[SOLVED] 4th attempt

[vaishk92]

I have a lenovo g570 with Windows 7 home premium os. All of this week I have been trying to set up a linux on my laptop as another os and it just seems impossible.
First I tried to load Ubuntu 10.4 through wubi installer. It kept asking me for root password. I looked it up and I couldn't understand the sudo-stuff so I removed it from my laptop.
Then I tried to load debian with win-32 loader. I was locked out of my computer for 7 hours and by the end of it I simply got a series of error messages. I remember specifically allocating a special partition for installing debian but it took my precious d: drive along. After losing very important data and mourning over it I tried to remove grub from my laptop. I followed some instructions found on some forum and thanks to that I got locked out of my computer once again because none of the partitions were active. I spent 2 days getting a windows 7 repair cd (all my friends use vista) and I got it repaired.

Yesterday I tried to download linux mint via torrent and after checking the md5 signature I burnt the iso image to my cd using infrarecorder and I tried to boot it. After asking my location the loader showed an error saying something was wrong with my CD.

I am back with windows 7 again. Why is this so difficult? What should I do now?

Should I try to load it through a bootable usb? And which version of what distro? Am I doing something wrong? Please help me out.

[glennzo]

The very first thing you should have done was to backup any and all important data. I know that this statement doesn't help now, but it would have prevented data loss. Computers, regardless of what OS you're running or trying to install, are unpredictable at best.

What I've done in the past when installing Linux on a Windows box was to use Windows own disk management tools to create an empty, unformatted partition using some of the free space on the disk. Then when I run the Linux installer I tell it to use that empty, unformatted partition for the installation.

Installing Linux for a first-timer can be difficult and frustrating. Sometimes it takes several attempts before you get it right. You need to take a little time to try to understand just what it is that you need to do to achieve your goal. Personally I feel that the partitioning steps of any Linux installer are the most difficult for the uninitiated. The rest of the installation is usually fairly intuitive.

The next time you try to install Linux take your time. There is no hurry. Pay attention to what's happening or about to happen. If there is another computer available and you're not sure about things Google it or check the installation instructions on the web site for the distribution that you're attempting to install.

I find most installations simple, but I've been using Linux for 10 years or longer now. In contrast, the first installation for me was difficut and required several attempts before I was successful. Then, after all that all I got was a command prompt. I looked at the screen and wondered "what the heck do I do with this thing?"

I never looked back though. For several years now, at home, Linux has been my OS of choice. I rarely use Windows.

Having said all of the above, have you checked to see if there are know issues when attempting to install Linux on your particular computer?

[vaishk92]

Thanks for the reply! Nope my computer works fine. It is usually just the download package that is faulty. I think I won't use a windows installer again but I will try with either a CD of a USB.

But I don't know which distro to try. Should I go with Ubuntu or mint or should I try Fedora?

[elija]

I usually recommend Linux Mint for beginners. It's based on Ubuntu but has many improvements. I don't know your laptop but you may need to turn off secure boot in the bios if it has it as that will stop the grub boot loader from being installed.

[glennzo]

I'd have to agree with elija. Mint is a good choice for beginners. I'm a Fedora user and wouldn't really recommend it for beginners.

[yancek]

Did you read the wubi page at the Ubuntu site? You are prompted to create a password:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide

I'm not familiar with win-32 loader for Debian? Also, Linux partitions do not need to be marked active to boot, windows system/boot partitions do. Not sure what you did there?
Running the md5 checksum is always a good idea. You did burn the iso file as an image to the CD, correct? Have you tested the CD on another computer to see if it works?

[vaishk92]

Yancek thanks a lot for the link!! I got ubuntu running on my machine!
Thanks a lot! (I don't have another computer)

[kareempharmacist]

you should mark the thread as "solved"