Why won't the Debian download work on my windows 8.1 machine?
 

I downloaded the installer of Debian 8 from the web page but it doesn't seem to work on my Toshiba laptop running 8/1. After it finished loading a window opened informing me that when I restart I would be asked which OS I want to load, but my computer just loaded Windows 8.1 as usual, no opportunity to choose Debian. What now?

Did you transfer the ISO image to a USB stick/CD/DVD?

How did you transfer the ISO image?

Did the installer load up?

If so, describe the options you selected in the installer.

Have you disabled "Secure Boot" in your firmware (BIOS)?

???? downloaded the installer of Debian 8 ??? This seems to mean you ran some windows application to install debian.

What did you download and from where?

The installer does not automatically boot just because you downloaded it. You have to do more than that. You need to burn it to a DVD or USB drive, and then boot from that, which will run the installer. You really need to read the installation instructions again, carefully.

Sorry for not being more clear in explaining my situation. I've previously installed Ubuntu onto my Windows with the Wubi file, and it was a no brainer operation, with a minimum of technical options, but the Debian installation requires a bit more user input...

I downloaded the official Debian ISO file, burned it to DVD, disabled "Secure Boot". and booted into the installer where I chose what I thought would be the easiest, best option for a relative newbie such as myself, the Graphical Interface. This went well enough, but when I got to the portion asking about my Ethernet Card I was stumped. I couldn't find anything which matched the listed options so I tried a few different ones, but nothing worked. I tried bypassing this step but the installation wouldn't complete. There were also other hardware options which I couldn't answer with any confidence.

Also, the options for partitioning my drive seem to all require all of the available disc space, which defeats the purpose of installing Debian as an OS along side Windows 8. Should I partition my drive before attempting to install Debian? So, in short, what's the best, least technical way to install Debian?

Thanks, Ed

I read the instructions but still...
 

As I explained to Head_On_A_Stick, Sorry for not being more clear in explaining my situation. I've previously installed Ubuntu onto my Windows with the Wubi file, and it was a no brainer operation, with a minimum of technical options, but the Debian installation requires a bit more user input...

I downloaded the official Debian ISO file, burned it to DVD, disabled "Secure Boot". and booted into the installer where I chose what I thought would be the easiest, best option for a relative newbie such as myself, the Graphical Interface. This went well enough, but when I got to the portion asking about my Ethernet Card I was stumped. I couldn't find anything which matched the listed options so I tried a few different ones, but nothing worked. I tried bypassing this step but the installation wouldn't complete. There were also other hardware options which I couldn't answer with any confidence.

Also, the options for partitioning my drive seem to all require all of the available disc space, which defeats the purpose of installing Debian as an OS along side Windows 8. Should I partition my drive before attempting to install Debian? So, in short, what's the best, least technical way to install Debian?

Thanks, Ed

Just curious: Did you change your boot sequence to boot to the DVD drive instead of the HDD(SSD)?

It would help if you were more specific about the questions that are causing you difficulty.

Did you grab a copy of the installation manual for your hardware?

Yes, I booted into the installer fine. It's more so the technical details once inside the installer that are confusing me. I am now reading through the massive installation guide, so I might be able to figure this out. Thanks.

You need to create unallocated space try using the windows disk utility which can resize windows by 50 at the most of it's drive space. Since you did a wubi install, you most likely didn't do that step since wubi runs within windows.

This is probably because your ethernet card requires firmware which is in violation of Debian's Free Software Guidelines and so is not supplied with the official ISO images.

Try using one of the unofficial ISO images which already include this "non-free" firmware.
http://cdimage.debian.org/cdimage/un...ding-firmware/

Yes, you should shrink your main Windows partition using the tools provided by WIndows (whatever they might be) and you should probably de-fragment your drive first.

The installer should then make use of the free space and it should also detect Windows -- do not let it install GRUB (the bootloader) unless Windows is detected.

Just to note, Debian is not really intended for beginners and is rather technical in nature and can be quite challenging to manage even if you are just using Debian Stable.

Be sure to read the "Don't Break Debian" link in my signature ;)

I think you should start with a free virtual machine. It is a jefro proof way of running linux (newbie proof)

_Thanks so much for the response. I downloaded the gnome-desktop+non free.iso file and will attempt with it because it's described as the most basic, easiest to get running.

Here's a quick couple of questions from someone who is most likely just like you, in terms of Linux proficiency, bud.

Did wubi work for you? Did you have a working Linux distro on your machine? And if you did...why mess with that?

I want to give a piece of advice, and I want to convey it in the most friendly, NON-asshole way possible.

Linux is Linux, dude. If you have one, start learning Linux-crawl before Linux-walk!

Shane

Response to Sigshane
 

Sigshane, Thanks for the generous, kind support. Ha! Seriously, you're right, I should invest time and energy into understanding at least the basics of Debian, and I will, but I just wanted to get a working version running on my Wintel box in a hurry. I tested out Ubuntu with the WUBI, and that worked very well, very simple and smooth operation, and it was a very modest introduction to Linux, so now I want to try the real thing. I did NOT load or test Debian from a WUBI file, but I attempted to load it with the official download ISO file from the Debian site which I burned to DVD and booted into, but there were hardware issues. I then tried with a Gnome version ISO file, and that also was not successful. I'm now reading the installation guide and the "Don't Break Debian" documents, trying to be a good Linux citizen. Any advice or guidance is much appreciated. Shalom.