Installing Windows on your Mac is easy with Boot Camp, but Boot Camp won’t help you install Linux. You’ll have to get your hands a bit dirtier to install and dual-boot a Linux distribution like Ubuntu.
How To Install And Run Linux On Mac. Here is a simple, step by step, and easy to follow guide on how to install and run Linux on Mac. Follow these steps carefully to take advantage of Linux operating system on your Mac. How to install Linux on a Macintosh and dual boot with macOS Step 1: Downloading and ‘burning’ your Linux distro image of choice to a USB stick. Step 2: Partitioning your Macintosh hard drive. Step 3: Installing Linux on that Mac! This is the fun part! Step 4: Finishing up and fixing a few. Restart your computer and rEFInd will appear. Select the USB or disc drive containing the Linux system and boot it on your Mac. Launch your Linux distribution’s installer and go through the installation process. On Ubuntu, launch the Install Ubuntu application from the desktop and install Ubuntu as you normally would. How to Install and Dual Boot Linux and Mac OS. The Mac is one of the most reliable computing platforms available, and can make a great platform for not only running the Mac OS, such as the current macOS Sierra, but also Windows and Linux. In fact, the MacBook Pro is a very popular platform for running Linux. Under the hood. Today, let’s take a look at how to install Ubuntu on a MacBook Pro so you can see the step by step process for yourself before you start undertaking this type of change on your own. My hope is that you will find this guide helpful and useful to you as you move your Mac to the Linux platform and free it from the walled garden that is Apple’s. How to Install Ubuntu Linux. This wikiHow teaches you how to install Ubuntu Linux on your Windows or Mac computer without erasing your current operating system. Make sure that your computer can run Linux.
If you just want to try Linux on your Mac, you can boot from a live CD or USB drive. Insert the live Linux media, restart your Mac, press and hold the Option key, and select the Linux media on the Startup Manager screen.
We installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS to test this process.
Install rEFInd
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rEFInd is a boot manager that will allow you to choose between Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, and other operating systems when you boot your computer. Installing rEFInd makes the dual-boot process easier. (Some older how-to’s will instruct you to use rEFIt, but it’s no longer maintained. rEFInd is a currently maintained boot manager based on rEFIt.)
Full-disk encryption causes problems with rEFIt, so you’ll need to disable full-disk encryption or do some extra work before installing rEFInd.
First, visit the rEFInd page on SourceForge and click the Download button to download the latest refind-bin-[version].zip file. Open a Terminal window by pressing Command + Space and, typing Terminal, and pressing Enter. Drag and drop the install.sh file from the downloaded zip file into the terminal window and press Enter to run it.
Install Linux On Macos
Shut down your Mac — a full shut down, not a restart — and boot it back up again. You should see the rEFInd boot manager screen.
Partition Your Mac
You’ll now need to resize your Mac OS X system partition to make room for your Linux distribution of choice. From within Mac OS X, press Command + Space, type Disk Utility, and press Enter to open the Disk Utility. Select your Mac’s hard drive in the list on the left and select Partition on the right.
RELATED:Beginner Geek: Hard Disk Partitions Explained
Shrink the current Mac OS X partition to make space for your Linux system. How much space you want for Linux is up to you. Ubuntu’s system requirements say it requires at least 5 GB of space, but something like 20 GB is much more reasonable. Drag and drop the handle on the partition volume or enter a final size for the partition and click Partition to partition it.
Don’t create a new partition after shrinking your current partition — just leave the space empty for now.
Boot and Install Linux
You’ll need Linux installation media to continue. For example, if you’re using Ubuntu, you’ll need to download an Ubuntu ISO file — download the “64-bit Mac” version. Burn the ISO to disc or follow Ubuntu’s official instructions to create a bootable USB drive from the ISO file.
Restart your computer and rEFInd will appear. Select the USB or disc drive containing the Linux system and boot it on your Mac.
Launch your Linux distribution’s installer and go through the installation process. On Ubuntu, launch the Install Ubuntu application from the desktop and install Ubuntu as you normally would. Be sure to select the “Install Ubuntu alongside Mac OS X” option instead of overwriting your Mac OS X system with Ubuntu. The installation process should otherwise be normal.
Whenever you boot your computer, you’ll have the ability to choose between Mac OS X and Linux on the rEFInd boot manager screen.
