Install MX Linux by creating Flash Drive on Windows

MX Linux is certainly one of the popular mid-weight Linux Operating System. It relies on the excellent upstream work by Linux and Open-Source Community. It has a underlying design that combine an elegant and efficient desktop with simple configuration, high stability, solid performance and medium-sized footprint. Most importantly, MX Linux provide a stable OS with easy and flexible installation process. It has excellent hardware recognition with automatic configuration for most users. The strong open source community supporting MX Linux regularly updates important applications which run on MX Linux. A user may install MX Linux in a number of ways such as Single Host, Dual Host or Guest Operating System.

System Requirements:

Before installation make sure your system complies to the MX Linux recommended and minimum system requirements given below:

Minimum

 Processor       :           A modern i686 Intel or AMD processor

Memory           :           512 MB of RAM

HDD                 :           5 GB free hard drive space

Flash Drive      :           For use as a LiveUSB, 4 GB free.

Recommended

Processor        :           A modern i686 Intel or AMD processor

Memory           :           2 GB of RAM memory or more

HDD                 :           At least 20 GB free hard drive space

Graphics         :           A 3D-capable video card for 3D desktop support

Audio              :           A SoundBlaster, AC97 or HDA-compatible sound card

Flash Drive      :           For use as a LiveUSB, 8 GB free if using persistence

How to install MX Linux from USB Flash Drive?

To create a MX Linux bootable USB Flash Drive (in other words a Pen Drive or a USB Drive) on a Windows system and install MX Linux as a single host operating system follow the 5 (five) easy steps below:

Step 1: Download MX Linux ISO File

Login to your Windows System and open any web browser. Navigate to MX Linux official website. Scroll down the Home Page and click on “Download MX Linux” button to navigate to Download Links  page. Scroll down the page and click on “mirrors” button under “Direct Download” in “How to get it Section” to navigate to ISO download Mirror page.

The ISO download mirror page will show a Map with a number of bubbles representing download locations as shown below:

Click anywhere on the ISO Download Mirrors Map to navigate to updated known mirror links page. Click on a Bubble closest to your Geographical location for faster download. Clicking on a bubble will open a menu on left side which will have ISO mirror image file download link as shown below:

If the left slide menu does not have any link then try clicking on another bubble on the map. Click on the ISO Mirror Image Link to re-direct to ISO image file’s download source page. If the link is not re-directing to download source location try clicking on another bubble on the map.

If you have landed on a useful download source page, you will find few directories listed for file transfer such as Parent Directory, Direct, Final, Snapshot, etc. Click on “Final” directory link as shown in following figure:

The final directory may contain multiple directories with different MX Linux Versions. Click on the latest version Directory (the highest in terms of version number) as shown below:

You will be provided with a number of files to choose for download including different architecture and integrity check files.

Choose 32-Bit or 64-Bit Architecture ISO file as per your system configuration. If you are not sure about the architecture type of your PC, then you can check it from “System Information”. Or else, contact your system provider to check it out for you. You may note that the architecture type is 64-bit nowadays on almost all modern computers, if you have an old PC you can try 32-bit architecture as well. A 32-bit architecture Operating System will work on both 64-bit and 32-bit machines.

Save the ISO file on your computer, remember the download location and wait for the file to download.

Step 2: Check Downloaded MX Linux ISO file for errors

Since there are chances that the ISO file is compromised by an intrusion attack while in transit over network. It is also possible that the ISO file may contain malicious code or virus if the download source was unreliable. Thus, it is very important to check the integrity of the downloaded ISO file to ensure it is safe and error free to use on your system. For checking the integrity of the downloaded MX Linux ISO image file, you can use an MD5 checksum tool on Windows Operating System.

Download the *.md5 extension file of the same version of downloaded ISO File. The download link for MD5 file must be available just below the ISO file link on the ISO download source page. The MD5 file will have the same name as ISO file with .md5 extension.

See the image below for reference:

Now download Windows compatible MD5 Free tool to verify the downloaded file. You may navigate to MD5 free tool’s official website http://www.winmd5.com/ to download the MD5 checksum tool. Scroll down the page and download MD5 tool from the given download link.

Save the MD5 zip file on your computer. Unzip WinMD5 Tool’s zipped file to access WinMD5Free tool’s executable file using standard file extraction tool such as winzip, winrar, 7-zip, etc.

You may delete the zip file and open the extracted WinMD5 folder to run WinMD5Free tool’s executable file WinMD5.exe to open MD5 checksum verification tool.

In the MD5 tool you may either select the path to MX Linux ISO file using Browse button or drag and drop the ISO file on WinMD5 Tool Window. The MD5 tool will start calculating the MD5 checksum of the file.

Wait while WinMD5 tool calculates the MD5 checksum of downloaded file. Once the tool calculates the checksum of the downloaded ISO file, go to download location and open the downloaded *.MD5 file in a plain text reader such as Notepad. Select and Copy only the checksum value given in the first line of the file and leave any extra blank spaces or MX Linux File or Version Name. Paste the check sum in Verify Textbox and click on Verify button.

