How bad is it?

[UnAdmin]

I was trying to install Linux on an old computer just to test it out. The computer has no real value to me. I tried to install from the ISO with the windows installer. It said permission denied. I tried booting on the disk a couple of times. I was absolutely sure it was running off the disk. Sometimes it will ask to select operating system but only Windows 7 would show up. I somehow corrupted a USB so that my other computers think it's a disk drive. When I start up the computer it takes a lot longer to get to the login screen and even longer to actually log in. After I log in only a quarter of the startup processes can run. Running the Windows installer from the CD would work until it complained about a missing file. I'm working on fixing the USB now by using Disk Management or some tool like that.

 

Any solutions?

[SolvingJunk]

What do you mean by "install from the ISO with the windows installer?" If you've got the Linux image on a bootable USB flash drive, just boot directly from that device, not your HDD. If you're trying to run the installer from within Windows, that's not going to work. And if it did try to run the installer from within Windows, it could have currupted some low level Windows files, but I've no experience with that.

[Sauron]

I don't recommend using the windows installer, not because it's dangerous but simply because it might not work properly for a number of factors. I advise you burn a dvd and use that as installer, make a partition on purpose for linux or just erase windows, then boot from the disc and install the system from there.