Overlaying Ubuntu 16.04 with Ubuntu MATE

[John69]

Hello Ubuntu MATE Community,

So… I JUST installed Ubuntu 16.04 about a month ago… Dual-boot on my Windows 7 ThinkPad T410 laptop. I would like to completely REPLACE it with Ubuntu MATE 16.04! I’ve been VERY impressed with what I’ve read and seen so far about MATE!

What’s the easiest way to do this?

I have already downloaded the ISO and burned a DVD. I have also created a tar ball of my \home folder structure where I mainly have just my Python learning projects so far.

Should I use GParted to wipe the current partitions used by Ubuntu BEFORE I boot from the DVD and install Ubuntu MATE?

Any pointers or direction to help make this a “smooth” install/replacement would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
John

[stevecook172001]

My strong advice would be to erase Ubuntu and install Ubuntu Mate from scratch

[pavlos_kairis]

I assume you want to keep windows 7 … if so, identify the 2 partitions where ubuntu was installed (one is /, other is swap), start the UM install from DVD|usb and select ‘something else’ (instead of installing alongside, etc), point to the installer where / is and where swap is and install UM.

[wolfman]

See also:

Install Ubuntu-MATE using the "Something else" method

Hi all, this guide can be used on any Ubuntu based system and is intended for people who have a basic working knowledge of an Ubuntu installation and wish to keep the contents of their home folder after doing a re-install. This guide is also intended for those that already have an existing swap, root and home partition setup!!. If you have not done/never done any pre-partitioning, please see this guide about using Gparted partition editor: See also: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Howto…

GParted partition guide for Linux and Windows users

PLEASE NOTE: THIS GUIDE DOES NOT DEPICT THE INSTALLATION (CREATION) OF A UEFI PARTITION. IF YOU HAVE A COMPUTER WITH UEFI/BIOS, MAKE SURE YOU ALSO CREATE A UEFI/BIOS PARTITION AS WELL. SEE FURTHER REMARKS ABOUT UEFI PARTITIONS IN THE GUIDE!. Linux beginners should also look here: You can only partition on an unmounted drive using an installation disk of your Linux flavour with a partitioning tool included, use the Gparted tool in live mode, or you can download a copy of Gparted from the link…

[John69]

@stevecook172001 @pavlos_kairis @wolfman Thanks for the advice… will give it a go and let you know how it went!

[John69]

Things worked great! Followed the ‘Install Ubuntu (Mate) using “Something else” method’ and all is swell! Thanks!

EDIT: Looking forward to a LONG, Productive relationship with my new Ubuntu MATE install! Hope to leave Windows BEHIND!

[tiox]

You cannot leave Windows entirely behind if you need it for anything DirectX. However, if you installed Ubuntu MATE on the same device as your Windows install, you can get away with 48GB for the system partition, or for an extended partition with 32GB for the system and 16GB for home, then have your Windows partition mount on startup, after making links from where Windows would recognize as your library folders (in %userprofile%) to your home folder (~) so the contents are synchronized between sessions.

This would make it so content you save in any linked folders on your Linux session populate the NTFS session Windows is on, since while Windows cannot read from Ext* (without external software, even then you can’t write to Ext4), Linux (with the appropriate libraries, installed by default for Ubuntu*) can read from NTFS just fine.