Linux Mint 17 Qiana Released

Installation Guide with Screenshots &

Features
The long awaited moment of Linux Mint 17 Qiana Cinnamon and Mate final
releases has come, Linux Mint developers proudly announced on Saturday, May 31st,
2014 on their official Linux Mint webpage the newly Linux Mint releases with long term
support until 2019.
Clement Lefebvre: It comes with updated software and
brings refinements and many new features to make your
desktop even more comfortable to use. The Update manager has
been hugely improved. It shows more information, it looks
better, it feels faster, and it gets less in your way. It no
longer needs to reload itself in root mode when you click on
it. It no longer checks for an Internet connection or waits
for the network manager and it no longer locks the APT cache
at session startup. The UI has been improved, the icons were
modified a bit and the changelog retrieval is now much
faster and more reliable.
Linux Mint 17 Features
Some of this release features are:
1. A improved new Update Manager version.
2. Without internet connection Driver Manager can install drivers.
3. MDM 1.6 Login Screen now support HiDPI and recovery mode.
4. A new Language Settings tool.
5. An enhanced Software Sources configuration utility.
6. A light redesigned Welcome Screen.
7. Better settings for Cinnamon 2.2.
8. Improved MATE 1.8.
9. Few system improvements.
10. A nice collection of backgrounds.
11. Linux Kernel 3.13.
12. EFI and Bluetooth support.
13. PAE Kernel for x32bit versions.
14. Booting with non-PAE CPUs
15. Solving freezes with some NVIDIA GeForce GPUs
16. No support for Nvidia Optimus graphics chipsets yet (minimal support is provided by nvidiaprime package).

For more information and download mirrors please visit official Linux Mint webpage.
1. Linux Mint 17 Qiana Mate: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2627

2. Linux Mint 17 Qiana Cinnamon: http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=2626

This tutorial will focus on performing a single-boot fresh installation of Linux Mint 17
Qiana Mate on GPT disks (only for 64-bit OS versions) but the settings can be applied
on Cinnamon version also. Be aware that dual-boot with a Windows OS will not work
using GPT partition scheme on computers with BIOSes (Microsoft Windows will boot in
EFI mode if it detects a GPT partition label) so use GPT partitions with dual-boot only on
computers with Extensible Firmware Interface EFI or Unified EFI -UEFI firmware else
use only Linux Mint single boot on non-EFI computers with GPT scheme or dual-boot
with Windows OS on BIOSes (Grub Legacy) with MBR partition scheme.
If you already have a previous version of Linux Mint installed on your computer and you
want to upgrade to Qiana follow use the instructions from my former tutorial on Upgrade
Linux Mint 16 (Petra) to Linux Mint 17 (Qiana).

Step 1: Create GPT Partition Layout

1. Download on of the Linux Mint 17 versions from the above mirrors and burn it to a
DVD or create a USB bootable drive.
2. Place your USB stick or DVD in your computer drive and select your appropriate boot
medium from BIOS/UEFI menu.
3. When the first Linux Mint screen appears press [Enter] key, choose Start Linux Mint
and wait for the system to completely load.

Booting Linux Mint

Start Linux Mint

4. After Linux Mint completely loads into a Live state go to Menu, type gparted on
Search field and start GParted disk partitioner.

GParted Disk Partitioner.

5. On GParted select your first hard-disk from right tab then go to GParted Menu ->
Device -> Create Partition Table, choose GPT on Warning window, then click on
Apply.

Create Partition Table

Select GPT Partition Type

6. Then left click on unallocated space, select New and enter the following settings for
this partition then click on Add.
1. New size = 20 Mib
2. File system = Unformatted
3. Label = Bios Grub

Create Bios Grub Partition

Enter Partition Size

7. The next partition will hold the Boot Grub. Again select unallocated space -> New
and use the following settings for this partition.
1. New size = ~300 MB
2. File system = ext2/ext3/ext4 (choose whatever file system you like)
3. Label = EFI Boot

Create EFI Boot Partition

8. The next partition will be for Linux Swap. Again select unallocated space -> New and
use the following settings for this partition.
1. New size = RAMx2 MB
2. File system = Unformatted
3. Label = Swap

