Linux Mint: From scratch - Part III
Now you've tried Mint, you'll want to install it properly. If you're currently running Windows, there are two ways ...
The really easy way
Pop in the bootable download disk you created last
time and wait for AutoPlay to start.
Choose Run mint4win.exe and and click Install inside Windows. (You'll need 4GB of free disk space.)
Enter your password, click Install ...
... and you're away.
Once the files have been copied, you'll be given the option to reboot. Choose Yes and the installation will complete.
After that, each time you boot you'll be given choice of which operating system to run ...
... followed by the usual Grub / Linux menu.
If you later want to remove Linux Mint, boot into Windows and remove the program via Control Panel in the usual way.
As you'll note from the Linux Mint Menu (above), the only downsides to this method are that Hibernation won't work and there's a slight disk performance hit. To do a 'proper' install, you need ...
The easy way
Insert the bootable download disk (or USB) you created last time and reboot the machine. (If you have trouble getting a USB stick to boot, check out these links.)Wait till Linux Mint starts, then click the Install Linux Mint icon.
Work through the first couple of screens headed Welcome and Preparing to install until you come to one headed Installation type. Hopefully you'll have an option like this ...
Obviously, Install Linux Mint alongside Windows is the option to pick. Click it, and you're away.
However, if Windows is occupying all of your hard disk space, you'll only get a choice of two items ...
You can choose Something else and work through repartitioning the disk yourself, but if you're new to all this and are currently running Windows 7, there's an easier way. Try this: Making space for Linux Mint in Windows 7.
If you're using Windows XP, you have a little more work to do. Try this: Making space for Linux Mint in Windows XP.
The rest of the installation is very straightforward and will take around 10-15 minutes. At the end you'll be prompted to reboot, and when you do you'll see a menu like this allowing you to choose between Linux Mint and Windows ...
Select your desired operating system and you're away!
Making space
for Linux Mint in Windows 7
In Windows 7, making space for Linux Mint is easy.Click the Start button, type "partitions" in the Search panel and choose Create and format hard disk partitions.
Right-click the C: drive and choose Shrink Volume ...
The system will check to see how much space is free ...
... and you can then enter a suitable shrink value. Linux Mint will run in as little as 4GB but I'd suggest using at least 10GB.
When it's done, you'll have a new partition containing unallocated space.
You don't need to format this. Linux Mint will spot it and sort it out when you next boot from the LM boot disk. Do that and head back to The easy way.
Alternatively, you might want to install LM with full control over the partitions it uses. In which case, go here.
Making
space for Linux Mint in Windows XP
First off, defragment the disk and check it for errors. In Windows:- Start My Computer or Explorer, right-click the C: drive and choose Properties.
- Click the Tool tab and choose Defragment Now.
- When that's done, click on the Check Now button under Error Checking. This will require a reboot.
- When XP restarts, it'll do the error-checking then open normally. Shut it down again and boot the Linux Mint installation disk.
While that's going on, make a few notes. How much RAM do you have? And how much disk space do you want to give to Linux Mint?
Controlling
the partitions used by Linux Mint
Whether you install alongside Windows XP or Windows 7, you may want to
work through a "full" installation where you control which partitions
LM uses. Here goes ...In the example below I have 4GB of RAM and have decided to split my 100GB disk in half. Although LM will run in 4GB of disk space, you'll probably want room for your files and to install other stuff so I'd recommend at least 10GB.
The ideal way to install Linux is to spread it over three partitions: a root partition (/) to store all system and program files, a swap partition (/swap) for temporary storage, and a home partition (/home) for all user files. This isn't compulsory. You can install it all under a / (root) partition and ignore the swap file, but the three-partition split recommended.
Boot the Linux Mint disk, choose Install Linux Mint and work your way through to the Installation Type screen. Here select the option Something Else.
This will display of your current disk(s). Linux uses a more logical disk labelling system than Windows. All disks are prefixed with /dev (for "device") then either "/sd" for "SATA drive" or "/hd" for a regular hard drive followed by a letter: "a" for the first drive, "b" for the second, etc. The partition number then follows. Primary partitions are numbered 1-4 for historical reasons, and so-called "logical" partitions from 5 onwards.
In this case we have one single 100GB partition (/dev/sda1) occupying the whole disk.
Select /dev/sda1 partition and click Change.
This will open the Edit a partition window.
All we want to change here is the size of the partition. I've decided to split my disk in half so 107,373 divided by 2 is the figure I enter here. Don't click on anything else apart from OK as we don't actually want to use the Windows partition, just resize it.
Ta-da! We've created some free space!
Let's split that up as per our calculations. Select free space and click Add.
Enter the size of the / (root) partition -- in thousands of megabytes. Click the arrow head beside Mount point and choose /. Then click OK.
Done. We've added a 15GB logical partition.
Scroll down, select the remaining free space and click Add.
This time we're adding the /swap partition (4GB). Simply select swap area in the Use as dropdown and click OK.
Done.
All that remains it to set the remaining free space to /home. Select it and click Add.
We want to use all the remaining space so simply select the /home Mount point and click OK.
All finished. Here's how the new partition layout looks:
Click Install Now and continue.
PC World is New Zealand’s top selling computing and technology magazine.