Mageia forum

Hi all...my very very very old system finally gave up and need to install mageia7 or 7.1 on my new system...I can not access the newsgroup where I was given directions and suggestions...keep in mind that I am not computer literate so ...
I was sooo far behind computer development that when I received the new system today I was shocked that there was no CD-Rom...I thought my supplier forgot it and quite irritated called him and he patiently explained that nowadays system are not delivered anymore with cdrom...so I need to install Mageia from a Pen drive I guess...I have no idea how to install mageia even less how to make and install from a pendrive...

ANY help will be greatly appreciated...

Apologies...
I should have mentioned that my system came with windows10 pre installed...I have a 100GB shared data partition and 280GB for Linux

I am not a high end user
Internet and storing work documents is my main use for the computer

Hi,

You need internet to get install image and a pendrive, if the copy succeed the default graphical install is user friendly on your language after language setup.

please check:
https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Documentation#Installation

get install iso: (maybe classic install is preferable if you don't access internet while installing)
https://www.mageia.org/en/downloads/

I have installed Mageia before...since it was called Mandrake...now for the first time there is this /boot/UEFI isssue which I think I understood and the .iso image...I have a 50GB USB stick but when I try to copy mageia7.1 on it it tells me that the file is too big ...can not copy files more than 4GB...frustrating...now I have to go to buy another stick making sure that it can accept files bigger than 4GB...

hi,

Then you may need to read more a bit before starting...
Not just simple copy, read the link I've given how to dump. (the pendrive's content will lost, maybe fat32 from old win not supports bigger files than 4GB, so possible that just the filesystem is wrong, but it will lost while creating install media)

santo wrote:and the .iso image...I have a 50GB USB stick but when I try to copy mageia7.1 on it it tells me that the file is too big ...can not copy files more than 4GB...

Seems you're trying to copy the .iso file onto the USB stick, and the stick is formatted as FAT32.

You need to write the ISO image to the whole of the stick, which will overwrite the contents and make it bootable.
Have a a look at https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Installation ... lash_drive and https://wiki.mageia.org/en/Dump_Mageia_ ... tive_tools as you want to do that under Win10.
I'd recommend Rufus for that.

is the Win10 important to you?

if not, you may be able to just remove the HDD/SDD and fit your old drive.
did your old motherboard die, and kill the HDD, or is the HDD ok?

first get into the bios and see if you can disable secure boot and UEFI or enable CSM (Compatability Support Mode)/ Legacy. different bioses call it different things.
if you can, how important is Win10 to you.

no install may be necessary.

I found the explanation to make a bootable USB difficult to understand for my level ...but I know eventually I will have to learn it...so I went the easy way and shifted the CDROM from the old system to the new one and installed from DVD.
Thank you all for your suggestions...

Santo

santo wrote:I found the explanation to make a bootable USB difficult to understand for my level

You run a program, select the USB stick and the ISO image, and click write. That is literally the same as burning a CD/DVD ...