Hi, I've downloaded Linux Mint 13 Xfce on a flash drive. My computer does seem to recognize the drive, but he just fails to start up Linux Mint from that drive. What could be wrong?

Welcome to LinuxQuestions.

Please explain what you mean by downloaded on a flash drive. If you just saved the ISO image to the drive than it will not boot. Is there any reason why you do not want to install the latest version i.e. 16?

You need to use a windows imagewriter application to write the ISO to the flash drive so it can boot. I believe you need to rename it from iso to img.

1 members found this post helpful.

You need more than just a file.
That USB flash drive needs to have a bootable image on it.

See http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ for software to do this.

1 members found this post helpful.

There are a few ways to create a usb. How did you make it?

Does this usb show up in the Hard Drive section of bios? Don't use usb as a choice, use a hard drive order to boot it. That is the usb shown as a hard drive choice. Make it above internal.

1 members found this post helpful.

Hello MichaelK - and others (?) - Thanks a lot!

You ask: "Please explain what you mean by downloaded on a flash drive. If you just saved the ISO image to the drive than it will not boot."

I think I did everything right when downloading Linux Mint 13 Xfce on a 16 GB flash drive - what we, in The Netherlands call a memory-stick. I thought I would be able to boot up my computer (now with Windows XP) with the OS (operating system) of Linux Mint 13 Xfce.

On the flash drive now stands (or sits or is?) the original file "linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso" which, I think, has been unzipped by Unetbootin.

Still, my computer does not boot up with Linux Mint 13 Xfce (after having made all the, I think, necessary alterations in my Bios).

You ask: "Is there any reason why you do not want to install the latest version i.e. 16?"

Well, though my desktop computer was - seven years ago - the newest and most advanced computer money could buy, I thought - since seven years seems to be a pretty long time in computer land - it might be too old to run the latest Linux Mint version. Maybe my mistake!? Maybe I could even run Uguntu?

For all sorts of reasons, I really want to get rid of Microsoft Windows - XP of even 8.1 (which, to me, seems to be a absolute disaster for desktop PC's like mine) - and since I have heard, from friends, many good stories about Linux, I thought I'd install a Linux operating system. I thought that Linux Mint 13 Xfce was the best Linux version for my computer, but maybe, thanks to you, I was dead wrong.

You said: "You need to use a windows imagewriter application to write the ISO to the flash drive so it can boot."

Well, I think I did that: Unetbootin seems to have unzipped "linuxmint-13-xfce-dvd-32bit.iso" in various maps.

You said: "I believe you need to rename it from iso to img."

I hesitate to do that. Maybe later. Again, I just can't figure out which Linux Operating System would be best for my computer. The Linux website isn’t very clear on that.

My computer has a Intel Core CPU 660 at 2.40 GHz with 4 GB of RAM and I am a fairly common user of Microsoft Word and Excel, Skype sometimes, but alas also the atrocious, un-intelligible Google Picasa 3 - that, alas, contains all my face-recognitions. Will all those 'tags' be visible when I use Linux?

Should my kind of computer be able to run the latest version of Uguntu or Linux Mint? Which sort of Linux Mint should I download and run?

Let it be said that I'd be very happy to contribute to the "open source" Linux community. I dare say that I'm pretty good at properly explaining and lucidly phrasing "difficult" things - once I, myself, understand them. My private email address reads taal&tekst, which means language&text.

Again many thanks,

Frank - Siesz52, Eindhoven, The Netherlands.

Howdy,

http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/744

If me. I would go with the Hybrid Iso install method myself. But Linux terminal is needed for dd. Over your head skillset wise presently.


I don't use Windows unetbootin but have used Linux unetbootin.
I guess you downloaded mint via unetbootin in Windows and let
unetbootin handle the heavy lifting. As usual. Windows seems to
have folded again from the sounds of it.

So, read the

instead I guess.

If me: I'd go with the Mint Mate Iso and wait for the new LTS next month instead using 13 or one of the short term releases. http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2594

Linux isn't Windows.

You don't unzip things etc.
unetbootin should have taken as input your .ISO file and
overwritten your entire USB stick with a bootable image.

Having made sure that your computer tries to boot from the USB first,
reboot your PC from the USB, it will unpack files into memory (could take a couple of minutes).
Provided you don't decide to install, it will not touch your disks.

You will need to backup any Windows files you want to keep - perhaps to a second USB stick?
Your PC is powerful enough to run any version of Linux.

I'd recommend Mint - the Cinnamon variety - but try several images.
Xubuntu is a more lightweight variety that you could try.

You don't need to do the disk install part until you are ready.

I suspect it is a translation issue. He may mean that he used unetbootin to create a flash drive from an iso.


"It fails to boot" What do you see???

Hi, thanks everybody. There turned out to be something definitely wrong - or at least very strange - with my BIOS (W7235IMS V1.5). I could never have figured that out on my own, I got a lot of help from two guys who had lots of experience with computers and Linux. See you!