Install and boot options [Solved]

[Charlie Brown]

You can just request a friend or relative to borrow their usb stick for a short time (it can be even an old one, 4GB or so) , of course when there's nothing important in it (as it will be reformatted).. Then use Rufus on Windows to write the MX iso, then boot with (after entering Bios settings and setting the Boot Sequence according to that, usb option before/above the hdd etc.. )

[fehlix]

Laptop, not server, etc

And does the laptop also have an Operating System? And does it boot?
Please don't answer with just yes or no, rather give a bit more information
about the laptop which does "not have a flash drive or any external media."

Yes, it contains a Windows 10 Pro operating system with a 32-bit architecture. The boot is fine and is currently booting from it. The target device contains hardware and physical components from external media ports. It is also compatible with the requirements of the target operating system.

OK, based on given information here a general way to
Install and Boot MX Linux from a 32bit based laptop with Windows Operating system
with legacy BIOS/MBR bootloader without any external boot media:

1st step:
* Prepare the target laptop: by creating at minimum 2 partitions:
a FAT-32 about 2-3-GB to hold the MX Linux ISO

and a
2nd one to be used for root-partition, choose simply FAT32 with windows,
the partition will be reformatted anyway during installation.
You can create more partitions if needed for extra /home and swap.

* next get latest MX-23.2 32bit ISO
and place it / copy onto the 1st newly create FAT-32 partition

* next get EasyBCD from NeoSmart and install,
wich allows to create BCD-boot entries shown with the Windows boot menu
and is able to boot from bootable Linux ISO files,
by utilizing grub's internal chainloader facility.
Any detailed questions, let us know.

+++EDIT+++

A 2nd alternative way is to use GRUB2WIN,
which allows to install GRUB boot loader and tools onto Windows,
where the generated GRUB menus (located on the Windows partition), are ready to be used
for adding an GRUB menu entry using MX LiveBoot feature "fromiso".

So you have at least two options, to proceed with out any external boot media.

PS: It may be easier to get a USB-thumb drive instead.
Good Luck

[Tarq]

What is the target machine?

Laptop, not server, etc

That's not enough information. You don't call a mechanic to fix your car without telling him the make and model.

I did not mention the model of the device and its features because I made sure it was compatible with the system

[Tarq]

You can just request a friend or relative to borrow their usb stick for a short time (it can be even an old one, 4GB or so) , of course when there's nothing important in it (as it will be reformatted).. Then use Rufus on Windows to write the MX iso, then boot with (after entering Bios settings and setting the Boot Sequence according to that, usb option before/above the hdd etc.. )

This option is not available

[Charlie Brown]

Sadly no network installation on MX.

[Tarq]

Sadly no network installation on MX.

Bad news. I will try to install directly via the hard disk, as one of the members here said. I know that it is complicated, as is the case when installing over the network, but I think it may be less complicated. I will see what I can do.

[j2mcgreg]

@Tarq
Until you tell us the make and model of your laptop, there's very little if anything we can help you with.

[j2mcgreg]

@Tarq wrote:

I did not mention the model of the device and its features because I made sure it was compatible with the system

The rules of this forum (you have read the rules, right?) require that all help requests be accompanied by a Quick System Info (QSI) report. Since you are not in a position to provide a QSI yet, the very least you can do to comply is to give use the make and model of the target laptop.

[fehlix]

...I will try to install directly via the hard disk, as one of the members here said. I know that it is complicated, as is the case when installing over the network, but I think it may be less complicated. I will see what I can do.

Ok, in case you manage to get GRUB2WIN installed.

Here a 3rd way to get the ISO "Live"-booted.
in addtion to already mentioned way in above post #13
On the 1st newly created FAT32 partition, create this first FAT partition with at least twice the size of the ISO.
And impotant do label the Partition as "MX-Linux", as we can use this label "MX-Linux" within the menuntry below.
Now extract the LiveISO, so you will have all the files on folder as found on the MX ISO.
Important folder is the "/antiX" directory, which holds the whole linux system in one big squashfs file.
So now effectively you have manually created a "Frugal Installation" of MX Linux.
You need now a GRUB menu entry to be able to boot into this "Frugal Installation",
e.g like this one:

Code: Select all

menuentry "MX 23.2 Libretto manual Frugal Install" {
  insmod part_msdos
  insmod fat
  search --no-floppy --set=root --label MX-linux
  linux /antiX/vmlinuz bdir=antiX blab=MX-Linux quiet splasht nosplash
  initrd /antiX/initrd.gz
}

Use the above menu entry snipplet and add to GRUB2WIN's grub.cfg text-file at the end.
By this when selecting GRUB2WINS grub-menu from Windows Boot menu,
you would find this added menuentry "MX 23.2 Libretto manual Frugal Install"
to "frugal boot" into the extracted LiveISO.

HTH

[DukeComposed]

I did not mention the model of the device and its features because I made sure it was compatible with the system

Hi there,

There's a document called How To Ask Questions The Smart Way that may be helpful to you for getting your issue resolved. Particularly the section titled Be precise and informative about your problem. With the scant information you've provided, there isn't much anyone can suggest to resolve your issue without psychic powers. You've provided no details, no list of steps you took, and no steps for anyone else to try to reproduce the problem you're experiencing.

Best of luck to you installing Linux on hard mode.