GET LMDE UP AND RUNNING

1 Back up your files

You might not want to back up the whole of whatever OS you’re installing Mint alongside or on top of, but at the very least make sure you back up any important personal files in your home folders. You might already store your bookmarks online, but if not they can be easily exported from your browser.

2 Download LMDE

If you’ve already grabbed and burned our virtual LXFDVD following the instructions on the disc pages then you’re sorted. Otherwise head to https://linuxmint.com/download_lmde.php and grab the appropriate ISO. The Documentation link on that page will guide you through creating a bootable medium.

3 Configure your BIOS

You’ll need to tell your BIOS (UEFI if you’re on a modern system) to boot from the DVD you burned or the USB stick you wrote. Newer systems will give you a simple one-time boot menu (sometimes summoned with F12), but on others you’ll have to enter the BIOS (F2 or Delete) and change the boot order.

4 Boot LMDE

Hopefully the Mint live environment will spring into life and you can explore what the OS looks and feels like. You can access all your storage from the file manager, so now’s a good time to check that you didn’t miss anything important from your backups earlier. Search the Mint forums if you run into any trouble.

5 Install LMDE

Double-click the Install Linux Mint icon on the desktop and answer the localisation questions. Fill in the details for your hostname and user. Choose the automated install, unless you have some particular reason not to – the screenshot on the opposite page gives you some idea of what the manual partition set-up looks like.

6 Reboot and enjoy

On a BIOS machine GRUB should be installed to the MBR, so choose the device (for example /dev/sda) rather than the partition (for example /dev/sda1). Hit install and watch the magic happen. You can continue to try things out in the live environment, but really you should reboot and see how slick your rejuvenated hardware feels.