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?

  • APF@discuss.tchncs.de
    11·
    13 hours ago

    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.

    • SoleInvictus@lemmy.blahaj.zoneOP
      2·
      1 hour ago

      That’s brilliant! I got it to work, but the lack of functioning USB port means my future recovery options are limited. I’m installing this with a barebones linux install ISO, just in case things get weird. Thank you!