ElemintOS

Technically ElementaryOS with the base of Linux Mint

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Installing ElemintOS

Normally, the installation process would be straightforward, but I kinda messed up. So you have to follow this guide to install the OS correctly.

For ElemintOS 7.1-vc

Go through the elementaryOS Initial Setup

On the live ISO, you will be prompted to choose a language and keyboard layout, enter your username and password etc. Those will only last for the Live ISO.

Starting the Installer

After you finished, you notice that you will not be able to login due to LightDM then giving you the error “Session exited with code 1”. To fix this, we need to switch to a console TTY (by pressing Ctrl + Alt + F#) and log in with the credentials you set during setup. You will probably see something like this:

Linux Mint 21.2 Victoria (hostname) tty*
(hostname) login:

At this part, you will have to specify the username and password you entered during setup. After that, run the nmtui tool to configure an internet connection (except if you have ethernet), with this command:

$ nmtui

You will then have to run an “apt update”, but in the 7.1 Horus-Victoria ISO, you will notice that when trying to update, APT will discover conflicts. To fix those, run the following commands:

$ sudo apt remove nemo-preview xviewer xviewer-dbg
$ sudo apt update

We will then first have to install GNOME Shell temporarily to make the installer run, but first we need to add elementaryOS’ PPA repository. To do this, run sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementary-os/stable and confirm. Now we can finally proceed to installing and running the GNOME shell by running the command

$ sudo apt install gnome-shell
$ startx /bin/gnome-shell

When you’re in the GNOME Shell, open Activities, search for “Install” and open the Ubiquity installer for ElemintOS. The installation process is actually straightforward, so just follow the steps.

Fixing LightDM after Installation

Congratulations! You finished installing ElemintOS! But you still get the same “Session exited with code 1” error. Not to worry, this is easy to fix. Navigate to a console TTY again, log in with the credentials you entered during the installer, and run the command:

$ sudo apt update

You may notice the same APT conflicts. To fix these again, run the following command:

$ sudo apt remove nemo-preview xviewer xviewer-dbg

After that, you may now install Openbox or any session/DE/WM. Why do we want to do that? LightDM currently has a bug where since Pantheon is the sole session, normally you can’t open the session selector, but LightDM did not select Pantheon and will just fail trying to log in. So now we run the command:

$ sudo apt install openbox

Nothing else, just reboot, or relaunch LightDM. After rebooting, click on the gear icon next to the password field, select “Pantheon” and log in normally with the credentials. If it works, you’re basically done with your system. You can now uninstall either openbox or the Session/DE/WM you installed using the command:

$ sudo apt remove (package-name)

For ElemintOS 8 BETA 1-2

Simply enter Demo mode instead of using the elementaryOS installer, then start the Ubiquity installer instead. This is because after using the elementaryOS installer, the elementaryOS initial setup will fail to start in the installed system in a somewhat unfixable state, as there is no user.

For ElemintOS 8 BETA 3 and later

START THE UBIQUITY INSTALLER!!! From the applications menu, instead of using Install elementary OS, open Install ElemintOS 8 Wa instead to launch the Ubiquity installer, as io.elementary.installer for some reason will fail.

Support

Issues? You can report them in:

Thank you for installing ElemintOS, despite it being unstable as hell!