Asus laptop Pre-installed with Linux OS. How do I install windows 10?!

Jjbmorris · 28 Jan 2017

Right. I bought this laptop, the spec is decent and the price was cheap. I realized it was so cheap because it didn't have a windows OS installed on it. I thought "That's fine, you're decent when it comes to computers. Just buy windows 10 and install it yourself!". No. Just no. I can't get the laptop to install windows 10 OS. (It's on a USB drive)

It has some kind of Linux UI already installed but I'd hardly call it an OS. When the laptop loads it resembles a bios and you have to enter Linux codes in order to do anything.

I'm really struggling to refrain from smashing the laptop to bits. I've gone into the bios and on the boot menu it's set to UEFI with secure boot enabled. I've managed to disable secure boot but it still won't load the windows 10 USB. I've changed it from UEFI to Legacy mode and although it will now load the USB, it doesn't install the OS. It just comes up with a massage saying to do it again but after about 5 tries it still won't work.

I've read it might be because of the GTP partitions but I've no idea what these are.

Also, I've tried to delete all the Linux partitions through the Linux UI but the fdisk functions seem to be different for me when compared with all the tutorials online.

Can anyone help?!?

Thanks a million if you can!

NavyLCDR · 28 Jan 2017

First, how did you make the USB flash drive? A properly created Windows 10 USB flash will boot in either legacy mode or UEFI mode. I prefer the manual method of preparing a bootable USB flash drive with diskpart (on a Windows computer) and then extracting the Windows 10 ISO file to it.

Once you boot into the Windows 10 USB setup, at the first screen press Shift + F10 to open a command prompt. Run the following commands (THIS WILL ERASE THE ENTIRE HARD DRIVE):

diskpart
select disk 0
clean
exit
exit

Then select the custom install option, highlight the unallocated space on the hard drive and click Next to let Windows 10 create the partitions it wants. If that doesn't work, you will have to post the exact error message you are getting.

dalchina · 28 Jan 2017

For reference:
Windows 10 - Clean Install

The GPT partitioning schema is more modern, more robust, and supports larger disks.

Simply put, think MBR and BIOS (MBR + BIOS), but GPT and UEFI.

MBR vs GPT

Compared with MBR disk, a GPT disk supports larger than 2 TB volumes while MBR cannot. A MBR disk can be basic or dynamic, just like an GPT disk can be basic or dynamic. GPT disk also supports up to 128 partitions rather than the 4 primary partitions limited to MBR. Also, GPT keeps a backup of the partition table at the end of the disk. Furthermore, GPT disk provides greater reliability due to replication and cyclical redundancy check (CRC) protection of the partition table. The GPT disk partitioning style supports volumes up to 18 exabytes in size and up to 128 partitions per disk, compared to the MBR disk partitioning style, which supports volumes up to 2 terabytes in size and up to 4 primary partitions per disk (or three primary partitions, one extended partition, and unlimited logical drives). Unlike MBR partitioned disks, data critical to platform operation is located in partitions instead of unpartitioned or hidden sectors. In addition, GPT partitioned disks have redundant primary and backup partition tables for improved partition data structure integrity.

For more information about the differences between GPT disk and MBR disk, please go to:
What's the Difference Between GPT Disk and MBR Disk?
from
MBR vs GPT: Which One Is Better for You?

alphanumeric · 28 Jan 2017

Did you buy this laptop brand new or second hand? It sounds like the Linux install is set to boot to command line instead of the desktop GUI. I do this on one of my Raspberry Pi's that runs headless to save resources. It can be toggled back to the desktop though.

Anyway, if you create your install media the way NavyLCDR posted it will work for legacy and UEFI. You don't need to turn secure boot off to boot from it, I never do. If your BIOS has a quick boot/one time boot menu i'd use that to boot from the thumb drive. Then select custom install. From there you can use disk tools to delete all the partitions on the drive. Once that's done, just install to the unallocated space and Windows will do the rest. it will create any and all the partitons it needs automatically.

pparks1 · 28 Jan 2017

Jjbmorris said:

It has some kind of Linux UI already installed but I'd hardly call it an OS. When the laptop loads it resembles a bios and you have to enter Linux codes in order to do anything.

