Keep the USB stick inserted into your computer.ġ8. Assuming it does, you can then click on ‘Flash’ (the third step), and wait a few minutes while Linux Mint is added to the USB stick.ġ6. This second step should automatically show your USB drive. You can double-click on the Disc Image File, or click on it once (if it is not already highlighted) and then on ‘open’, and you will be taken back to the BalenaEtcher window, where it will show the file as selected, and the second step as choosing your drive. This is because the one file that is showing is an OS file, and the other three items are not. In there, you will notice the other three items do not show. That should automatically take you to the Linux Mint Disc Image File in your newly created folder inside ‘downloads’. In the first step, choose to open a file. Please note, however, that the BalenaEtcher opens differently to that shown in this link. Open BalenaEtcher, and follow the simple instructions given here. If both checks pass, then you are ready to flash Linux Mint onto your USB stick. For the Authenticity Check, the Linux Mint website shows only one command to ‘Import the Linux Mint signing key’, and this is the one I used, rather than either of the first two given in the link in Step 13, above (for the ‘Integrity Check’).ġ5. Now you can follow the instructions already described here, from where it says ‘Integrity Check’: viewtopic.php?t=291093ġ4. In the box that appears, select ‘Open PowerShell window here’. With the ‘downloads’ folder open on your screen, press on your keyboard, whilst right-clicking over the folder you created. Go back/exit the folder you created that should have those four items in it, so you are now viewing your ‘downloads’ folder.ġ2. One will be a torrent, one a Disc Image File, one will be called ‘sha256sum.txt’ and the last ‘’.ġ1. Check in the downloads folder you created, that you have four items in it. Then right-click on the ‘’ box and again ‘save link as…’ to the folder you created in your downloads folder.ġ0. Right-click on the ‘sha256sum.txt’ box and in the box that appears, select ‘save link as…’ and save it to the folder you created in your ‘downloads’ folder. Go back to the Linux Mint page where you clicked on ‘64-bit’, and scroll down a little bit to the ‘Integrity and Authenticity’ box. If you instructed it as described earlier (step 4, above), this should automatically be saved into the folder you created in ‘downloads’.ĩ. Go into BitTorrent, and ‘add’ the torrent you just downloaded. This will download the torrent to your 'downloads' folder.Ĩ. The last of this short list is ‘Torrent download’ followed by ‘64bit’. In the window that opens, you will see a list under the heading ‘information’. On whichever you choose, click ‘download’. Go to and choose a flavour of Linux Mint (Cinnamon, or MATE, or Xfce). Install and run.ĭownload Linux Mint & the sha256sum files:ħ. Select the third blue option on the list (Windows – download sig – Simple installer for the current GnuPG).
Go to and scroll down until you see this. Instruct torrents to be added to the folder you created in your downloads folder.ĥ. It is into here you will save the Linux Mint files you will be downloading in the forthcoming steps.Ĥ. In your ‘downloads’ folder, create a new folder. n-windows/Įven so, and after following directions, and then resorting to cleaning it, the SanDisk USB I was using still refused to be cleaned or seen, and since I had an almost empty Kingston, I formatted that, and made sure to choose FAT32. I ran into trouble with my USB stick because after I had flashed Linux Mint onto it, Windows would not see it. Insert a new or clean USB stick and format it. This is so you can access your BIOS/UEFI settings (later).
I am grateful to the various people who helped me in this forum. If you spot any errors, please do let us know. The following is an attempt to put the various steps most likely needed together in one place. However, I decided to write out and share these instructions straight after having managed to create a stick, after having misread or misunderstood other people’s instructions, and after coming across several hurdles. I am not computer savvy (as I am sure you will be able to tell), and I visit this forum to get help, not give it. How to create a Linux Mint bootable USB stick in Windows 10