#Making a dualboot but mint is fully installed

207 messages · Page 1 of 1 (latest)

clever heron
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Hi

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so you want to install windows,right?

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alright

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do you have a usb with the windows iso?

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use ventoy to put the .iso on the usb

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no

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i recommend keeping the live usb using which you installed mint for emergencies

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install windows on a separate usb if possible

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ye

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after you find the usb, go to this site https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html and install ventoy

Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

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Take your time , its not a problem :)

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see safely remove?

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its the 2nd option from the bottom

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you right click your usb

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its probably not mounted. click on your usb's name once to mount it (mount = integrate it with your system so your system can read the usb)

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alright

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i might have to go in a few minutes so ill help you set up the windows usb, i wont help you witht the installation as i might have to leave mid install . someone else will guide you within 2-3 hours probably

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send ss

random glade
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I'm here

clever heron
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alright then, im off
sorry for not being of much use

random glade
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u can also use the eject symbol in the bottom right of taskbar in Mint

random glade
clever heron
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click on eject

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2nd option from the bottom

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to safely remove

random glade
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at this particular stage, it wouldn't affect the Mint Live USB, since it's read-only

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just pull it out

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in this case

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With Ventoy, it doesn't make the whole USB drive read-only, so using either the taskbar icon to safely eject, or the file manager is recommended more (unmount is also fine)

clever heron
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oh its a live usb. ye just pull it out

random glade
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the overview of what you need to do is:

  • boot the Mint live USB to a desktop
  • open gparted (the graphical partition editor)
  • resize the Mint ext4 partition on your hard drive (shrink it by about 100 GB) to make unformatted space available for Windows.
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*** meanhile,

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  • make a Windows USB installer (can use the ventoy loader for this)
  • download an installation ISO from the offical Microsoft download website
  • copy the iso as one file to the empty large "ventoy" partition on the other thumb drive
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you're then read to boot that ventoy usb, and install Windows to that specific unallocated space you made earlier.

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just drag the right edge of the graphical box above all that text

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leave some room for Mint to grow

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maybe 20 Gigs leftoever for Mint

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show a pic of the resize window

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the whole window including the graphics in it

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ok u see the dark blue rectangle?

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drag the right edge of it to the left

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maybe go 50/50

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yes that

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are u booted in a live desktop, (not the installed Mint desktop)

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well u must do this from the live environment, as I had written in my bullet points

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yes

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u cant make changes to the nvme while it's running the system, that's why

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you have nearly a Terabyte of drive to play with, so I'd probably just split it 50/50. or if ur gonna play massive games on Windows, then 30/70

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pick the UEFI USB

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i seeu have a UEFI type BIOS, so do everything in that mode

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including Ventoy, and Windows .

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2

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actually i dont know how ur usb got written try 1 or 2

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which ever loads Mint 😛

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good

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what program made the USB bootable?

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the flasher program

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kool. that's a decent one

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basically repeat this when ur loaded up in live mode

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yes it's normal. ur running a clean live mode session

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yep

random glade
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just type gparted in start menu search

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it's included in the live ISO

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ok

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yep. hit resize. then read the summary of jobs, then click the large checkmark at top

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just read it so u remember the sizes

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so Mint now has 445 binary Gigs of space total atm

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lovely. u can now reboot back to your installed Mint

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also take note in that above pic in gparted how partition 2 on ur nvme has the EFI partition.. nver mess with it.

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just pick ubuntu

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or let the machine boot as it normally does, and it should boot Mint

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yayy

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are you a young lad?

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and find the section for Windows 10, and d/l save it to some temporary space on ur home folder (whereever)

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can just save to /home/you/Downloads/

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u got the installer image yes?

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idk how many they have there lol

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so W10 is around 6 GiB a file I think.. and occupies i think around 20 GiB or bit more, once installed

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u got it from same source?

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ok cancel the current one

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read the first paragraph or so, so u get familiar there

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did u get ur 2nd USB drive yet?

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good stuff. ok go to the Downloads category on ventoy.net, and get the ventoy .tar.gz file

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alright.. find it there

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first u need to save and unzip the tar.gz file

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yeah

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in Mint, u can right click the saved file, and then choose "extract here"

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wrong one

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😛

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try again

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u can delete that previous one

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ok so eject the Mint USB stick, and put in only the 32 GB one that ur gonna overwrite

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open the extracted folder, in the file manager, and open a terminal window too, place it beside the file manager

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then find the file shown as a gear that says ventoyGUI x64

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x86_64

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the last gear one

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drag that onto the terminal window, press enter (that'll run the graphical installer for ventoy, n needs admin password)

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go to Option

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no dont close it

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if u close the terminal, that u used to launch an app, it will also close the app

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in the Option menu, partition style > set to GPT

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is cruzer blade 32 the one u want to blank out?

