linux install

We got a laptop manufactured 8-12 years ago - HP Pavillion 7. We thought it'd be a good guinea pig to test installing linux, since it's a magical operating system that can revive old hardware like old unsupported Windows.

1. saw this post https://gg8473.com/blog/post/2025-08-20-linux-1.html
2. downloaded cinnamon https://linuxmint.com/download.php
3. get a USB to burn linux onto (like burning a cd) https://linuxmint-installation-guide.readthedocs.io/en/latest/burn.html my usb was really hot when i plugged it in a front port, didn't work when i plugged it again in the back… i had another one that worked when i plugged in the back port
4. flash complete! stick it in the laptop you're installing into, restart laptop….
5. go into bios, tell it to boot from USB.. pressed the only option that had USB in it
6. uh oh, it's diagnosing my pc??? 10 minutes later
7. windows asked me if i want to auto repair.. i said NO and manually boot from USB
8. looked for EFI option
9. didn't work, booted to BIOS again→system config→legacy support enabled
10. booted without compatibility mode
11. had some errors pop up?? didn't get to see it yet
12. Waiting 10 minutes again.. installing?
13. weird error message again, this time it's stuck on the error message… I guess it's trying to connect to the internet according to kat, just hard shutdown and restart
14. ok restarted, now booting in compatibility mode
15. after 5 minutes of matrix hackerman shit going up my screen it's working, stuff says [ok]
16. booted to the desktop. now double-click the only thing on there “install linux mint”
17. Installed in english, connected to wi-fi, install multimedia codecs. waiting…
18. erase disk and install Mint, it will ask if you want to destroy the partitions, say HELL YES. I don't want some other person's BABY PICTURES on my computer.
19. map pops up, chose closest timezone to myself
20. it crashed due to faulty hard drive?!?! time to restart i guess??
21. “ubi partman exit code 10”, try https://askubuntu.com/questions/1032905/ubi-partman-failed-with-exit-code-10-ubuntu-18-04
22. didn't work, going to talk with kat
23. doing some terminal shit with fdisk and sudo but nothing's working
24. restarted to start anew
25. install Linux Mint again
26. this time there's no option to install with windows cuz i think it was wiped, so just install regularly (not “something else” option)
27. error 5 this time, usb might be faulty UHH tried different usb slot same issue
28. going to try re-burning linux to the USB with rufus
29. usb doesn't work now. it's corrupted or w/e and just won't appear on me or shane's computers. Gonna try another USB and get a refund for BOTH of these that fucked up. Until tomorrow!

1. Going to verify my iso image.
2. Followed the instructions here for windows.
3. Waiting 5 minutes for the powershell to resolve the command
4. Looks like the hash from the powershell matches the hash in sha256sum.txt
5. OK TIME TO BURN AGAIN??
6. Using Rufus to burn this time since there's some forum posts about Balena having write errors. Just went with the default settings
7. OK IT INSTALLED! I restarted, took out the USB, and it's telling me to setup stuff. So it was just the USB yesterday that was fucked up.
8. Updating all the shit via the welcome guide… there's 1gb of updates and i'll just install it all cuz :shrug:
9. Luckily becky just installed a VM to play CSP so I can follow her steps. You'll need a USB with a windows ISO, which you can download officially and then authenticate.
10. Remembering to change settings in startup BIOS to enable virtualization mode. In my case I just restarted, pressed esc until BIOS started up, and found the setting in the 3rd tab.
11. Also go into user groups and add yourself to the vboxusers group
12. Downloaded VirtualBox via the software manager, plus the guest iso and guest extensions.
13. Created a new VM with that Windows 11 iso
14. Booted up the VM, manually install Windows