Thanks for this. Yes, tried so many ways to download that I think that copy might have come from pirate bay. The checksums did match, but by now I have already downloaded from the official site another copy and the checksums also match.

The checksum is right on the linuxmint official site:

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=190

That'll do fine for swap.

1 members found this post helpful.

ENCRYPT HOME FOLDER?

There will be an option to "encrypt my home folder"

Is this advisable? What will be required besides the password I create at the same time

The password I assume is to have root capabilities. Is encrypting the home folder different from this?

If I encrypt the home folder, will I be able to change it later if it is too much trouble?

SECOND QUESTION

After install will the computer automatically give me a choice of OS's, or do I have to configure BIOS to give me that choice before installing?

I could not use my password protected flash drive with TAILS. It would not open the application to allow me to input my password.

My external HDD (WD) is also password protected.

This is why I am going with dual boot. I may be able to save files to the internal hard drive.

So you seem to be advising not to bother with gparted for this install.

Just tell Mint installer Install Alongside Windows, and let it sort it out partitioning for you.

As far as encryption of the home folder, I don't know if anything else is needed, I've never used.

As far as those two drives go, I'd be fairly certain that only Windows based utilities will work with them. The WD may have a Linux option, but I can't speak for it.

1 members found this post helpful.

LINUX DUAL BOOT INSTALL COMPLETED (fingers crossed)

LM did not show me any partitions after I backed out and chose "install alongside." So I had nothing to confirm.

In addition, it did not give me the opportunity to set the partition sizes.

So at this point I do not know the sizes of:
/ (root)
swap
/home

I hope this does not become a storage problem later.


Secondly, I wish it had a "desktop" like Windows, where I could put most of the files I am actively using.

I guess what Windows calls a desktop is really a GUI. I would like to replicate the Windows desktop on LM.

I find Windows use of colors and graphics to be more appealing and easier to use the LM. Perhaps LM has ways to change this.

Not knowing if you chose Cinnamon or Mate for the Desktop Environment, I can't help you there, but I'm guessing you chose Cinnamon. Mate would have been closer to the traditional desktop you expected.

Under settings, look for "Appearance". There you can change colors, icons and stuff.

1 members found this post helpful.

Congratulations!

"Install alongside ..." makes a root and a swap partition. Home is a directory in the root partition. Open the file system and right click on any of the directories. Choose properties, and that will tell you how much free space is in the partition.

IMO, there is no such thing as too much RAM, too fast a CPU or too big a hard drive.

Anything in the (your user name)/Desktop folder appears on the LM desktop.

By the way, you may want to try out Linux Reader (http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-reader/). It is a windows program that copies files from a linux partition to a windows partition. Free. Linux can read files from and write files to a windows partition. But something always seemed not quite right if I tried to open a Linux file with a windows application. Linux Reader took care of that problem for me.

1 members found this post helpful.

Depends on the DE. DEs like GNOME 3 and possibly Cinnamon required the desktop to explicitly be enabled to show anything.

Thanks for the clarification.

For what it's worth, my Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon setup shows what is in the Desktop folder on the desktop. I have set the Desktop to show the "My Computer" icon and my home folder icon. As far as I know, I did not explicitly enable the desktop to show anything else. But I have done a lot of messing around with the desktop preferences and appearance. I guess the OP will just have to experiment to see whether that feature is default or must be enabled.

1 members found this post helpful.

The purpose of this thread has been accomplished.

Thanks to all the posters who helped me accomplish this:
michaelk
frankbell
sundialsvcs
pholland
goumba
yancek


It can be considered RESOLVED.

I just made some screenshots (png) in Linux that showed up on my Windows desktop, but I could not open them or rename them or delete them.

I remembered your recommendation here but after downloading I saw this warning,

"Do not install the program on the disk where you're going to recover lost data. Never recover deleted files to the same disk. Use a different disk or disk partition instead."

I am doing everything from my hard disk since I am dual booting. Is this program usable for me?

see Attached screenshot.

Attached Thumbnails

 

That is referring to a different program than the one you installed, if you installed Linux Reader. They may pop that warning up for all downloads as a precaution. Indeed it is confusing.

Back to your first point: inability to open files. What kind of error emssage(s) do you get? Linux supports the major Windows filesystems, and pretty well at that.

1 members found this post helpful.

Ok regarding the reader, I will install the file.

they were screenshot files. I made them in LM and saved them on my windows desktop so I could access them in windows. but I could not open rename or delete them in win. I had to go back into linux to delete the screenshot files. (one thing I did not think of was trying to change the file type)

You are saying here I think that Linux handles win file types but this problem is that it does not work the other way around. A screenshot in win is made w paint into png files. I do not know right now the file type in LM but it is easier, just go to menu and open screenshot.