Just poking fun, but there is nothing wrong with an OS that doesn't provide a GUI. Doesn't make it very exciting as a desktop, but it's still an OS. I've managed hundreds of Linux servers with no GUI. It certainly is an OS.

It really sounds like your USB key is not bootable. Do you have another computer available that you could test it on? It won't be your partitions, these can be wiped out and redone by the Windows installer. You aren't make it that far.

Avocado · 29 Jan 2017

If your Windows 10 USB flash drive is formatted as FAT32 file system, then it should be bootable in UEFI mode. When you boot from the USB flash drive, UEFI mode starts the boot process either from the "\efi\boot\bootx64.efi" file or from the "\efi\boot\bootia32.efi" file. There are only a few computer systems that have the 32-bit UEFI firmware and in that case you must use a 32-bit version of the Windows 10 USB flash drive.

edit:

You do not need to change the boot order of drives in your UEFI BIOS settings. If you have changed the settings, then restore the default settings.

- Connect your Windows 10 USB/DVD
- Restart the computer
- Press the correct key to enter the boot menu (for example, Esc, F2, F8, F9, or F12)

On many computers, you can boot from the Windows 10 USB/DVD installation media either in UEFI mode or in Legacy BIOS mode.

If you want to use the GPT partition style, you must boot from the Windows 10 USB/DVD installation media in UEFI mode (marked UEFI in the boot menu). If you want to use the MBR partition style, you must boot from the Windows 10 USB/DVD installation media in Legacy BIOS mode (not marked UEFI in the boot menu).

If you install Windows 10 using the wrong mode, you won’t be able to use the features of that firmware mode without reformatting the drive.

Jjbmorris · 29 Jan 2017

NavyLCDR said:

First, how did you make the USB flash drive? A properly created Windows 10 USB flash will boot in either legacy mode or UEFI mode. I prefer the manual method of preparing a bootable USB flash drive with diskpart (on a Windows computer) and then extracting the Windows 10 ISO file to it.

Once you boot into the Windows 10 USB setup, at the first screen press Shift + F10 to open a command prompt. Run the following commands (THIS WILL ERASE THE ENTIRE HARD DRIVE):

diskpart
select disk 0
clean
exit
exit

Then select the custom install option, highlight the unallocated space on the hard drive and click Next to let Windows 10 create the partitions it wants. If that doesn't work, you will have to post the exact error message you are getting.

I bought the flash drive, it is an original (brand new and unopened) windows 10 installer with a new licence key. I plug it in, turn on the laptop and the Linux OS loads almost instantly.

I'll give your suggestion a go when I get back home later and let you know how it goes.

Thanks a lot, please keep me updated if you have any further suggestions!

alphanumeric · 29 Jan 2017

You have to tell the BIOS to boot from the thumb drive. It sounds like the hard drive is first in the list of boot devices. If so it will just boot from the first bootable device it finds, the hard drive. You need to enter the BIOS and put your USB thumb drive to the top of the list. A lot of PC's nowadays have a one time boot option. Press a certain key on boot up and you get a list of all the detected bootable devices. You can then select what you want to boot from, for that one time, from the list. On the next reboot it just goes back to what ever the default was originally. It's great option for doing installs. No changing settings twice. No siting there waiting for the first reboot to switch it back to the hard drive.

alphanumeric · 29 Jan 2017

pparks1 said:

Just poking fun, but there is nothing wrong with an OS that doesn't provide a GUI. Doesn't make it very exciting as a desktop, but it's still an OS. I've managed hundreds of Linux servers with no GUI. It certainly is an OS.

It really sounds like your USB key is not bootable. Do you have another computer available that you could test it on? It won't be your partitions, these can be wiped out and redone by the Windows installer. You aren't make it that far.

Yep, all depends on what your doing with that device. I have one Raspberry Pi I run headless that runs a python file on boot up. No need for the GUI. It has a Sense Hat on it and I use the LED matrix to display my info. If your used to Windows, and new to Linux, it can have you scratching your head though, lol. Especially if you don't know any Linux commands.

N9NU · 29 Jan 2017

NO!!!!! Removing Linux??? Oh dear

Tim