Solved Hi! Newer to Linux!~ Surface Pro 8 Install Woes...

[Condobloke]

Did the downloads come from the same source, and was the same 'writer' eg, rufus, balena etcher etc used to write to the usb sticks ?

 

[KGIII]

And disable secure boot too. Running chkdsk from windows after partition will minimize the risk of data corruption .

and disable 'Secure Boot'. I'd try that.

Yup. Got that one covered too. It's worth trying.

It is strange- 2 different distros, On 2 separate USB sticks giving the same error at similar point. Goodnight All!

Hmm... I did a bit of searching, and I have a question. Did you tell it to use the whole disk during the installation?

You should have GParted installed, or something similar. Can you show us a screenshot of your partitions?

 

[tpkusr]

Here is the same problem which is solved by

"I did come up with an approach which resolved the problem for me - basically I installed linux and told it to use the whole disk"

"At the menu where it asked where to install
to selected the option for the entire disk."

You can see the post here

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=292045&sid=79f3537241de5b7999168841b7e920a4&start=20

 

[Condobloke]

I just read that post ^^^^^^ from @tpkusr ....that is a link worth keeping.

( https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=292045&sid=79f3537241de5b7999168841b7e920a4&start=20 )

Another way to fix the missing grub menu after a bad update or for whatever reason is ::

How to Fix Missing GRUB Boot Menu after a Windows Update

This tutorial explains how to restore the GRUB boot menu on Ubuntu, Manjaro, Arch Linux which disappeared after updating Windows on a dual / multi boot machine.

techblog.dev

 

[Condobloke]

And for further reading....

How to Use GRUB Rescue Commands to Fix Linux Boot Failure​

How To Use GRUB Rescue Commands To Fix Boot Failures In Linux

Learn how to use GRUB Rescue commands to fix boot failures in Linux and solve common boot issues on your Linux machine.

www.redswitches.com

 

[CaffeineAddict]

Windows self-destructed while resetting....

Windows got hung-up when I was reinstalling it

I'm confused what exactly did you do with Windows and your drive?

 

[Brickwizard]

I will go over a few points,
if you wish to have a Linux/Windows duel boot then install Windows first
as its an HP business machine check the UEFI/BIOS settings, making sure to disable Fast/quick boot. and Secure boot, and that USB booting is enabled
You do not need to partition the drive yourself if using Mint or one of the other distributions that offer automatic partitioning on installation this is [old but still the similar] image of the Mint partition manager, select install along side [first option]

Make sure the USB is fairly new and of good quality
you may need to turn off graphic acceleration in the UEFI/BIOS

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Thank you all for your Replies!

First I used etcher on windows, when that blew up, I used KDE ISO writer on the Neon stick.

I did tell Mint to erase the disk.- KDE's partitioner did not allow me to save changes. I will work on screenshotting the partitions.

On my two Mint attempts, disk was already wiped.

Part Man Keeps crashing too....

To answer what happened to Win11, I just decided it was not worth it. Gone from my drive-so blank slate.

It seems to just be off somehow- thank you all for your help!

Below is the Gparted Partitions.

Tried to install from OEM~ no dice.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

I'm confused what exactly did you do with Windows and your drive?

I Have a one drive backup- so out the door it went. I tried to Reset it to factory- to move the "MS:ATA" folder. Hung up at 99% for a long time. At that point, I just decided to Chuck it out of the SSD and go full Linux for now.

 

[Trml]

It is strange- 2 different distros, On 2 separate USB sticks giving the same error at similar point.

Have a look at the following instructions: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface/wiki/Surface-Pro-8#grub-issues-with-uefi

The intro paragraph may likely explain the issue you have with the two distros.
The repro itself will be handy after install, but from my understanding not itself be necessary for the basic installation.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

Thank you!

That Intro Paragraph has got my head turning now...

If I first Installed Manjaro, then once the systemd Boot loader was in place, can I dual-boot first- get mint on- then get rid of Manjaro? Or will mint default to GRUB?
I do not think I can roll-back firmware without the W11 end on the thing..
I will try Manjaro Cinnamon and see if that works..

 

[CaffeineAddict]

@Rocketing-warp9
What I was suggesting is to backup your data from Windows to external storage such as secondary disk, external disk, USB or DVD.

Then booting from either Windows or Linux and wiping the whole drive clean using a disk manager such as DISKPART in Windows or fdisk in Linux.

