I want to share my experience and here are the steps I used to do it. (I tried to add a few more details for people doing this first time on a new laptop.)
BEFORE beginning anything -General
note - Make sure your windows is up to date, plugged in and charged
and your wifi is working and your touchpad is working properly. (Some
of the new Acer Nitro515-55 have error, jittery or erratic touchpads
like I did. Suggest get it fixed before if that is the case, because it could be a
hardware issue.) And remember to always back up your windows files
before doing this. I have been doing doual boot linux distros and windows for 7 years but it was first time I did on a new Acer. Also I usually just "clone" my whole Windows
drive to a spare external hard drive as backup. There are many cloning
software are available like Samsung Magician (if you are cloning to a
Samsung ssd) or AOMEI backupEr (clone mode) or Minitools Shadow
Maker (clone) etc I am not affiliated to any but I use them all. Also keep a WIndows recovery USB on hand just in case). (BTW Clonezilla would not recognize my Nvme drives so thats why I used other backup clone programs pre-install).
My
assumptions & aim:
Install
the Linux distro Ubuntu 20.04 (in my case in the end was Ubuntu 20.10 but either should be same) and Windows dual boot into TWO separate
drives and keep a third drive as storage and have Grub take over as my
default bootloader where I can later choose to boot into Ubuntu or
Windows. I assume you already know how to download and verify an Ubuntu ISO and install into a USB to create a live disk (many tutorials online).
my
machine/ pre-installation:
Acer
Nitro 5 (2020 model) laptop AN5-15-55-76SK i7 10750H GTX1650i, 16Gb
ram, 144Mhz
512gb
nvme (empty) + 250gb nvme (current Windows OS) + 1tb Samsung Evo SATA SSD (NTFS
"Storage").
My plan
is;
-Ubuntu
in nvme (512gb)
-Windows
( keep untouched) in other nvme (250gb)
-
Samsung 1tb (NTFS SSD for storage untouched)
here is what it (should) look like after profit/win;
To
start;
Do a
clean shutdown from windows then boot up machine.
-When
Acer logo immediately press (a few times if necessary)
F2 to
enter Bios menu.
-In
order to make changes to the bios and disabe secure boot we need
enable and choose a "Bios security password" to make
changes.)
-in
bios menu, set "F12 boot menu" to "enabled"
-set
secure boot off
-set
fast boot off
then
-save
BIOS settings and exit
-and boot into Windows again then, next step to summarize,
(read this first) we need to in Windows, set " safeboot" on then in bios "Main"
menu press "ctrl S" to enter (secret) bios menu to change
to SATA AHCI mode, then go back into Windows to "disable
safeboot", the details as below;
How to Switch
to SATA AHCI MODE steps;
-When in windows
-Click
the Start Button and type cmd
Right-click
the result and select "Run as administrator"
-Type
this command in one line and press ENTER:
bcdedit
/set safeboot minimal
-Restart
the computer and enter BIOS Setup with F2
- press
ctrl-s in "Main" section in bios)
-
toggle to Change the SATA Operation mode to "AHCI" from
either IDE or RAID
-Save
changes and exit Setup and then Windows will automatically boot to
Safe Mode. I'ts OK...relax
-In
Windows (safe mode now) Right-click the Windows Start Menu once more.
Choose Command Prompt (Admin).
-Type
this command and press ENTER:
bcdedit /deletevalue safeboot
-Reboot
once more and Windows will automatically start with AHCI drivers
enabled. That part is done.
-Shutdown
Windows again (so we can now do next part of testing our Ubuntu live USB for
installation.....)
-insert
Ubuntu live USB (tip: insert into the 2.0 USB (slower) slot
(generally 2.0 slots it loads better than 3.0 because something to do
with more drivers and stability)
-power
up and boot
-On
seeing Acer logo immediately press
F12 to enter boot (priority/select) menu
-use
arrows to select your Ubuntu live USB (usually says something Linux ,
or Lintuslinux or similar) & press enter.
-Ubuntu
live USB should boot up normally
-(Important) test
the live Ubuntu usb (or other linux distro) to make sure it is stable,
sound and wifi, keypad touchpad all ok).
