I got the T460 refurbished and I really didn’t want to run Windows 10 on it. I last used Linux for any real length of time a good 20 years ago, so I’m pretty inexperienced with it at this point and I had to figure out how to install it myself.

They made it unreasonably difficult to first install an OS from a USB stick. I had to go into the BIOS, turn UEFI to legacy, turn off secure boot, reboot to boot from the USB stick, install Mint, then turn legacy back to UEFI to get it to boot from the hard drive. This took about 2 hours of trying to figure it out by doing a lot of forums reading.

I do not blame the Mint community or the Linux community as a whole. There is absolutely no reason that it should have been that hard to install Mint on that notebook.

I don’t even think getting into the BIOS once time should be necessary, but changing a BIOS setting so you can install the OS and changing it back so you can run the OS off the internal drive is just ridiculous and I find it hard to believe Lenovo couldn’t have just made it easier. I’m fairly convinced this was intentional on their part.

I’m not an IT professional or anything, but I know enough to figure this stuff out with effort, but it shouldn’t have taken that effort. It should have been almost plug-and-play. This is 2024. The notebook isn’t even 10 years old.

Is there actually a good reason for this or are they just kissing Microsoft’s ass?

  • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
    0·
    8 months ago

    It’s impossible to make the situation with BIOS easier. Incorrect boot order and secure boot are enabled by default for security and Windows compatibility reasons. Though I never heard that it’s required to turn on legacy mode and change it back. Probably it’s a highly model-specific thing. And btw secure boot is Mint’s fault. It just doesn’t support it yet

    • Flying Squid@lemmy.worldOP
      0·
      8 months ago

      secure boot is Mint’s fault.

      Well now I’m just surprised considering this is a 2016 notebook. They should be supporting a feature that old, shouldn’t they?

      • GolfNovemberUniform@lemmy.ml
        0·
        8 months ago

        Some distros support it but it’s only like 4 or 6 of them. I guess it’s really hard to support and maintain such feature

    • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world
      0·
      8 months ago

      It’s not even machine specific. UEFI vs legacy bios boot mode is universally supported in all but the latest systems. If OP had to switch to legacy boot mode then they probably made the USB “incorrectly”. You’d run into the same issue on windows if you made the USB boot drive for legacy bios mode.