Depending on your Mac, some hardware components may not work perfectly on Linux. This depends on the version of Linux you use, how recent it is, and what Mac hardware you’re using. If something doesn’t work, you may have to perform some Google searches with the model and year of your Mac as well as the name and version of the Linux distribution you’re using. Other users have probably dealt with the same problems before you, and they’ve probably written guides to making everything work.
How to Remove Linux and rEFInd
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If you decide you no longer want to dual boot Linux on your Mac, you can remove Linux fairly easily. Boot into OS X, open the Disk Utility, and delete your Linux partitions. You can also boot from your Linux USB media and use the GParted partition manager to remove these partitions. After the partitions are deleted, you can enlarge your Mac OS X partition afterwards from the Disk Utility in OS X to reclaim the space used for Linux.
If you installed Linux as the only operating system and replaced Mac OS X, you’ll need to reinstall OS X on your Mac if you want to leave Linux behind.
To remove the rEFInd boot manager, follow rEFInd’s uninstallation instructions. You don’t have to remove rEFInd — your Mac will continue working fine with rEFInd installed even if you remove Linux.
The rEFInd bit isn’t mandatory, but you’ll have to perform other tweaks to make Linux boot properly on a Mac if you opt to not use rEFInd. While Apple makes installing Windows easy through Boot Camp, they don’t provide any simple solution for installing Linux.
Image Credit: Brandon Nguyen on Flickr
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Installing Linux Mint on your PC or Mac opens up a whole range of new open-source software and capabilities. It involves some initial preparation, but in the end, you'll find it worth the investment.
The main steps to install Linux Mint on your PC or Mac are as follows:
- Prepare an installer. This is typically a USB drive, although you can also burn it to an optical disc if you're old school. Note however that most Linux installers these days are larger than a CD-ROM (700 MB), so you'll need a DVD-R/RW or a thumb drive of the appropriate size. Linux Mint's installer is nearly 2 GB, so plan ahead.
- Next, boot from the media (USB drive or optical disc) you just created. You may need to adjust your machine's settings related to boot order, as well as UEFI (more on these later).
- Finally, run the installer once the USB drive boots, and you arrive on a live Mint desktop (but feel free to have a look around first).
Straight Installation vs. Dual Booting
While there are some computers that come with Linux Mint pre-installed, it's much more likely you'll be installing it onto a machine that already has an operating system. There are two approaches you could take: either install it over your existing OS, effectively deleting it, or install it alongside the original OS. Each comes with its own pros and cons.
You should take some time deciding whether or not to install more than one OS on your computer. Some considerations include the following:
- Straight Installation: Before you install Linux Mint over your existing OS, make sure you've identified alternatives for all the applications you need. You'll have no problem finding apps like browsers, office suites, or media players. But if you need a very specific program, you'll need to run the other OS is a virtual machine. Your computer should have a good deal of RAM (at least 8 GB) to support these two running at once.
- Dual-Booting: Dual-booting is having two OSes installed on the same computer, but only using one of them at a time. This approach sacrifices flexibility; in order to use the apps of one OS, you'll need to shut down the other. Also, dual-booting requires splitting your hard drive into partitions, effectively cutting off a section of its storage off from each OS.
In this article, we assume you'll want to use Linux Mint as the only operating system on your computer. If you want to keep another OS in addition to Mint and dual boot, refer to our guides for setting this up on a Mac or a Windows PC. Once you've decided on your approach, we can put the installer together.
Download a Linux Mint Installer
The most convenient way to prepare an installer for Linux Mint is to download an image and write it to a USB thumb drive. Thumb drives are cheap, and make excellent portable toolkits once your Linux Mint install is done.
Your first step will be to download an install image from the Linux Mint website. There are three different versions of Linux Mint. Although they are all based on the same software core, they each offer a different desktop environment installed by default:
- Cinnamon is a fork of the GNOME Desktop (we compared the Ubuntu Unity desktop and GNOME previously). The Linux Mint developers started once GNOME 3 took a different approach to desktop layout.
- The philosophy of the MATE desktop is similar, although these developers decided to use version 2 of the GNOME desktop as their base.
- XFCE has long been the desktop of choice for older, lower-powered hardware.
