I recently bought an HP Laptop with Intel core i3 processor, 500 GB HDD installed with Windows Home Premium edition.
I'm a big fan of the Linux OS and wanted to install one along with the Windows 7 as dual boot system. I would like to share what I have gone through.
Why I mentioned specifically HP in the title because, it was such a pain installing in a HP laptop and I had to search for help in the entire web. So, thought this might help some soul who is wandering in search for help for the issues faced in a HP.
Many may feel that installing Linux isn't a big deal these days as the installation process has become very user friendly. Yes you are right, if you want only Linux to be installed as a single OS removing the existing Windows it can be easily done. But, if you want to keep the Windows and install it along with it as a dual boot, its not easy particularly in HP.
Why ?
The usual method is to create a new drive by doing a disk partition and delete it.
And install the Linux in the deleted partition.
But in HP, you cannot create a partition. There are 3 partitions available. C:\ = 450 GB, D:\ - 20 GB (The HP Recovery drive - to restore your system if it crashes) and E:\ = 4 GB (HP Tools) . When I tried to create a new partition out of C:\, I was getting a warning message that "This partition will be created as a dynamic disk and all the other existing drives will also become dynamic and the operating system will not be loaded".
If the E:\ had a few more GBs we could have deleted that partition and could have happily installed in it. Who cares about the HP Tools.
Only other option left is to delete the D:\ the Recovery drive and use that.
We can make Recovery DVDs (5 is required) and delete it. There are some forums which advice this method.
But I didn't want to take such a risk in a new system since it is Windows.
Which Distro to choose ?
The Linux Distro iso can be used to copy it to a USB and make it as a installer with the help of softwares (I used Universal USB installer) instead of writing it to a CD/DVD.
I chose Ubuntu first, downloaded the latest iso and created the USB installer. When I tried to install, after the first page, the screen went black and something was vaguely seen. When checked in the net, many has reported problems in installing Ubuntu in a HP system. Later I found out that there is bug which makes the screen brightness to low. And I pressed the f3 button which is also used to increase the brightness.
So, the screen got displayed and Ubuntu was loading endlessly.
Next I chose Fedora 16 and tried the same with the USB installer. After the first page nothing happened. So had to abort that too. Then from the forums I found that USB installer would not work for fedora and has to be installed from a CD. So, I burned the iso to a CD and then tried. But, still nothing happened.
Later I chose Linux Mint. There were 3 versions available, 32-bit DVD version, CD version with Windows Installer and a Linux KDE DVD version.
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Created the USB installer, first tried the DVD version, it didn't work. Then tried the KDE DVD version, it worked fine.
In all the Linux installers, you can do a test drive using the Live CD option and try as you are working in the real OS without installing it.
The Linux KDE Live CD was awesome, I fell in love with it at the first sight. The UI was too good and I wanted it to install it somehow. (I highly recommend this, just give it a try)
This is when I started facing the partition issue. Because as per the user Manual, the installer should give 3 options :
1. Install along with Windows
2. Linux Full installation
3. Do Manual installation.
But for me, it asked only the last options and the first option was missing. When I tried to do the manual installation, no free partition were available. Tried many options with the Windows Disk Management. But unfortunately, nothing happened.
I then tried the 32bit CD version, the Windows installer using the USB installer, the Live CD worked perfectly , but could not install this too due to the partition issue.
I was thinking that if I install this cd inside the Windows , I should every time login to Windows to go to Linux. So, I didn't want to try it.
Later I stumbled upon the below page and it inspired me to install the Linux Mint in windows. It will be installed as a Windows application and it can be un installed any time as a regular application uninstall. And it boots with a option to choose between Linux or Windows (Not from within Windows) and you don't have to worry about the partition issues.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/20079/install-linux-mint-on-your-windows-computer-or-netbook/
I followed the steps and installed Linux Mint successfully. The USB installer didn't work here too had some issues completing the installation. So, I burned the iso in a CD and it worked fine.
In all the above installations using the different Live CDs, the screen went black upon booting and I had to press the f3 key to increase the brightness.
I had the same issue in this installed Linux Mint too. I fixed with the help of the below link, by changing few lines in the grub loader as suggested in the method 1.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=45271
Finally, Linux Mint is up and running beautifully without any issues. Its a joy to work in it.
Once the installation is complete, there is a option given in the menus to "Upgrade to DVD version' , you can click it and get the full version with all the applications installed.
Otherwise too, if you go to the Software Manager , there are more than 35k applications available freely under various categories. You can install them freely.
The default File Manager does not show your C:\ drive files. So, you can download the Dolphin File Manager and use it. It will show all your drives and files.
Below are a few screenshots of my Linux Mint.
Try it . You will Enjoy.
