Edit: holy shit, I did it! The install media is booting off a little SSD partition! It was ultimately quite simple. Will update with instructions once done, for posterity.
This is a weird one. My partner was gifted a Surface Go model 1824 (gen 1) by their best friend, who unexpectedly died a couple of weeks back. It’s nearing the Windows 10 end of support date, so my plan was to install Mint, but there’s a hitch: the only goddamned USB port on the system is shot. It’s the USB controller, which I’ve given up on trying to fix as it looks like a hardware issue.
I still want to install Linux because this thing now has super sentimental value. I’ve freed up 16 gb on the SSD, so I have some space to work with. There’s a micro SD slot that still functions, but the stupid system doesn’t support booting from it (although a Reddit post suggested you can still do so if you set it up in Grub, which I don’t know how to do properly at all). The only thing I can think of is installing something on a partition or partitions that acts as install media, but I have no idea how to do that.
Ive tried using Grub2Win’s ISOboot function with the Mint install ISO and I can get it to start, but it stalls out waiting ad nauseum for DHCP. I think it thinks it’s a PXE install. Maybe my parameters are set wrong? Actual PXE is a no-go because no network adapter. I tried intently staring at the Mint ISO, then staring at the tablet; no data was transferred, but I did develop a headache.
I’m so, so stumped. Any ideas, anyone?
I think we can safely rule out anything on the hardware side since accessing any internal component of the Surface Go is tantamount to destroying it.
Assuming Microsoft’s UEFI implementation is somewhat standard, Grub2Win should set you on the right path. Have you inspected the underlying grub.cfg? Make sure the entry for the ISO doesn’t make any attempt to boot from network.
If it has ethernet you can likely do a network boot.
Ethernet on Surface requires a USB adapter
Is the HDD removable? I’ve swapped hard drives between thinkpads before and linux didn’t seem to care that it’s suddenly on a different machine. So maybe you can install something on the HDD on a different machine (that has a usb) and then swap the HDD back into the Surface. Maybe there will still be things to smooth out later, but it’s something to try.
Install Ventoy on internal hdd.
https://www.ventoy.net/en/doc_non_destructive.html
I have a folder called ISO on my hdd. I just drop an iso there and reboot into ventoy.
I also added ventoy to my grub, but it was pretty hacky, something like adding the uuids of ventoy and my data partition.
You can even boot some isos directly from grub without ventoy.
Does the Surface Go have a SSD in it? And/or can you install a SSD into it? The specs do imply that it supports SSD so you should at least have a port in there for that. If so, as long as you have a spare machine you can install the Surface’s SSD into another system, then install Linux Mint normally there, then re-install the SSD back into the Surface Go.
I’ve never done that but it’s been mentioned a few times in the Linux Mint forums so apparently that is a roundabout way of installing on a machine without working USB ports. e.g.
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=388243
https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=361542
Not sure how well Mint works specifically on Surface Go but it’s worth a try, most likely you’d use the same steps to install other distros on there.
EDIT: Without a spare system you might be able to download then write the Mint ISO onto a second partition inside Windows and boot from the Mint installer partition afterwards. Not sure how well that would work but someone else in the forums mentioned it https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=369154
Depending on the specific model it is either an SSD or eMMC storage but you won’t be able to get to it without major disassembly of the device which includes removing the glued-on screen.
This surface is an absolute bitch to repair
Yikes! Yeah if the SSD storage isn’t easily accessible then it’s not worth the disassembly headache.
If that is the case then OP’s only option is to try writing the bootable ISO onto a second partition on the current drive while in Windows and boot off that partition… assuming getting the USB port repaired is a no-go.
This
You can use an external ssd adapter too, or clone an existing install with Clonezilla (but should be resizable)
Can it run any kind of virtualization? Pass that 16gb partition as a raw disk, run your OS installer, then boot the partition directly instead of as a VM.
If its really important hardware, consider repairing the usb controller.
Ive personally had a surface and i think mint and ubunto did absolutely not work to install. (7Pro)
But arch worked (some kind nerds in the area helped me install it) and at least to me it was surprisingly easy
But you probably should use a backup in case you manage to break archThis repo is your friend: https://github.com/linux-surface/linux-surface
Random idea that might work: Try to install ReFind from windows, it should work and allow you to boot from random thing more easily. Then try using it to boot from the SD card. Don’t forget to turn off secure boot. If that doesn’t work, the right idea is indeed to “burn” the media on a partition, however you will also encounter some amount of headache with this option: an installer is not a single partition, but multiple ones. You could try only having the “main” partition on disk, and use refind to boot it too.
TL;DR: ReFind could help you. Turn off secure boot.
Doesn’t it have an eMMC drive. A card like that might be slow as hell, but it would load up a live iso eventually.
There are Linux tricks for these models of Surface devices. Go for that.