If the ISO file is not corrupt and is error free, the check sum of original and downloaded file will be matched and MD5 tool will display “Matched” message as shown below:

If the tool does not display “Matched” message, then re-download the ISO file on a reliable network and system to ensure it is error free and intact. Click OK and Exit the WinMD5 Tool and close the md5 key file.

Step 3: Burn ISO file to Flash Drive using Rufus

Let us use Rufus as a MX Linux Live USB  creator tool. In other words, we can also say a MX Linux Live USB Maker.Rufus will make a normal USB Flash drive as a MX Linux bootable USB Flash Drive.

Open a new tab and navigate to Rufus tool’s official website https://rufus.ie. Scroll down the page and download latest version of Rufus Tool on your computer. Close the browser once the download is complete. Go to Download Location and execute Rufus tool’s downloaded executable file to open Rufus tool. The system may ask for permission to run the Rufus tool. Click Yes to allow to run the tool.

Rufus tool will open but without any detected device as shown in figure below:

The “Device” dropdown box will be empty. Now, insert a Flash Drive in the USB slot of your computer.

Rufus will automatically detect the Flash drive and display in dropdown box as shown below in the image:

Now browse and select the MX Linux ISO file from download location by clicking on “Select” button in boot selection section. You may rename the Flash Drive by typing the Label of your choice or you may continue with default label. Keep the Rufus default options and click on “Start” to begin flashing to make the drive bootable for installing MX Linux.

Rufus may require to download additional files, in case it asks, click “Yes” to allow Rufus to download additional system files for compatibility with the given ISO file. Continue with recommended option to “Write in ISO Image mode”. Ensure that there is no important data on the Flash Drive (as it will be erased) and continue flashing the drive. Wait for the flashing to complete. Click “Close” to close the Rufus Tool on successful completion of flashing of Flash Drive.

To ensure the flashing was successful, open Flash Drive in File Explorer and check whether the MX Linux setup files are written on Flash Drive. The MX Linux setup files must be successfully written on Flash Drive.

Step 4: Boot from MX Linux Bootable Flash Drive

Now restart the system or plug the MX Linux Bootable Flash Drive in a computer on which you wish to install MX Linux and re-start/ start the system to boot from Flash Drive and Install MX Linux. While the system is on and initializing, press F10 (or Del or F9 or F12 or Esc) to enter BIOS Setup. The key could be different on different make and model, try other keys as per Make and Model of your machine. Search for the boot settings and set USB Storage Boot as First Booting Device. Save and Exit BIOS setup.

While the system would restart and initialize start pressing F9 (or Del or F10 or F12 or Esc) to display Boot Menu. The key could be different on different make and model, try other keys as per Make and Model of your machine.

From the Boot Menu, select Flash Drive as Boot Device and Hit Enter. It may be at different serial number in different systems. Wait for the system to Boot from the Flash Drive.

Step 5: Install MX Linux

If MX Linux boot from USB flash drive, MX Linux Boot Menu will be displayed as shown below:

Hit “Enter” key on first option to start MX Linux Live Session. MX Linux Live Session will Load from Flash Drive. On the MX Linux Desktop loaded in Live session, click on “Installer” on Desktop to begin installation of MX Linux to make it persistent on Hard Drive. Follow on screen instructions and click Next to continue.

Select “Auto Install using Entire Disk” option and click on Next to delete existing Operating System and Install MX Linux as the sole Host Operating System on the machine.

Refer below image:

Click Yes in Pop up to Format and use entire HDD for MX Linux. Ensure that there is no important data on HDD as it will be wiped off.

Wait till the HDD is formatted, partitions are created and MX Linux is installed. Once the MX Linux Operating System is installed, the installer will prompt to install a boot loader. The boot loader provides a display list of all available options to Boot from, while system restarts. Click Next to install GRUB Boot Loader. In the next window click on “Yes” to install GRUB Boot Loader on primary partition. Wait till GRUB is installed.

In the next screen, type Computer name, Domain and Workgroup or proceed with default options if you have no particular choice.

On the next screen, Select Locale, Clock and Time Zone settings or proceed with default options if you have no particular preference.

In the next screen, type in Login Username, Password and Root Password of your choice and continue. This information would be used for Login in to system. Click Finish to complete installation process.

Once the MX Linux Operating System is installed, Click Yes to reboot the machine and wait while machine is rebooting. Remove the Installation media i.e. MX Linux Bootable Flash Drive and Hit Enter. The system will reboot. You may change the boot option from BIOS settings back to HDD as first boot device for faster system loading during system start-up.

Wait while system reboots till the following screen is displayed:

Hit Enter on the first option on MX Linux Boot Screen to Boot in MX Linux. Wait for the MX Linux system to load. It may take a while on first boot. Enter Login password and hit enter or press Log In button to Login to the MX Linux System. You will be automatically connected to Internet if you have plugged in the Ethernet Cable with internet in your system.

You may explore MX Linux Feature on Welcome Screen. The newly installed MX Linux will be ready for your use. You may explore the pre-installed application packages or even may adjust the screen resolution from Display App in Settings Tab to best suit the display for best user experience.

If you are connected to Internet, you can browse your favourite websites through default Linux Web Browser Mozilla. You may use MX Linux Terminal as in all other Linux Flavors.

Watch the practical demonstration of the above process in following video: