Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon (I think)_ Installation problems and navigation

[wizardfromoz]

I wouldn't causes more problems than it solves (LVM).

Just take the option that says Install alongside Windows - the bottom option of Something Else is for more experienced users.

Once you have the Linux up and running on the Lenovo, and the ASUS as a contingency we can show you how to completely remove Windows and redeem the space.

Keep the Live usb stick and label it "keep this" in tiny letters, they can come in handy.

Off for a beer soon.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Okay, I'm back and no it's not installed yet. I ran into a little issue. It has to do with my cats... And me. Just a little problem with cords all over the place, cats playing with them, me messing with monitors, I had to stand up, take the USB cables from my cats, things froze up, wireless keyboard and mouse weren't working. I couldn't do anything! I forced a shut down and took a deep breath....

I started the Lenovo up again. Couldn't boot from USB device. Went straight to Windows. Wireless mouse and keyboard still not working. Shut down again, problems not better, begin to worry if the Lenovo is okay and scared I would have to bow down to the Giant tonight.

Thankfully I didn't quit out of frustration. I finally realized that the USB cord for my phone (dedicated internet connection) and the USB port came unplugged when the cats and I were messing with cords and monitors. The USB drive and wireless keyboard/mouse receiver were plugged into the USB port. Things made a lot more sense. It wasn't the Lenovo. It was a "User Error".

And things were smooth after that.

I resolved the issue of using two displays instead one and changed the resolution. I won't be messing with 2 screens and opening up the laptop trying to get things right and figure out where the hell my mouse pointer is. The cords are hidden away, I have a spray bottle of water to scare the cats away if they think about jumping up on my desk.

I think I'm good to go now! Wish me luck!

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

I have a concern.
I'm on my second attempt to install Linux. The first time there were errors and couldn't be installed. Now it seems to be taking an unusually long time "Getting the time form a network time server...

So maybe it's the VPN on my phone dedicated for internet connections.
I use the VPN primarily because it speeds things up, A LOT. I have a setting on it that blocks connections without a VPN. Using this setting seems to stabilze the connection. I have this VPN on my other phone too. If I use that setting certain apps don't work. My bank app is one of them. So I'm wondering if my VPN is interfering.

If it fails to install again, I'm going to turn off the VPN before trying again.

The first failed install went a lot faster. I'm going to time how much longer it takes getting the time...

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Is this normal?
It's been more than an hour and it's still "Getting the time from network time server".


I'm looking at the (events?)
There are a lot of:

• Warnings, Source ID # was not found when attempting to remove it,
• Messages about my monitor and wireless keyboard and mouse are lagging behind
• I'm seeing a lot of "failures to remove", "errors", "warnings", "exiting" "your system is too slow"

I can't skip it either.
This doesn't seem normal to me.

 

[wizardfromoz]

It may be the case that the failed install has taken up space on the hard drive that is "confusing" the second attempt.

Or it may not.

I would be inclined to get the ASUS up and running first, and then try again with the Lenovo.

At that time, you could choose Erase disk and install Linux and see how it goes.

And do it with a fresh head on your shoulders?

Wiz

 

[wizardfromoz]

BTW having Firefox on and running adds a considerable overhead in terms of time taken to install and resources consumed (CPU, RAM and so on), so it is a thought to perform the install without that factor.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

It may be the case that the failed install has taken up space on the hard drive that is "confusing" the second attempt.

Or it may not.

I would be inclined to get the ASUS up and running first, and then try again with the Lenovo.

At that time, you could choose Erase disk and install Linux and see how it goes.

And do it with a fresh head on your shoulders?

Wiz

I think I'll do that. I need to eat, I have a head ache now (from not eating! Not Linux!) It's late here so I'm also tired!

I have 2 HDD's in my ASUS. One of them has Win 8. The other one is a 500 GB hard disk drive from my old computer. I did a DOD wipe on it. I just have to move some plugs on the MOBO. I have extra "wires" to connect the 2nd HDD.

I know wire isn't the proper name. I'm pretty sure you know what I'm talking about though! The flat ribbon like stuff with funny looking plugs. I never connected it because I haven't needed it. I have a total of 3 HDD. The 3rd is an external back up drive.

I might try to figure out how to wipe the partition that was created tonight and create a new one with more GB.

I got a good start on getting wet feet tonight!

You I just thought of this. I have that old HP laptop with the Vista OS. Vista was a totally useless OS and not worth preserving. Maybe I'll wipe that tomorrow and start again with a perfectly clean drive. No wait. A DOD wipe takes something like 12 hours. Maybe just a couple of passes instead....

