GET DUAL-BOOTING

Get ready 1

If you’re dual-booting on the same drive as Windows, see the previous page for guidance about how to make room. Otherwise, boot the live environment, if you haven’t already done so, and press the Install Linux Mint button. You’ll be asked a couple of localisation questions (no one likes the wrong keymap, after all).

Something else 4

Skip this step if you don’t have advanced partitioning needs. Otherwise choose Something Else and use the builtin tool to create the target area for Mint. At the least you need a 15GB (Ext4 or Btrfs are good choices) partition for the OS (set the Mount point to / ). Ensure the bootloader is set to the correct device.

Multimedia 2

You’ll be asked whether or not to install multimedia codecs. This package is a lot less important than it used to be. Popular streaming sites will work without it, but those using DRM Flash video won’t. Installing it will enable the bundled video player to play patent-encumbered formats, but you can also just install VLC.

Deploy the Mints 5

Hit Install Now and check the disk changes summary. You’ll be asked for your timezone and then to name your user and machine. You can choose to encrypt your home folder, which is always a good idea on laptops, but beware that until a bug is fixed these will stay decrypted on log out. Press Continue to deploy the mints.

Partitioning 3

If you’re going to dual-boot and have sufficient free space, choose the option to install Mint alongside your other Oses. If you’re going to give Mint its own device (and you’re sure there’s nothing of import there) choose Erase disk and install Mint. For other options, including installing alongside Windows, see the next step.

Reboot 6

After an intent watch of the progress bar, follow the prompts to reboot. You may need to set up your UEFI/BIOS to boot from the newly Minted volume, which will follow the same procedure as booting the live environment. You should see a stylish boot menu with Mint at the top and any other Oses you have installed below.