Installation on Thinkpad

[Resume]

Ok, thanks. I have no problem using live usb, turning off secure boot, installing to whole drive, etc. I've been doing it for many years.
It's just that I don't want to have to deal with Windows and its problems in any way (it's not just for ideological reasons btw).
I'll follow your advice and wait a bit.
I really appreciate everyone's input!

[Kermit the Frog]

... Then just see if you're able to enter Bios settings. If yes: Disable secure boot and fast boot and while you're at it also change sata mode to Ahci (if there's such an option or if it's set to Raid by default). Save and Exit, that's it.

[FullScale4Me]

Wait a while if someone comes up with actual official documents on the contrary but I have never encountered any (setting or document, that is).

A quick search of 'Windows Fast Startup' with site:microsoft.com sprinkled in gave the 2 below. I'm sure anyone can find more in that search if they are so inclined.

Distinguishing Fast Startup from Wake-from-Hibernation

Delivering a great startup and shutdown experience - Fast startup

I'm retired from Microsoft server support - I only have time for Linux nowadays :-)

[Resume]

Since I didn't really know which Thinkpad to get, and I just don't want to jump through Windows' hoops, I decided to order a System76 mini desktop, and just install MX over it (don't want PopOS). It costs a little less than a Thinkpad, anyway.
Thanks again, everybody!

[Nokkaelaein]

Wait a while if someone comes up with actual official documents on the contrary but I have never encountered any (setting or document, that is).

A quick search of 'Windows Fast Startup' with site:microsoft.com sprinkled in gave the 2 below. I'm sure anyone can find more in that search if they are so inclined.

Distinguishing Fast Startup from Wake-from-Hibernation

Delivering a great startup and shutdown experience - Fast startup

I'm retired from Microsoft server support - I only have time for Linux nowadays :-)

Yeah , thanks for linking MS material about Fast Startup. (What I meant above specifically was, I haven't seen such official documents that would point to anything contrary to what I have described here, and which would confirm the claims made by j2mcgreg :)).

Summing up, food for thought: if the following was true...

Realize that on any laptop made within the last twelve years you will have to boot into Windows at least once to disable Fast Start Up.

...shouldn't it be mentioned in the installation section of the MX Linux user manual? Twelve years, that's a long time. And a mandatory procedure, for any laptop with Windows - quite a vital bit of information, having to do this even when installing completely fresh, not preserving any Windows partition. Why not put it in the manual?

[Resume]

...shouldn't it be mentioned in the installation section of the MX Linux user manual? Twelve years, that's a long time. And a mandatory procedure, for any laptop with Windows - quite a vital bit of information, having to do this even when installing completely fresh, not preserving any Windows partition. Why not put it in the manual?

Agreed. Without that info the installation guide doesn't help.

[Nokkaelaein]

Agreed. Without that info the installation guide doesn't help.

The implication was, it isn't true, and it isn't mentioned in the manual because saying so would be misleading. If it was such a vital bit of information ("on any laptop made within the last twelve years you will have to boot into Windows at least once to disable Fast Start Up"), and it was needed on laptops during the last twelve years (it isn't), it would have been added to the installation section in the manual many times already :P. If you see my very first reply in this thread, responding to that claim, that's basically still what I'm saying, all of it.

[Gaer Boy]

Alongside this debate, I just purchased a reconditioned Thinkpad X280 with Win10 Pro freshly installed. I have installed MX-23 over the Windows installation but I can't conclusively say whether I needed to use Win10 to disable Fast Startup. What I found was that hitting Enter on boot (Lenovo default) wasn't recognised and the machine continued to Win10. My son disabled Fast Start & Secure Boot, Enter gave BIOS & Boot menus and I booted the live MX-23 without problem. I hadn't checked whether just hitting F12 for the Boot menu would work. I didn't think of trying a restart from Win10 either.

No great hassle with a Win user in the room and I now have a very nice small laptop for £150. The last one lasted me over 7 years for about the same price.

Phil