A few criteria to consider as you make your decision include the following:
- Layout conventions: All three of these desktops use a familiar layout, which includes an application launcher, taskbar, and system tray. Each also supports desktop icons. But their arrangement is slightly different among them, so check them out and see which one you like best.
- Default Applications: Desktop environments are called such because they aren't just the background surface that holds your icons. They include utilities like file managers and text editors as well. Check out each option and see if there's a 'must-have' among the apps they provide.
- Aesthetics: The desktop environment represents the look-and-feel through which you'll interact with your computer. If it's functional but ugly, the result will be a less-than-ideal experience. Choose a desktop environment you like, keeping in mind that you can install alternate themes.
Once you've selected a version, download its ISO file from the Linux Mint site, selecting the 32- or 64-bit version depending on your machine's processor. Don't know which one you have? If you're on a reasonably modern Mac, it will be 64-bit. For Windows, if you're unsure follow this guide to confirm which of these you'll need.
Write Linux Mint to a Bootable USB Drive
Once you have a copy of Linux Mint, you'll need to write it to a USB drive. This process isn't as simple as copying the ISO file to the thumb drive. It will basically set the thumb drive up as a bootable hard disk, so your computer can run the operating system from it.
One popular option is the Win32 Disc Imager. We've covered this in the past, so you can simply follow these steps to make a bootable Linux Mint thumb drive! Once complete you'll have an install drive that will boot on PCs protected by the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), which most modern machines use by default. The write process is as easy as selecting the ISO file you downloaded in the Image File field and selecting the drive letter for your USB drive in the Drive drop-down.
On macOS, the Etcher,io provides a similarly easy way to burn an image. With just three button presses you select your image, the USB drive, and start the write process.
With the completed installer in hand, it's time for you to close all those apps and reboot into Linux land.
The Linux Mint Live Desktop
The drive you prepared will boot into a 'live' desktop environment. Here, you can try out all the software and features that Linux Mint has to offer. Two things to keep in mind when running a live desktop:
- Firstly, the changes you make (like creating documents) won't be saved. The next time you use the drive, it will be reset to its original state.
- Also, running an OS from a USB drive is slower than from a hard drive, so don't judge Linux Mint's performance based on this experience.
When you're ready to take the plunge, double-click on the Install Linux Mint icon on the desktop to kick off the process.
Installing Linux Mint
The installer wizard will set up Linux Mint on your machine in just a few steps.
Step 1: Language
The first step is to select your language – this is the language that the installed OS will use. You can, of course, change this later.
Step 2: Keyboard
Next, select your keyboard type. You can use the text box below to ensure keys are registering correctly.
Step 3: Proprietary Software
Install Linux On Mac Book Air
The following screen will ask if you want to install proprietary software. You'll most likely want to select this so you can play different types of media files (like MP3 files).
Step 4: Installation Target
Install Linux On Mac Dual Boot
The installer will provide you with a couple of options for where it will install Mint. Select Erase disk and install Linux Mint to use your entire hard drive, but be aware that it will then permanently delete everything on that drive. So again, make sure you have all your important data backed up. You can also choose to encrypt your whole OS on this screen or use the Logical Volume Manager (a Linux system for efficiently managing data on the hard drive). Both are safe to either enable or leave disabled, but keep in mind if you encrypt your OS you may experience a minor performance hit.
If you have another OS (e.g. macOS) on the drive that you want to keep, you'll need to select the last option, Something else. This will allow you to manually select where Mint will install from among your hard drive's partitions. Re-visit the guides for dual booting on a Mac or a Windows PC for instructions on which partition you should choose.
Step 5: Timezone
At this point, the wizard will ask you a couple more questions while the install starts. First is your timezone, which the installer will probably guess correctly based on your location.
Step 6: Username and Password
Finally, you'll be prompted to enter your full name, a user name, a computer name (how it shows up on the local network), and a password. You'll also have the option to encrypt your personal folder, which you should do if you didn't encrypt the OS as a whole.
Step 7: Reboot
You can finally relax now while the install finishes. The installer will show you some slides describing features of Linux Mint while things wrap up.
Once complete, you'll be prompted to reboot your PC. Click the Restart Now button, and remove the USB drive with the installer.
After the restart, you'll land on a screen where you can log in with the username and password you created earlier.
Congratulations, your Linux Mint desktop is now ready to enjoy!