I'm just now getting a taste of freedom. I have no intention of waiting a second longer than is necessary!

 

[wizardfromoz]

Just brainstorming for Ron (lateR ON) - if you have another failed install, I would consider getting another usb stick and burning maybe 21.3 to it, using Etcher (it can be installed to Windows), it could be that there is something not kosher with the current stick.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

BTW having Firefox on and running adds a considerable overhead in terms of time taken to install and resources consumed (CPU, RAM and so on), so it is a thought to perform the install without that factor.

Yeah, I know better than to do that... If I wipe the HP it won't be a problem.

 

[wizardfromoz]

The flat ribbon like stuff with funny looking plugs.

Cable.

 

[wizardfromoz]

.. If I wipe the HP it won't be a problem.

Cool. Where there's a will there is a way.

Once you gain experience with just one working Linux, you can take leaps and bounds with computers that are just gathering dust.

Later

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Cool. Where there's a will there is a way.

Once you gain experience with just one working Linux, you can take leaps and bounds with computers that are just gathering dust.

Later

I actually have 4! If I could find a Core2 Quad processor, I would have 5. I never throw out anything I might be able to use later on. I still have everything but the CPU. Oh, I did use the case for something... But there's always card board. I prefer to recycle everything possible.

I'm going to erase everything on the pen drive and down load 21.3. May as well! Is Etcher different than balenaEtcher? That's what I used last time.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Well, well. I just got a message that installation is complete. I just have to reboot. I'm going to try that. But if somethings wrong, I already have a plan in place.

I'll send a message from my tablet if it doesn't work out.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Well...

I don't know yet. It rebooted to Windows. The last time I had 2 operating systems on one HDD (Vista and XP), I was asked to choose between them at startup. I was hoping the Giant wouldn't notice a a nicer OS sitting right next to him... No such luck. I did get into the boot menu easily, but it didn't show Linux. Tomorrow I'll go deeper nto BIOS for hopefully more boot options.

Or I might just wipe the drive on the HP and start over without the Giant hovering over me. Yeah, this sounds like a better plan.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

A bunch of things in this thread just clicked in my mind. I think I might know how everything got messed up along the way.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Unfortunately my progress is going to have to be put on hold
I'm starting a new job tomorrow and I've run out of time. I'll pick this back up this weekend. Hopefully between now and then I'll have the ASUS up and running with a clean HDD for linux. I'm going to wipe the USB drive and burn 23.3 instead of 23.2. My feet are good and wet now!

I'll be back! Until then, have a great rest of the week!

AND

I want to thank everyone for all the help and letting me rant about the obstacles in "Off Topic".

 

[bob466]

I assume I'm trying to install 21.2 The the release notes link takes me to a page for Linux Mint 21.2 Cinnamon.

Linux Mint 21.2

I'm being given errors at every stage of install that is addressed in the release notes for 21.2. In a Windows OS, I know how to find out what version I have downloaded. I haven't been able to figure it out in Linux. I also noticed that there is a newer release, 21.3.

My questions may sound somewhat ridiculous. But I'm not making any assumptions. I'd rather ask a silly question and do things correctly rather than run round and round searching the internet for a solution. My time is limited. I'm anxious to get this installed. I'm ready to install Linux on the entire drive.

• How can I tell which version I downloaded?
  • Right clicking to look at "Properties" doesn't tell me.
  • I can't seem to figure out how to look at the USB drive to find the version
• Can I download a different version to this live Linux desktop and then install it without burning it to the USB stick?

Thank you!

It's very easy to tell what version you've downloaded...it tells you on the ISO...

When you go to the Mint web site...you choose the version you want and download... it does have a name.

Once downloaded...burn the ISO to your Flash Drive with Etcher...Boot to it and double click Install...when you come to this...

Choose this option and go from there...easy.
When you Boot to Mint on the Flash Drive this is called a Live Session...to install another version of Mint...you need to download it and burn it to your Flash Drive...you can't do this any other way.

If you're installing Mint to a computer that has more than one Internal Drive...it's best that the Drive you're installing Mint to is only Drive connected to the Motherboard...otherwise you're going to have problems...hope this helps. Forget about Ventoy for now get Mint installed first.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

I can't believe this. Last night I had some issues trying to install Linux next to Windows. Now I can't load the Windows desktop. I have a pretty good idea what happened.

I think what happened is this.

1. I tried several times to install Linux Mint 21.2. Because of the errors I was getting, I stopped the installation and started over. I did this a few times each time getting a lot of errors. I thought that by quitting the installation, nothing would be written on the HDD. I'm not sure if this true or not.