You can always do a test drive without installing.
Note: This post is created using the Mint.
I'm a big fan of the Linux OS and wanted to install one along with the Windows 7 as dual boot system. I would like to share what I have gone through.
Why I mentioned specifically HP in the title because, it was such a pain installing in a HP laptop and I had to search for help in the entire web. So, thought this might help some soul who is wandering in search for help for the issues faced in a HP.
Many may feel that installing Linux isn't a big deal these days as the installation process has become very user friendly. Yes you are right, if you want only Linux to be installed as a single OS removing the existing Windows it can be easily done. But, if you want to keep the Windows and install it along with it as a dual boot, its not easy particularly in HP.
Why ?
The usual method is to create a new drive by doing a disk partition and delete it.
And install the Linux in the deleted partition.
But in HP, you cannot create a partition. There are 3 partitions available. C:\ = 450 GB, D:\ - 20 GB (The HP Recovery drive - to restore your system if it crashes) and E:\ = 4 GB (HP Tools) . When I tried to create a new partition out of C:\, I was getting a warning message that "This partition will be created as a dynamic disk and all the other existing drives will also become dynamic and the operating system will not be loaded".
If the E:\ had a few more GBs we could have deleted that partition and could have happily installed in it. Who cares about the HP Tools.
Only other option left is to delete the D:\ the Recovery drive and use that.
We can make Recovery DVDs (5 is required) and delete it. There are some forums which advice this method.
But I didn't want to take such a risk in a new system since it is Windows.
Which Distro to choose ?
The Linux Distro iso can be used to copy it to a USB and make it as a installer with the help of softwares (I used Universal USB installer) instead of writing it to a CD/DVD.
I chose Ubuntu first, downloaded the latest iso and created the USB installer. When I tried to install, after the first page, the screen went black and something was vaguely seen. When checked in the net, many has reported problems in installing Ubuntu in a HP system. Later I found out that there is bug which makes the screen brightness to low. And I pressed the f3 button which is also used to increase the brightness.
So, the screen got displayed and Ubuntu was loading endlessly.
Next I chose Fedora 16 and tried the same with the USB installer. After the first page nothing happened. So had to abort that too. Then from the forums I found that USB installer would not work for fedora and has to be installed from a CD. So, I burned the iso to a CD and then tried. But, still nothing happened.
Later I chose Linux Mint. There were 3 versions available, 32-bit DVD version, CD version with Windows Installer and a Linux KDE DVD version.
http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php
Created the USB installer, first tried the DVD version, it didn't work. Then tried the KDE DVD version, it worked fine.
In all the Linux installers, you can do a test drive using the Live CD option and try as you are working in the real OS without installing it.
The Linux KDE Live CD was awesome, I fell in love with it at the first sight. The UI was too good and I wanted it to install it somehow. (I highly recommend this, just give it a try)
This is when I started facing the partition issue. Because as per the user Manual, the installer should give 3 options :
1. Install along with Windows
2. Linux Full installation
3. Do Manual installation.
But for me, it asked only the last options and the first option was missing. When I tried to do the manual installation, no free partition were available. Tried many options with the Windows Disk Management. But unfortunately, nothing happened.
I then tried the 32bit CD version, the Windows installer using the USB installer, the Live CD worked perfectly , but could not install this too due to the partition issue.
I was thinking that if I install this cd inside the Windows , I should every time login to Windows to go to Linux. So, I didn't want to try it.
Later I stumbled upon the below page and it inspired me to install the Linux Mint in windows. It will be installed as a Windows application and it can be un installed any time as a regular application uninstall. And it boots with a option to choose between Linux or Windows (Not from within Windows) and you don't have to worry about the partition issues.
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/20079/install-linux-mint-on-your-windows-computer-or-netbook/
I followed the steps and installed Linux Mint successfully. The USB installer didn't work here too had some issues completing the installation. So, I burned the iso in a CD and it worked fine.
In all the above installations using the different Live CDs, the screen went black upon booting and I had to press the f3 key to increase the brightness.
I had the same issue in this installed Linux Mint too. I fixed with the help of the below link, by changing few lines in the grub loader as suggested in the method 1.
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=45271
Finally, Linux Mint is up and running beautifully without any issues. Its a joy to work in it.
Once the installation is complete, there is a option given in the menus to "Upgrade to DVD version' , you can click it and get the full version with all the applications installed.
Otherwise too, if you go to the Software Manager , there are more than 35k applications available freely under various categories. You can install them freely.
The default File Manager does not show your C:\ drive files. So, you can download the Dolphin File Manager and use it. It will show all your drives and files.
Below are a few screenshots of my Linux Mint.
Try it . You will Enjoy.
You can always do a test drive without installing.
Note: This post is created using the Mint.
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