(All
was working for Ubuntu 20.4 (and 20.10) for me. I also did this test run with
Ubuntu 20.10 live USB also no problems )
(side note-
I tested MXlive 19.2 and 19.3 live USB's loved them but both were not
stable on my new Nitro 5 AN515-55 , MX live USB kept getting random
reboot and hanging on the MX live usb saying memory and ram.100%
error or something.. Pop OS was ok but didn't feel as smooth as
Ubuntu. I tested Majaro Gnome and it was a bit buggy. Only Ubuntu 20.04,
Ubuntu 20.10 and Manjaro XFCE were very stable for me. Those are the
only ones I tested.I am sure others will be able to test more.
So I
chose to try Ubuntu 20.04 first (like I said in the end I chose 20.10 but it is the same process)
( Tip -
for those.doing this first time , I had a back up live Ubuntu 20.10
USB and Manjaro XFCE live usb's on hand just in case. The last thing
you want is during installation to have a live USB fail for whatever
reason, and have to make live USBs again, so if you are doing this
first time have backup few live USB distros just in case you want
save time if something goes wrong).
- If
all is working OK the Shutdown live Ubuntu usb (if it says remove
USB before & press enter then just follow instructions to
shutdown.)
>>>>>Now we
know which distro is working best and prefer<<<<<<<<<<<
-insert
the Live Ubuntu 20.04 (or 20.10) USB
-Reboot
into Bios (F2 at Acer logo)
-Now is
an important ("insurance") step, in bios set secure boot back to enabled to "set
trusted Uefi file". DO NOT OMIT THIS STEP
-(BTW For my
new Nitro 5 , I could not do this part with secure boot disabled.)
-You
MUST in BIOS menu ..
-select "set trusted Uefi file" and then just choose
path your usb>efi > "grubx64.efi" file, it will ask
you name it , I named it to "Ubuntugrubx64" ( or whatever),
then click enter to confirm. .... (because some who people missed this
step apparently had problems post installation with blank screen etc so I did it anyway )
(note-
some people dont have the grubx64.efi file and just chose shimx64.efi file
instead. In Ubuntu the grubx64.efi file was easily found in the efi part of the usb. )
-Remember
in Bios menu also to change "boot priority' in bios to make sure
the grubx64 file loads before windows.
-Next
step "disable" secure boot (again) before proceeding with
final installation. (Reason is: I could not do installation process
with secure boot enabled. After I had set up and was ready to install, I
now wanted boot into the live Ubuntu USB to proceed with full
installation. .....HOWEVER I could not install with "secure boot
enabled", I got some grub error mesaage need load kernel
or something, so to cut a long story short simple solution, I had to
just DISABLE secure boot again for the whole remaining installation
process...
... and
that was ok. (Just to be clear for me during actual installation and
post installation my Nitro 5's secure boot is still "disabled"/OFF.)
-After
setting trusted Uefi file in Bios then save bios settings and reboot
into boot menu with F12 again.
(note
- by now it should boot straight into Ubuntu live USB but just to
make sure I just always chose the live USB in F12 menu. I will
explain later)
...Next
step,
Final
Installation.....
- Boot
into Live Ubuntu usb.
( In
the live Ubuntu USB environment I usually put wifi on but some people dont)
-click
the "Install Ubuntu" icon top left screen.
-Ubuntu
Installation process begins....
-You
will see some simple menus...
-
Choose language
next
menu;
I chose
- tick
"NORMAL installation"
- DO
NOT choose download updates while installing - just to save time.
- I
chose ticked "install third party software for graphics and
WiFi..."
next
MOST important menu says;
"installation type"
- I
chose "ERASE DISK AND INSTALL UBUNTU" (note - remember I
am installing dual boot on TWO disks. If you are installing on one
disk with two partitions then choose "install Ubuntu along-side
windows" INSTEAD).
-next
section I chose my empty drive where I want ubuntu to go. (for me I
chose my empty 512gb nvme because I know my windows was on 250gb nvme).
!Double-check
you chose correct other drive and not your windows drive!
-if all
ok then click "continue"
-next
menus "should" be easy...
-choose
location, time zone, any name, any computer name, username and
passwords etc..
- Now 2
things can happen;
a) if
you are LUCKY you get an "installation complete click to
reboot/restart notification.
It
willl ask you take your media out then enter to shut down.