2. I misunderstood/ failed to clarify some of the advice I was given.

The release notes for 21.2 mentioned all the errors I was having. I was told that I could just download the updates to upgrade to 21.3 I think this is part of where things went dreadfully wrong. This is where I should have clarified and not made assumptions

BEFORE INSTALLING Linux AT ALL, I downloaded Linux updates believing it would update the ISO. I was really excited about that. I couldn't believe it was that easy! I downloaded and "applied" updates. Then I found out it can't be done that way. So I tried to proceed with installing Linux next to windows instead. That didn't work. I tried twice. I was tired and hungry. I went to bed.

So I suspect happened is that there was no room left on the partition for Linux.

Today, I couldn't sign into the Windows desktop and the recovery files are gone. So I booted into Live Linux, which I'm using right now. I tried to install Linux over Windows, to just erase the entire HDD, install Linux Mint 21.2 and then update to 21.3. I tried to install it twice. It's not working.

So now I'm thinking either something is also/ or wrong with my pen drive, or trying to update the ISO to 21.3 corrupted some files. The USB drive may have corrupted installation files, or the HDD has corrupted files. I don't know why Windows won't load, what happened to the recovery files or why Linux won't install. I'm feeling a little dumb right now. But I'm grateful it happened on this Lenovo instead of the ASUS.

MY NEW PLAN and back up plan.

I do have this Linux Live desktop. I'm not going to try to install Linux right now. I need to have at least ONE way of getting on the internet. My job depends on it.

So what I'm going to do is this:

• Keep the Lenovo as is. I'm not even going to turn it off.
• I'm going to fix the ASUS... I hope! The stuff I need arrived today.
• After fixing it, I'm going to erase the pen drive, reformat it and burn Linux Mint 21.3 to it.
• Then, I'm going to move cables around in the tower so I can boot to the 2nd HDD instead.There is nothing on it, at all. I did a DOD wipe on it several years ago.
• Then, I'm going to boot from the USB drive with Linux Mint 21.3.
• As soon as I'm in the Linux desktop, I'm going to install it.

If none of this works, I still have a working Windows Desktop on a separate HDD and I have 2 more extra laptops. I can wipe the 2nd HDD if I have to and start over.

I swear to bejesus! If ANYONE deserves to be free of the Giant, to have a friendly OS I swear it HAS TO BE ME!!! I've sweat blood, cried, screamed...
I am so done with Windows. I'm more determined than EVER!

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

It's very easy to tell what version you've downloaded...it tells you on the ISO...
View attachment 17933
When you go to the Mint web site...you choose the version you want and download... it does have a name.

Once downloaded...burn the ISO to your Flash Drive with Etcher...Boot to it and double click Install...when you come to this...
View attachment 17934
Choose this option and go from there...easy.
When you Boot to Mint on the Flash Drive this is called a Live Session...to install another version of Mint...you need to download it and burn it to your Flash Drive...you can't do this any other way.

If you're installing Mint to a computer that has more than one Internal Drive...it's best that the Drive you're installing Mint to is only Drive connected to the Motherboard...otherwise you're going to have problems...hope this helps. Forget about Ventoy for now get Mint installed first.

I'm starting over from scratch with a completely blank HDD and USB pen with nothing on it but Linux Mint 21.3.

 

[Sherri is a Cat]

Stop downloading updates etc etc

The best way forward is always....simple

briefly ...is the live version running ok?.....

If you were to reboot the live now.....it will reboot to what it was initially.

In other words you will ;lose' any updates you have installed etc etc

That is ok....that is expected/known behaviour for a live system

Tell me if any errors are popping up on screen of the live.....anything that appers odd or if you click on menu and it doesnt work ?....

If it seems to be working ok....

On the desktop, there is an icon which is named :Install Linux Mint 21.2

Double click on that, and follow the prompts

When it asks if you wish to install multi media stuff.....click on ok/Yes

when you see the below screen.....

.....click on the TOP choice. This will erase windows format the drive and install Linux Mint 21.2
WARNING::...It WILL ERASE EVERYTHING ON THAT DRIVE

After you have done that....you can basically sit back....drink coffee/tea/whatever.....and get bored watching

It may take 10 - 20 minutes...depending on cpu etc ect etc

When it finishes, it will say onscreen, to Reboot....do that......a few seconds into that reboot, it will ask you to take the usb stcik OUT and then press enter. Do that and just wait for it reboot normally

I didn't see this last night...