Installing Deepin Linux alongside Windows on Acer Spin 3

kyiml

Title, mostly. So I've tried everything, disabling secure boot, trying a bunch of different bootable USB configurations... and everything works in the Deepin installer up until the point where it is time to decide which partition Deepin would be installed to. I have made every type of partition possible, from unallocated to formatted in different ways. But on the install screen, nothing shows up. Simple mode, Expert mode, and Full Disk mode are all completely blank. It's as if I don't have a disk at all.

Is there a reason why Deepin cannot see my SSD? I am tempted to try a different linux distro on this laptop at this point but it looks like any distro is gonna be a battle... what am I missing here?

ding0d0g

Hi kyiml ....    Before you can install a linux distro (either dual boot or as only OS) you need to set up an administrator password in the bios settings page, if you don't do this your computer is not truly 'unlocked' enough to allow another OS install.

Boot back to bios settings from within windows (found from recovery options page under UEFI settings) and setup admin password first, and then change settings to allow F12 function keys at boot time ,  you can then boot to usb drive at boot time and continue with install.

I recommend partition scheme as ext4 journalling partition.

It took me a while to figure this one out myself when installing ubuntu alongside my windows install.

Also if you upgrade bios through windows itself and not from bootable usb then you will have to give admin password again and reset boot order in bios to new OS as first choice if you want to boot to anything but windows, as it resets boot order to win10 first and you won't get the option for booting your other OS install. (assuming you are trying to dual boot here!)  

The other thing to note is if you choose to 'shutdown/poweroff' computer from windows next time you boot the computer will automatically boot to win10 with no option to boot anything else without F12 function key to choose OS. I personally always choose to restart from win10 and then boot ubuntu and shutdown from ther as I always then get the option to boot wichever OS I want today from grub.

Hope this info Helps!!

JordanB

If you go in to your BIOS settings and look for SATA Mode, you really need AHCI.

Apparently you need to press CTRL+S while in the BIOS settings to reveal the hidden menu on some models.

On some Acer laptops, Acer uses RAID or Intel Optane instead of AHCI.

I would backup my important personal files and create a USB recovery drive with Acer Care Center app before I switched to AHCI.

There's several topics on this forum that have more details, but I can't really give you the details as I haven't used anything but factory install AHCI.

In some cases, you may need to update the BIOS to get this CTRL+S feature.

Maybe someone else can give you more details on the exact procedure you should follow......or you can start a new topic "How do I change my Spin 3 to AHCI"

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/582322/aspire-5-a514-52g-cant-change-bios-option-sata-mode-rst-with-optane-to-ahci-after-updating

If your SATA Mode is already AHCI, then please disregard my post.