Boot linux mint from windows

How to Install Linux Mint 20 Alongside Windows 10 or 8 in Dual-Boot UEFI Mode

Linux Mint 20 has been released in wild by the Linux Mint project development team as a new long term support edition which will receive support and security updates until 2025.

This tutorial will guide you on how you can install Linux Mint 20 in dual-boot with a variant Microsoft Operating System, such as Windows 8, 8.1 or 10, on machines with EFI firmware and a pre-installed version of Microsoft OS.

If you’re looking for a non-dual-boot installation on Laptop, Desktop, or Virtual Machine, you should read: Installation Guide of Linux Mint 20 Codename ‘Ulyana’.

Assuming that your laptop or desktop system comes pre-installed with Windows 10 or Windows 8.1 or 8 you should enter the UEFI menu and disable the following settings: Secure Boot and Fast Boot features.

If the computer has no pre-installed OS and you intend to use Linux and Windows in dual-boot, first install Microsoft Windows and then proceed with Linux Mint 20 installation.

Download Linux Mint 20

In case you own a UEFI computer stay away from the 32-bit version of Linux Mint because it will only boot and work with BIOS machines, while the 64-bit ISO image can boot with BIOS or UEFI computers.

Step 1: Shrink HDD Space for Dual-Boot

1. In case your computer comes pre-installed with Microsoft Windows on a single partition, logon to Windows system with a user who has administrator privileges, press [Win+r] keys to open run prompt and type the following command in order to open Disk Management tool.

Open Windows Disk Management

2. Right-click on C: partition and select Shrink Volume in order to resize the partition. Use a value best-suited for you, depending on your HDD size, on the amount of space to shrink MB field (minimum 20000 MB recommended) and hit Shrink button to start the process of resizing the partition.

Shrink Windows Partition

3. When the process finishes a new unallocated space will appear on the hard drive.

Unallocated Partition for Linux Mint Install

Close Disk Management utility, place Linux Mint DVD or USB bootable image in the appropriate drive, and reboot the computer in order to start with Linux Mint 20 installation.

In case you’re booting Linux Mint for installation from a USB dive in UEFI mode make sure you’ve created the bootable USB stick using a utility such as Rufus, which is UEFI compatible, otherwise your USB bootable drive won’t boot.

Step 2: Installation of Linux Mint 20

4. After reboot, press the special function key and instruct the machine firmware (UEFI) to boot-up from the appropriate DVD or USB drive (the special function keys usually are F12 , F10 or F2 depending on the motherboard manufacturer).

Once the media boot-up a new screen should appear on your monitor. Choose Start Linux Mint 20 Cinnamon and hit Enter to continue.

Select Start Linux Mint Cinnamon Install

5. Wait until the system loads into RAM in order to run in live-mode and open the installer by double-clicking on Install Linux Mint icon.

Select Install Linux Mint

6. Choose the language you wish to perform the installation and click on the Continue button to proceed further.

Select Installation Language

7. Next, you should select your keyboard layout and click on the Continue button.

Select Keyboard Layout

8. On the next screen hit on the Continue button to proceed further. Third-party software (multimedia codes) can be automatically downloaded and installed on this step by checking the check-box.

The recommendation would be to leave the box unchecked for the moment and manually install proprietary software later after the installation process completes.

Install Multimedia Codecs

9. At the next screen, you can choose the Installation Type. If Windows Boot manager is automatically detected you can choose to Install Linux Mint alongside Windows Boot Manager. This option ensures that the HDD will be automatically partitioned by the installer without any data loss.

The second option, Erase disk and install Linux Mint, should be avoided for dual-boot because is potentially dangerous and will wipe out your disk.

For a more flexible partition layout, you should go with Something else option and hit on the Continue button to proceed further.

Select Linux Mint Installation Type

10. Now let’s create the partition layout for Linux Mint 20. I would recommend that you create three partitions, one for / (root) , one for /home accounts data and one partition for swap .

First, create the swap partition. Select the free space and hit on the + icon below. On this partition use the following settings and hit OK to create the partition:

Select Free Space Create Swap Partition

11. Using the same steps as above create the /(root) partition with the below settings:

Create Root Partition

12. Finally, create the home slice with the below settings (use all the available free space to create home partition).

Home partition is the place where all documents for user accounts will be stored by default, except the root account. In case of system failure, you can reinstall the operating system for scratch without touching or losing the settings and documents of all users.

Create Home Partition

13. After finishing creating the partition layout, select the Windows Boot Manager as the device for installing the Grub boot loader and hit on Install Now button in order to commit changes to disk and proceed with the installation.

Next, a new pop-up window will ask you if you agree with committing changes to disk. Hit on Continue to accept changes and the installer will now start to write changes to disk.

Install Linux Mint Accept Write Changes to Disk

14. On the next screen choose your nearest physical location from the map and hit Continue.

Select Country Location

15. Enter a username and a password for the first account with root privileges, choose your system hostname by filling the computer’s name field with a descriptive value and hit Continue to finalize the installation process.

Create New User

16. The installation process will take a while and when it reaches the final step it will ask you to hit on the Restart Now button to complete the installation.

Linux Mint Installation Process

17. After reboot, the system will first boot-up in Grub, with Linux Mint as the first boot option which will be automatically started after 10 seconds. From here you can further instruct the computer to boot in Windows or Linux.

