Hello everybody! I'm new on the forum.

I'm a Linux newbie, it's the first time I'm gonna use it and install it. And as expected, I'm stuck in the process. I hope you can give me some direction.

So, I have a new laptop HP that came with Windows 10. I have been thinking of giving Linux a try for a long time, and, really disliking the changes in W10, I've decided this is the moment for it. After searching and reading about several distros, I've chosen Linux Lite (2.8) as the best for me.

I'm aware that there exists another good forum for Linux Lite, but since what I have is a general problem with installation, and not with the inner workings of the O.S. (which I haven't used yet), I thought this forum would suit it better.

Ok, so the way I'm gonna do the installation is with a USB stick. I've already burned it with the installation files, through Unetbootin. Then I plug it in the laptop, turn it on and press F9, which is the key for the Boot manager in my computer. On the first screen, "Boot manager", I select "Boot from EFI file". On the next screen, "File explorer", I select the name of my USB stick. And then another screen appears with the names of the folders inside the USB, like this:

<.disk>
<casper>
<isolinux>
<preseed>
<System Volume Information>

As fas as I know, I don't need to choose a specific folder, those are the result of the burning. However, for any option that I select on that screen, I'm taken to the next screen where there are two options:

<.>
<..>

The first one refreshes the page, the second one takes me to the prior screen. So there's a loop here that doesn't take me any further.
What should I do?

I have another question but I'll leave it for when I've solved this part.

Hardware: Laptop HP Pavilion 15-ak003ns
Prior O.S.: Windows 10 Home 64 bits

If you have any questions or need additional specifications or screenshots, just tell me.

Thank you!!

Might help, or not. Anyway. It may contain info you do not know.

https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/

Also. Which version of Linux Lite are you trying to install. Version 2.8 has just been released in case you did not know.

https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/r...released-2706/

Sure look like a Windows partition to me.

Try going into the BIOS and set the machine to boot to 'usb' as the first option.
Save the changes in the BIOS and exit.
The machine should boot to the usb stick with Linux Lite on it and walk you through the install process.

-::-If not it could be that you have to disable the secure boot in the BIOS.-::-

Is this your laptop?
http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-pav...ouch-m0u61av-1

You are just viewing the files on the flash drive and I don't think you will boot from "file explorer". Using unetbootin should not show that but should boot the flash. I think you need to explore the boot options on the machine, check your manual for options to set the boot priority.

Yes, 2.8 64bits. It's not beta anymore, so being the latest one I guess it's the one to choose, no?

Sorry, I don't know what link is that. :S Is it a file inside Linux?
However I've found this manual: https://www.linuxliteos.com/manual/install.html
I can't believe I hadn't seen before xD, I can't read it right now but it's the first thing I'll do tomorrow.

Ok!

Yes, one in that series.

The reason <.> keeps you on the current screen and the reason <..> takes you to the prior screen is because in UNIX-like operating systems . and .. respectively mean current directory (which is also known as a folder) and parent directory meaning the previous folder in your file explorer. When you are learning the bash commands "cd" is one of the first you learn and you will be able to go to the previous directory with "cd .." As for the problem itself I would recommend first making sure the that the burning process went smoothly by checking the hash of the .iso file you burned to make sure its not corrupt or incomplete, the next thing I would do is check to make sure that that UNetBootin did it's job by seeing how your results compare with a online video installation tutorial. After that I would check all the folders to make sure your not missing something in the file manager and maybe trying to use the legacy boot option of your computer. (Windows tends to dictate the production of firmware on some level so EFI/BIOs sometimes doesn't play well with a bootable usb.) If all of the above does not work do not lose hope. Try to make another bootable usb or instead make a bootable CD (I know it sounds weird but it has worked for me before.) If all else fails you could try getting tech support for your distro on their offical pages if they offer it, or you can try to practice the install with a virtual machine (I would recommend VirtualBox as it's free.) I hope I answered your question as best/realistically I could given the information you gave me hope everything works out!

My bad. I posted the html file inside my laptop. I fixed my post to show
the help site link. But I see you caught my mistake already.

64 bit 2.8 is fine. So go for it. Good Luck and Happy Trailz, Rok

So, after having read the manual, I still have a few questions...:

1. Before installing, I've wanted to make a restoration disc, from the Recovery partition of the hard disk. The program for doing it with a USB stick warned me that I would need a 16 GB one. I prefer to use a DVD (or several), because it's easier for me to store and I don't want to have a USB permanently unusable. So I used another application to burn a dvd, and when I entered a 4,7 GB one, just a small part was utilized and the computer told me the process was finished. Do you think it's possible that it's correctly done?
Another question: do you think it's preferrable (or, is it possible) that I make the restoration disc after the Linux installation, with the two OS's in it?