There may also be GUI partitioner in Linux installer which is fine too as long as partition table is deleted and new one made.

Resetting Windows to factory defaults will not defrag your drive to reclaim disk space, so that option is useless for dual boot in your scenario.

Once the drive is completely wiped you do clean Windows install followed by Linux install if you want dual boot.
When reinstalling Windows you need to make sure to use same Windows edition as one that you had previously installed to retain license.

But if you want to completely dump Windows then just install Linux after you wipe the drive.
Then restore your backup to Linux from where you put your backup.

---

As for your screenshot showing Mint failing to install, I see you're installing from Live boot, that's not something I'd do since Live installers are not as robust as when you boot the installer itself, not sure if Mint supports that method.

GUI installers are often clumsy to use and provide limited information about the problem to troubleshoot as you have discovered.

Another problem visible is that Mint uses your partition by mounting it to /target, however your partition should be unused and completely under your control so that you can prepare it by formatting.
It looks like Mint uses some unconventional method to install itself so I can't help with that.

grub fails to install too, you should have looked at logs when that happened to see why, the location of logs was displayed to you.

 

[Trml]

@CaffeineAddict They already deleted Windows on the device. It appears MS hardware is not conforming to some UEFI standard they pressed onto everyone ..

If I first Installed Manjaro, then once the systemd Boot loader was in place, can I dual-boot first- get mint on- then get rid of Manjaro? Or will mint default to GRUB?

Mint will default on grub, but you can definetely shrink the first install (e.g. manjaro) to minimum and convince Mint to place its efi and boot config to dual-boot, and see about replacing its grub (if it turns out the problem) with systemd-boot or another boot loader that works.

You can also, theoretically, boot one ISO, but install another right away - yet that's pretty advanced. Easier indeed is install one that works first, shrink.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

They already deleted Windows on the device. It appears MS hardware is not conforming to some UEFI standard they pressed onto everyone ..

His gparted screenshot shows main partition is not 100% free (there is some data on it), but it has to be 100% free if it was erased and reformatted.
Not only it's not free, it's also mounted by the live boot which makes no sense to me.

edit:
His ESP partition is also not free, it also contains data, the drive was not formatted properly.

 

[Rocketing-warp9]

His gparted screenshot shows main partition is not 100% free (there is some data on it), but it has to be 100% free if it was erased and reformatted.
Not only it's not free, it's also mounted by the live boot which makes no sense to me.

edit:
His ESP partition is also not free, it also contains data, the drive was not formatted properly.

I can not unmount the drive for some reason to even get all the data off or format.
Usually the installer partitioner loads and works the first time, then PartMan just stops working until I restart the live environment.

It will not let me unmount the partition either. It is like it has been encrypted!

Update- Looked at the Var logs. It seems to have Conked out when it says the target drive is busy. Same error on Gparted. Towards the end- it does not see any disk.
I don't know where that comes from..
If these are any help:

 

[Trml]

It will not let me unmount the partition either. It is like it has been encrypted!

If you know for sure you don't need anything on the SSD, it's easy to wipe the SSD fully prior to starting the install wizard. If you want to go that route, boot the ISO live and open a terminal, then execute
lsblk
sudo fdisk /dev/xyz

The xyz device is the SSD/NVME you see the partitions on in the prior command output. fdisk allow you to create a clean partitioning from the main menu (press m for help; menu key g should create a clean gpt partitioning), save it on exit and rerun lsblk - partitions should be gone.

 

[Brickwizard]

ok so give this a try
boot Mint LMDE or similar Debian based distro with a live option, install the distro to that live option [do not install to the machine]open the menu an look for "Discs" when it loads find your HDD/SSD on the list click to highlight, then click on the 3 vertical dots [top right of task bar] and select format

 

[CaffeineAddict]

I can not unmount the drive for some reason to even get all the data off or format.

It appears this data is Mint that was already installed in live boot?

Usually the installer partitioner loads and works the first time, then PartMan just stops working until I restart the live environment.

Error message shows you're not connected to network during installation, or DNS doesn't work, but that's required to finish the installation.

 

[Trml]

His ESP partition is also not free, it also contains data, the drive was not formatted properly.

This may be usual behaviour. The install wizard can't know what efi is still needed later. But main issue I believe is parted crashing halfway through the install, as quoted by OP.

 

[CaffeineAddict]

But main issue I believe is parted crashing halfway through the install, as quoted by OP.

Yeah, because it can't download files, because there is no internet connection, or no DNS configuration.