Create Swap Partition

9. Next partition should be for ROOT. Same steps as previous partitions with following
settings.
1. New size = min 20000 MB (20Gb)
2. File system = ext4
3. Label = root

Create Root Partition

10. The last partition will be for users $HOME. Again select the remaining unallocated
space -> New and use the following settings for this partition.
1. New size = default value (this will be the rest of free space in case you dont want to create
other partitions)

2. File system = ext4

3. Label = home

Create Home Partition

11. After you have finished partition creation process press [Ctrl]+[Enter] keys and hit
on Apply pop-up window button to write your newly partition table on hard-disk.

Apply Partition Changes

Apply Operations to Device

Operation Completed Successfully

12. After the partition table was successfully written close the window and navigate on
your first partition (/dev/sda1), right click on it, go to Manage Flags, select bios_grub
then close the window.

Manage Flags

Select Bios Grub

13. Again, do the same thing with EFI Boot partition (/dev/sda2) but this time select
legacy_boot partition Flag.

EFI Boot partition

Select Legacy Boot

GParted Partition Table

Step 2: Install Linux Mint 17 [Mate]

14. After you are done setting the disk partition layout, close Gparted and hit Install
Linux Mint icon from desktop.

Install Linux Mint

15. Select your system Language and click Continue.

Select System Language

16. The next screen will verify your system available free space and internet connection
to ensure that the system meats the minimal requirements for disk space for an optimal
installation. If you have no internet connection shouldnt be a problem so shoot
Continue.

Preparing to Install Linux Mint

17. Because we previously created system hard-disk partition layout, on the next screen
choose Something else and click on Continue.

Select Installation Type

18. Now its time to tell installer how to use system partition table, created earlier. First
choose the boot partition (/dev/sda2) and make the following settings (/dev/sda1 leave it
untouched).
1. Size = leave it unchanged
2. Use as = Ext2/Ext3/Ext4 filesystem (ext4 is faster while ext2 is more suitable for small
partitions due to its lack of journalize)

3. Check Format the partition

4. Mount point = /boot

Select Boot Partition

Enter Boot Size

19. Next setup Linux Swap (/dev/sda3) using default chosen size and Use as swap area.

Set Swap Partition

20. Configure root partition (/dev/sda4) with the following options.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Size = leave it untouched

Use as = Ext4 journaling file system
Check Format the partition
Mount point = /

Configure Root Partition

21. Finally configure HOME partition with the following settings.
1.
2.
3.
4.

Size = leave it untouched

Use as = Ext4 journaling file system
Check Format the partition
Mount point = /home

Configure Home Partition

22. The final partition table should look like in the screenshots below. After you verify it
again and make sure it suits your needs hit on Install Now button.

Final Partition Table

Install Now Linux Mint

23. If your computer has Internet connection the installer will automatically detect your
location else choose your real location using the provided map and hit on Continue.

Select Your Location

24. On the next screen choose your Keyboard layout then click on Continue.

Select Keyboard Layout

25. For the final settings of your system pick a username and a password for your
computer and choose an appropriate name for Computer then Continue.

Enter User Details

26. After the installer successfully finishes its job remove the installer media and reboot
your computer.

Installation Process

Installation Complete Reboot

Congratulations! Now you have Linux Mint 17 Qiana with Mate desktop environment
installed on your computer using GPT partition layout.

Linux Mint 17 Installed

Linux Mint 17 Login Screen

Linux Mint 17 Desktop

Note down that depending on your computer EFI/UEFI the system might not boot
properly and this settings may not work for you, so should dig the subject as a starting
point using this pages.
1. EFI Bootloaders Principles
2. UEFI Community
3. Install Linux Mint on UEFI Supported Device
Although this experiment was done as a single boot under a virtualized environment with
no UEFI and using a small disk in size the partition table scheme should be valid for
most of EFI/BIOS computers with the remark that you cant use GPT disk layout in dualboot on BIOS computers and some UEFI/EFI systems can impose problems on booting
from GPT disks (disabling Secure Boot might help in some cases), so if you plan on
using disks smaller than 2GB in size you should stick to MBR partition layout.