2. Should I keep both OS's? That was my original intention, to keep Windows 10 in case some day I use some software that doesn't run on Linux Lite, but, is that scenario possible? In which way would keeping the two OS's be useful? Will it make the system run more slowly?

3. Currently, Windows 10 is installed on a SSD, where 39 GB out of 118 GB are occupied. In those 79 GB of SSD left is where I should install Linux, is that correct? (if I decide to go with both).
The partitioning is automatically done along with the installation process, no? Will it get another letter, say, C: for Windows and D: for Linux?

4. Regarding to my previous problem with the folders in the USB, I've explored the BIOS and changed the "UEFI Boot Order"; now I have "USB Diskette on Key/USB Hard Disk" and "USB CD/DVD ROM Drive" on top, and "OS boot Manager" at the bottom. But then I save and restart and have the same problem. It explores the files but doesn't boot.
I'm not sure it has any relation, but at some point in the BIOS it says: "When Legacy Support is enabled, UEFI boot order and Legacy boot order are both available and UEFI boot order has higher priority than Legacy boot order". The Legacy Support displays <Disabled> and I can't change that.

5. Is it possible to install without internet conection? I haven't conected the laptop yet just because I wanted to do things step by step.

Thank you very much!!

To address part of this question, when I decided to move over to Linux, what I did first of all was re-partition my hard disk to add 3 new partitions:

LinuxRoot / (ext4) - Linux root
LinuxSwap (linuxswap) - Linux swap
LinuxHome /home (ext4) - Linux home

I placed these after a down-sized but retained C: Windows partition which I kept as starting at the same point on disk because I felt it would be safer that way.

I already had two NTFS data partitions that I had used with Windows. I kept these, resized them slightly, and now access them from both Linux and Windows.

I then installed Linux Mint KDE, pointing it towards the Linux partitions I had created, and created a Windows VM (Virtual Machine) in Linux to run Windows 7. The idea was to try and boot up into Linux as much as possible, finding Linux software equivalents to the software I used on Windows, and, if I needed to boot up into Windows for any reason, I would install the relevant software in the Windows VM to avoid having to boot up into "real" Windows for that reason a second time.

It's been a month now since I've had to boot up to "real" Windows 7. Everything I need is now on Linux or in the Windows VM. However, I'll keep the dual-boot on there for a few months more until I'm satisfied I can run with Linux and the VM alone.

Oh, and I also created a separate ext4 partition for the VM.

What is important is that you sit down and work out before you start which partitions you will need and how large you will make them. Back up your disk. Then apply the partition changes one-by-one with a bootable partition manager such as GParted Live (which I used for all the ext4 partitions; I used MiniTools Partition Wizard for resizing the NTFS partitions).

As an example, my current setup is now:

Windows 7 ntfs 135GB
LinuxRoot ext4 20GB
LinuxSwap linuxswap 7GB
LinuxHome ext4 20GB
LinuxVMS ext4 255GB
Music ntfs 40GB
Data ntfs 400GB
(the rest is either unallocated or used for test partitions/filesystems)

With regard to making a restoration disk of your windows install, that is something that would be better addressed at the microsoft support site or a windows forum. If you make a restoration disk, it will only include the windows system. There is software available which you can use to clone an entire disk.

Keeping both OS's is a user choice and having two won't have any effect on how fast/slow either runs.

If you have 79GB free within the windows partition that won't help. You need to have unallocated space which is outside any ntfs partition.

Is windows 10 using GPT/UEFI? If so, you must install Linux Lite UEFI or you will have problems booting. You could take a look at the link below regarding dual booting windows/Linux using UEFI.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UEFI

If you can't get the usb to boot, have you tried it in another computer to test it to eliminate that possibility?

You mean that 79 GB is not enough? Or that I need to partition the SSD into two before I try to install Linux?

I've just checked the System Information and, besides "BIOS mode", it says "UEFI", so, yes. According to the link you provide, I need to install Linux Lite UEFI, is that an entirely different "sub-OS" or is it enough with what I have burned in my USB?

I just have my other laptop, but I'm afraid to check it in my old, full and slow computer... :/

Does anybody think they could provide me some guidance?
I'm starting to think this is too complicated for me :/

The amount of GB that you have is overkill IMO.

My bad, I thought these were OP's (Sheldon1) partitions.

You're talking about the partitions of hydrurga, not mine