Install Linux on a thumbdrive or hard drive

[Mickmac]

Complete newbie here sorry.
Would like to know if I can download/install Linux on a thumbdrive or a hard drive and run it on a laptop that already has Windows 10 on it ?

Don't really want to remove the Windows 10 in case I botch this up, but tbh I am sick of it locking up, freezing etc. and would like to give Linux a go.

Hoping there is a tutorial for dummies like me.

Thanks

 

[Deleted member 58530]

Perhaps this may help.

It's written for Linux Mint 18 however will work for other mainstream Linux distros.

Have a read.

**How to TRY Linux Mint on your Windows PC**

First, you can -- __and should__ -- try Linux Mint before switching to it. Fortunately, unlike other operating systems, Linux distros like Mint make it easy to give them a test run before installing it. First you'll need to download a copy of Linux Mint, which comes with three different...

www.linux.org

 

[Vrai]

Will work with other distros also;

Try Ubuntu before you install it | Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an open source software operating system that runs from the desktop, to the cloud, to all your internet connected things.

ubuntu.com

 

[Mickmac]

Perhaps this may help.

It's written for Linux Mint 18 however will work for other mainstream Linux distros.

Have a read.

**How to TRY Linux Mint on your Windows PC**

First, you can -- __and should__ -- try Linux Mint before switching to it. Fortunately, unlike other operating systems, Linux distros like Mint make it easy to give them a test run before installing it. First you'll need to download a copy of Linux Mint, which comes with three different...

www.linux.org

Thanks very much !

 

[Mickmac]

Thanks again for the help everyone,

OK, so I downloaded Linux Lite to a 16gb thumb drive.
Ready to go into the bios and try it out.
Have one question though, after it loaded I went to 'This PC' to make sure it was on the stick and I noticed this -

"DVD Drive (G Linux Lite 4.2
0 bytes free of 1.31 GB
CDFS

I don't understand what that is ???

 

[Vrai]

"DVD Drive (G Linux Lite 4.2
0 bytes free of 1.31 GB
CDFS

I don't understand what that is ???

It looks like it is your thumb drive with Linux Lite on it.

Remember - you will need to "restart" the computer with the Linux Lite USB thumb drive plugged in and choose the option to boot from the operating system on the thumb drive.

P.S. Windows can be rather obstinate and refuse to read a Linux filesystem.

 

[Mickmac]

Thanks Vrai, will have a go at loading it soon

 

[dos2unix]

Pretty much any "live" iso of any Linux distro will do this.
I think that's why most of them exist.