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ur gonna make it to boot up windows installer yes.. but i asked cuz ventoy will blank it out completely first

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ok so GPT, in options, then click Install

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ok show ss of the ventoy gui

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perfect. close that and the terminal

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now COPY the proper Windows ISO u said u had saved, onto the USB drive partition labelled Ventoy, in ur file manager

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let it rest a minute after it finishes copying

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kinda

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😦

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in the middle of a write geeze

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pray it didnt screw ur usb now

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just pull out the USB

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plug in ur charger.

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then reboot

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I assumed ur pc shut off cuz of low charge

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why do u suppose it just shut off?

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ok boot back up, and recopy the ISO

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oh. alright wait i guess

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ask ur Dad then

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see if the room lights up.. or someones doing work on the breakers

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well wait till that's all done. u dont wanna be writing usb's or nvme disks during power mishaps

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tag me later

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k

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boot normal, check ur ventoy usb

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ok but it didnt copy correctly imj sure

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so delete it,

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and recopy

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no

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just delete that suspect iso file that likely didnt get written fully

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give a full minute after

random glade
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if there is any files critical to you on the Mint nvme install, i suggest back them up.. u may make a subfolder in the ventoy folder and save 'em there

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any bookmarks saved?

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koo

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anyway for future knowledge.. always back up ur bookmarks in a browser if there's many u cherish.. most browsers have an "export bookmarks" function

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i do it about 2 times a year

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and just overwrite the old bookmarks file

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some browsers have an online account function that if u sign-up for it, they save to that account

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Firefox, Edge, Chrome all have that, but if u dont wanna bother with online accounts, then "export"

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ok reboot to the 32GB USB drive now (UEFI usb)

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u'll see ventoy menu, hit enter on windows iso

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yah

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u should get to a Windows graphical screen eventually

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do fresh install not upgrade

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i guess so

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yep

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ok here's the fun and funky part

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choose the unallocated space, then hit the New icon

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what it say?

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idk yet

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hang on .

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let's see if that works out right.. u got a calculater handy?

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497,651 divided by 1024

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should likely be 486

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it is

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hit apply

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that "new" thing is basically making that space a workable partition

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ok just keep an eye on it.. might take 20 minutes

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after Windows is intalled, you'll need to repair the Linux Mint thing.

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which u will do with the Mint USB stick

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not hard

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it's ok that could be regotten

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tbh, now that u have ventoy on the 32GB drive, u can ADD the offficial Mint ISO to that same folder where the Windows ISO is... and then have an all-in-one stick, and reformat the previous stick

random glade
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i think W10 reboots a few times before it's all done

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choose carefully these steps now.

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write stuff down if need

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just write down everything so u know what u did

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nah

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unless ur using some foreign language thing

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keyboard layout is so it maps certan keys to special language characters if not using US alphabet

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fine

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lol

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probably 😛

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however, it's good to keep ur microsoft email account safe and secure and WRITTEN safely, in case u need the product licence key emailed back to u there

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at the moment, Windows just installs in a free mode with limited features (not sure exactly which). If u "activate" it, by paying money to licence the OS to u, then it will write a code (licence key) to your UEFI on motherboard, and will store a copy on their servers for backup, and that's tied to ur MS email

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idk much about this part.. it should at least go to a desktop environment in a standard way "unactivated"

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or it may prompt for a reboot, idk

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communications error?

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caps-lock/ num-lock state

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u must have caps lock

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at least that

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double check ur email on another device. maybe it went to junk mail or unfocused

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dont forget later if u need to run Mint, it will likely not boot to it, since Windows is likely now the boot manager as far as the BIOS is concerned.. So you'll need to use the Mint USB stick, boot to desktop in live mode, and run the Boot Repair tool, searchable in the start menu

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ya

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neat.. did it install Windows properly and reach the Windows 10 desktop?

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u can also change the titlebars colours in theming, if it's licenced

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reboot and check the UEFI bootable things. i dont think u'll see "ubuntu" any more

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not just yet

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just let it reboot, no USB's, and enter the BIOS

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to the boot category and see what's what

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oh.. it booted to Linux Mint with no issue??

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oh sweet! SUCCESS!

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One thing, if u dont touch any key at all on restart, which OS boots up first?

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correct

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hm?

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ah that's just the out of the box presentation

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i have Edge on Linux.. it settles down after the initial fanfare

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i was just talking about it in main chat

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yeah if u wanna leave it, it's fine to go ahead.. u can at anytime launch Mint again via the boot key at startup

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you may keep ur ventoy usb, and add Mint ISO too it if u wish, or keep the mint as emergency tool on the other USB. mark this post solved, in the edit tags feature at the top