Batocera, Mint and Win10 oh my!

Goochman · December 27, 2022

I think Ive run into about every possible issue getting all this to run on my VCS so hopefully my story here will help a few folks vs searching for a bunch of info.

I could not get all of these running on the same SSD drive. I ended up with Linux Mint and Win 10 on the SSD drive and running Batocera off a 256gb USB drive. I like this combination alot since my Batocera install can go anywhere with me

1. Make sure you can get into the BIOS through one of the methods referred to in other threads. You need to turn Secure Boot off and also change the password to something easier than Atar!C3l3br8te$50Ye4r$

2. Install your M2 SATA SSD drive along with a memory upgrade - you can find some good videos on how to do this pretty easily. I went with 2400 on the RAM and didnt worry about overclocking the VCS to 3200

3. Go back into the BIOS and run the Setup Utility

Change the boot order to USB->SSD->EMMC
Change the boot type from UEFI to Legacy (You cant install Win10 with UEFI boot, it will fail)

NOTE - I used the USB Mint to partition my drive, installed windows on the first partition and then booted the USB Mint again and installed Mint on the second partition. The Mint installer replaced the boot loader with the standard one vs Linux so Im not sure if you install Mint first and then Windows if Win10 doesnt trash the boot loader - if that happens jsut reinstall Mint again and it will fix the boot loader.

4. Install Linux Mint and Win10 on the SSD Drive

Flash Linux Mint to USB stick.
Insert USB stick to VCS and boot. Linux Mint will launch automatically.
Once at the Linux Mint desktop open the "Disks" app.
- Add a new partition which is Ext4 and has a mount point of "\" - this is where you will install Mint
- Add another new partition which will be for "Windows"
- Click on the "Install Linux Mint" icon on the desktop and follow the prompts
  - When asked what type of installation choose "something else" and select your Mint partition. You might need to format it from the installer
After Linux Mint is installed you can put your Win10 USB installer and reboot and install Windows
Win10 does not need a key to use it. Unregistered you cannot make "personalization" changes and a watermark will eventually appear on the desktop that its unlicensed, however you still can get security updates and run programs - YMMV
Under this setup you should be able to boot to either Mint of Win10 when starting your VCS. If you want to run VCS you need to get into the BIOS and change the boot order to run the EMMC first. I could not get reFind or other boot loaders to run properly to give me the option for VCS OS - Im sure it can be done but

Download the latest Bactocera build and flash it to a USB drive
Install Batocera as follows:
- Press Space Bar on Keyboard or Start on Controller to enter Main Menu.
- Go to System Settings, then scroll down until you get to “Install Batocera on a New Disk.” Select “Target Device” as your SSD. This will wipe the entire SSD. Batocera does not give you the option to install to a partition. Be careful to select the right target device. Select “Target Architecture” as x86_64. Select “Are you Sure” as Yes. Select the Install button and press enter.
- Remove Batocera USB stick.
Boot back into Mint
Run the Disks application
Insert your Batocera USB drive (you might need to "take ownership" or change Permissions for you to make changes to the drive)
From here you should be able to Resize the "Share" partition if you want to have more room for roms and such

With this setup I can start Batocera easily by having the USB drive in the VCS, or leave it out and boot Mint or Win10. I can manage the Batocera USB drive through Mint which makes it handy if I need to network resources back and forth to the SHARE partition

Edited December 27, 2022 by Goochman