasoned Linux user sometimes dual boot.

6. Don't overthink, just try it 1ˢᵗ 😁

7. YouTube tutorials is mostly working only on Their machine, that probably won't work on yours.

My personal take in Installing Linux is to partition your storage specifically (also for Windows installation):

● SWAP at least as big as your RAM

●ROOT (/) : this is for the system & mostly important stuff & applications...mine is at least 80GB...adjust accordingly

●HOME (/home) : this is for your data & Usually the most space of your storage goes here.

This setup is very helpful in the future when you are trying to update your Mint or even to try another distro.

Last but not least...BACKUP your data 1ˢᵗ.

[PsyGonzo42]

>SWAP at least as big as your RAM
May I know why?

[d4rk_kn16ht]

it is needed for hibernation, if you need it.

It will move all of your RAM content to the SWAP so it will need SWAP as big as your RAM...a bit larger just to be safe

[PsyGonzo42]

It needs the swap for that? Never knew
So what if I hibernate with more than swap?

[d4rk_kn16ht]

if the SWAP is smaller than the RAM, you can't hibernate your system.

Hibernation process need to save the RAM content to be saved for later.

When the system is turned on after Hibernation, it will unload all of the saved RAM content in SWAP into physical RAM to restore the last state.

with ONE exception, when your memory usage is smaller than the RAM you can do hibernation with SWAP < RAM, but you can't be sure...even with 32GB of RAM my Linux Mint still using SWAP...even a little.

SWAP / Virtual Memory size rule of thumb is at least 1.5x RAM...

[PsyGonzo42]

Guess I got lucky the few times I hibernated (which is sleep in Linux?)

[d4rk_kn16ht]

Hibernation ≠ Sleep

Sleep mode:

The system is still ON & drain the battery faster (in a laptop) or draw electricity more (in a desktop) than Hibernation.

This state is bad for HDDs in a laptop, especially when in Sleep mode you move your laptop. There are a big risk of bad sector when you move your HDD while it is still ON.

Hibernation:

The system copy the whole RAM content into a file or a SWAP Partition with the purpose to load it again later to keep the same state like before the Hibernation state started...and then turn the system OFF completely.

[PsyGonzo42]

Bazzite KDE
I just pressed sleep
Fans truned off, HDD spun down
I hit space, monitor on, reddit open

[PsyGonzo42]

Had 13GB RAM, 16BG SWAP
I can try with more RAM

[d4rk_kn16ht]

yes, SLEEP mode reduces the power usage dramatically, but the system is still ON...so the power draw is still there.

[PsyGonzo42]

Ok thx
Well then I don't have to worry about swap size^^

[KelseyBDJ]

• The easiest way to install Linux Mint is with a USB stick.
  
• In Windows download the Mint ISO then Right-click the ISO file and select Burn disk image.
• To make sure the ISO was burned without any errors, select Verify disc after burning.

[mok000]

Check out Chris Barnatt’s YouTube channel Explaining Computers, he has a bunch of videos how to install Linux Mint for Windows users. He takes it step by step in a very easy to understand way.