Linux flash drive.
1. Download the Rufus bootable USB drive creation utility 2. Download the Linux Mint Mate ISO 3. Create a bootable USB thumb drive using Rufus and the Linux Mint Mate ISOMint Mate is 1.3 GB, so you need a thumb drive with at least 2 GB.
Creating a bootable thumb drive erases all data on the thumb drive.
If you have data on the thumb drive that you need, move it to your Hard Drive or burn it to an Optical Disc.
- Connect the USB thumb drive to a USB port
- Launch Rufus
- The fields in Rufus are filled in with defaults. The defaults work well, but a few things need to be verified or changed.
- Verify that Rufus selected the thumb drive you want to write. Change the Device if the wrong USB thumb drive is presented in that field.
- Change Create a bootable disk using from the default to ISO image
- Select Linux Mint Mate ISO as the source. The file should appear on the status bar
- unTick Create extended label and icon files
- Compare your Rufus window with the image above. If everything other than the Device field are the same, then continue to the next step. Note that the ISO name in the status bar is subject to change as new versions are released
- Press the Start button
- The status bar notifies you when the process is Done
- Press the Close button
Leave the Linux Mint Mate thumb drive connected for the next steps
4. Boot to Linux Mint MateSave any files you are working on, then Restart your machine
Check your machine documentation to determine the key that brings up the Boot Order startup menu. This example is from an HP laptop that assigns it to the F9 key.
When the machine begins to start again (black screen) tap the F9 key to bring up the Boot Order startup menu. There is only a short time to "catch" the Boot Order menu. If Windows starts, you will have to try again.
5. If a menu is displayed, either wait for the timeout or hit enter to accept the default.
Mint Mate is mostly driver aware, meaning your devices should work - network, monitor, mouse and keyboard (wireless or wired) - just about everything.
Locate the drive with the file (the drives are named differently, but you can usually easily identify them) and drill down to the file location just as you would in Explorer. Then delete the file.
You can, or should be able to, connect to the internet and launch the browser while booted to Mint Mate.
Post any questions you might have if you try this and get stuck.
There are two screen captures in the menu as well.