Select Linux Mint Cinnamon

On computers, with newer UEFI firmware the Grub boot loader won’t be displayed by default and the machine will automatically boot-up in Windows.

In order to boot into Linux, you must press the special function boot key after the restart and from there to further select what OS you wish to start.

In order to change the default boot order enter UEFI settings, select your default OS and save the changes. Review the vendor’s manual in order to detect the special function keys used for boot or for entering UEFI settings.

18. After the system finishes loading, log in to Linux Mint 20 by using the credentials created during the installation process. Fire-up a Terminal window and start the update process from the command line by running the following commands:

Update Linux Mint

That’s it! You have successfully installed the latest version of Linux Mint 20 on your device. You will find the Linux Mint platform to be very robust, fast, flexible, enjoyable, easy to use, with a ton of software required for a normal user already installed and very stable.

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Create a UEFI-Bootable Linux Mint USB Drive

Test-drive Linux Mint using a Linux USB boot drive

What to Know

• Format the USB drive, download the Linux Mint ISO file, then burn the ISO to the USB Drive.
• Turn off Windows fast startup, restart your PC while holding down the Shift key, then select to boot from a device on the UEFI boot menu.
• If you don’t see the blue UEFI screen, reboot your PC and force it to boot from the USB drive during system startup.

This article explains how to make a bootable Linux Mint USB drive. Instructions apply to Windows PCs.

How to Format the USB Drive

Prepare the drive to accept the ISO-to-USB Linux transfer.

Open Windows Explorer, and right-click the drive letter assigned to the drive.

Choose the Format option on the menu.

When the Format Volume screen appears, verify that the quick format option is checked and the file system is set to FAT32.

Press Start.

Write Linux Mint Image to the USB Drive

After the USB drive has been formatted, transfer the ISO file to it.

Start Win32 Disk Imager.

Set the drive letter to the USB drive you prepared.

Select the folder icon and locate the Linux Mint ISO file you’ve already downloaded. You will need to change the file type to show all the files. Choose the ISO so that the path appears in the box on the main screen.

Press Write.

Turn off Fast Boot

To boot a UEFI-bootable Ubuntu-based USB drive (like Linux Mint), you must turn off Fast Startup from within Windows.

Right-click the Start button, or press Win+X.

Choose Power Options.

On the Power & Sleep screen, press Additional power settings.

When the Additional power options screen appears, select the second menu item on the left-hand side: Choose what the power button does.

There won’t be much on the power button settings screen to begin with. Select Change settings that are currently available to see more.

Find the Shutdown Settings section at the bottom of the list. Ensure the Turn on Fast Startup checkbox is unchecked.

Press Save Changes.

Boot From a UEFI-Bootable Linux Mint USB Drive

After you’ve disabled fast-startup mode in Windows, reboot your PC.

To boot into Linux Mint, restart your computer while pressing the Shift key.

When the UEFI boot menu appears, choose the Use a Device option and select USB EFI Drive.

If you don’t see the blue UEFI screen to choose to boot from EFI, try rebooting your PC and forcing it to boot from the USB drive during system startup. Different manufacturers require different keypresses to access this start-up customization feature:

• Acer — F2 or delete
• Asus — F2, F9, or delete
• Compaq — F10
• Dell — F2
• Emachines — Tab or delete
• HP — Escape, F1, or F10
• Lenovo — F1 or F2
• NEC — F2
• Packard Bell — F1 or F2
• Samsung — F2 or F10
• Sharp — F2
• Sony — F1, F2, or F3
• Toshiba — Escape, F1, F2, or F12

Writing a Live System to Disk

After you’ve launched Linux Mint from USB and have explored the live file system, you can either continue to use the USB drive to launch a Linux session when you need it, or you can use Mint’s own tools to transfer the Linux operating system to your PC’s hard drive.

When you install to hard disk, the bootloader automatically addresses UEFI compatibility on your behalf. You do not need to keep Fast Startup disabled in Windows to dual-boot into a Linux Mint system.

What You Need to Create a Bootable Linux Mint USB Drive

To create a UEFI-bootable Linux Mint USB drive, you’ll need:

• Linux Mint disc image
• Win32 Disk Imager
• A blank USB drive
• A computer equipped with Windows 7, 8.1 or Windows 10

The disc image (a single large file with a name ending in .ISO) represents a direct copy of what the contents of a CD would be if a CD with Linux Mint were ripped to a single file. For that reason, you need a tool like Win32 Disk Imager, which executes ISO-to-USB for your Linux USB.

Why Make a Linux Mint Bootable USB Drive?

Linux Mint is one of the most popular Linux distributions since 2011, according to the page-hit rankings at Distrowatch. Mint’s popularity follows from its ease of installation and its shallow learning curve, and because it is based on the long-term support release of Ubuntu, which provides stability and support.

Use a Linux Mint USB drive as a way of testing Linux Mint to see if it is suitable for your needs. If you like it, the live file system on the Linux USB device supports installation to your hard drive or even dual-booting of Linux Mint and Windows 8 and 10.

Before PCs shipped with Unified Extensible Firmware Interface technology, spinning up a blank Linux CD, DVD, or USB drive was straightforward, as was booting with the media you created. Modern PCs that use UEFI, an extra security layer that protects the operating system’s communications with your PC’s hardware, require a few extra steps to work correctly with Linux USBs.

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