... You
can reboot now into Ubuntu and when it reboots it should boot
straight into Ubuntu ...Now for first fresh boot new installation I
usually press F12 at Acer logo right away into boot menu, and choose
"Ubuntu" OS just to make sure I booted straight into Ubuntu
so that I can update nvidia drivers and also update grub immediately
by "sudo update-grub" in terminal, just make sure grub is
updated properly .
BUT that didn't happen for me..this is what happened in my new Nitro 5 AN515-5....
....b)
Installation looked great for my new Acer Nitro 515-55-76SK BUT in
the last 10 seconds of installation , i got an Ubuntu error notification
something about " third party driver download error ..' and it
automatically opens the firefox browser to an Ubuntu log error page
that shows many people got same error message.
!!Dont
panic there is a VERY easy quick workaround!!! I explain here...
(Side note- At
first I thought it was my Ubuntu 20.04 live usb so I tested the whole
installation process again with Ubuntu 20.10 usb and same error
notification last 10 seconds before competition....
.(...So moments later ...
after reading the Ubuntu error logs one by one, and seemed this error
affected some people with Thinkpads and my new acer nitro 5 , I saw
some people were able to workaround it).
TWO (possble) workarounds;
workaround
1 (YES THIS worked for me!) : Force reboot. ie just shutdown the live USB and reboot
new Ubuntu Installation anyway.
ie;-Ignore
the error and shutdown live usb and reboot , press F12 on Acer logo
and in boot menu choose new "Ubuntu" OS .
- For
me when I force booted Ubuntu 20.10 it just booted like normal, and once
in Ubuntu I immediately updated software and drivers right away using
the software updater program and did a quick "sudo update-grub" in
terminal to make sure my grub was updated.
-All is
working for me now and I have successfully installed Ubuntu in second
nvme drive with windows OS in other nvme drive untouched. Both OS's
are shown in grub.
-My
third 1tb NTFS ssd drive is visible in Ubuntu and I use for storage
for both my Windows and Linux drives.
Now for...
Workaround
2 ( others on UBuntu logs have mentioned this worked for them with same problem so I will list it here anyway. The problem is not limited to Acer Nitros I just wanna make that clear):
-I read
in the Ubuntu logs some people were able to do the installation
successfully by NOT enabling wifi during installation process and
choosing NOT to update during installation and NOT choosing to
install third party drivers . Some people found this worked when they
got same third party driver update error notification in last seconds
of installation.
Thats it.
Post
note: My "secure boot" installation was off (disabled)
during installation and post installation also. Fast boot is always
off. I also did not need to put "nomodeset" or
"nuveau.modeset=0" in grub during installation. I did NOT use legacy mode BIOS at all as it is not available anymore. All done in UEFI BIOS. I did not need to reflash bios at any time. My
Acer Nitro AN5-15-55 had display NO issues and no blank screens during installation or Post
installation, Wifi, display all works good. Touchpad NO issues. Sound
is working. My Nitro 5 running on 3 days no stop and all stable and smooth so
far.)
(For
those doing this a first time on a new laptop, once you know what to
do, the whole thing should take just 15-20 minutes if you had to do
it a second time . So you realise its easy post installation. My
previous machines were dual boot Mint/Win10 on HP in two partitions
on a single drive , and another laptop was dual boot Ubuntu/Win10
on Asus two drives, so this time my new Nitro 5 was definitely
slightly different. I also didn't need to take the windows drive out
at anytime during installation dual boot on two drives which is the
old and unnecessary dual boot way .
---Credits: Many
thanks to @batmalin, JordanB, Jichi79 and the other Gurus, Pathfinders and Trailblazers for reminders and help with my Acer pre-installation
questions and their posts
Here
are some the links I personally found useful for installing my Ubuntu 20.10 on
my new Acer Nitro 5 AN515-55 just to share
..... https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/comment/953267#Comment_953267
...... https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/543729/efi-dual-boot-not-seeing-linux-on-nitro-5-an515-51-78c6
.......... https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/592158/switch-from-raid-to-ahci-on-acer-nitro-5-an515-54#latest
----- https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/619152/touchpad-stuck-at-a-point-for-few-secend-or-minutes-nitro-an515-54#latest (touchpad)
-- https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/538305/cant-access-uefi-after-installing-linux-dual-boot#latest
(I wrote the above to the best of my memory. Very happy now all working on my brand new Nitro 5)
