HP EliteDesk 800 G2 Desktop Mini:

Batocera & Dual-Boot System Build Guide

I assembled this setup for a friend. Here is my normal process:

1. Hardware Selection, Maintenance, & Upgrades

Base System & Maintenance

• Hardware: Selected an HP EliteDesk 800 G2 Desktop Mini (35W) as the dedicated emulation platform.

• Cleaning & Thermal Repaste: Removed the chassis cover and cleared internal dust using an air blower. Detached the CPU cooling fan, cleaned off degraded factory thermal paste from the Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS), and applied fresh thermal compound.

Hardware Upgrades

• System Memory: Installed an additional 4 GB DDR4 SODIMM alongside the existing 4 GB module, upgrading total memory to 8 GB in dual-channel mode.

• Primary Target Drive: Installed a 500 GB Samsung SATA SSD designated as the primary Batocera boot drive.

• Secondary Storage Drive: Retained the internal M.2 SSD configured with Commodore OS Vision.

2. BIOS & Boot Priority Configuration

Security & UEFI Parameters

• Legacy Support: Disabled to enforce clean UEFI boot execution.

• Secure Boot: Disabled to allow unsigned retro emulation OS bootloaders to run without signature checks.

Boot Sequence & Dual-Boot Setup

• Drive Boot Priority:

  1. Primary: 500 GB Samsung SSD (Batocera)

  2. Secondary: Internal M.2 SSD (Commodore OS Vision)

  3. Fallback Options: USB / Removable Media, Network/PXE Boot

• Dual-Boot Execution: Configured the system to boot straight into Batocera on the Samsung SSD by default. To launch Commodore OS Vision, pressed [Esc] during the HP POST screen to bring up the Startup Menu, selected F9 (Boot Options), and manually targeted the internal M.2 SSD.

3. Batocera Installation Procedures

• Method A: Live USB Built-In Installer Method

1. Connected to Network: Required to pull the official system image.

2. Connected the system to the internet via Ethernet under Main Menu > Network Settings.

3. Opened System Settings:

4. Pressed [START] on the controller or [SPACE] on the keyboard to bring up the Main Menu, then selected System Settings.

5. Triggered Built-In Installer:

6. Scrolled down and selected Install Batocera on a New Disk.

7. Configured Target Parameters: Wiped existing data on destination drive.

8. Set the installation parameters:

• Target Device: Selected the 500 GB Samsung SSD (/dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1).

• Target Architecture: Selected X86_64.

• Are You Sure?: Toggled the safety switch to YES.

9. Flashed to Drive & Booted:

• Selected INSTALL. Batocera downloaded the image, wrote it to the Samsung SSD, and partitioned the drive. Powered off the system, removed the live USB drive, and rebooted directly into the Samsung SSD.

• Method B: Host PC Direct Imaging via Raspberry Pi Imager

1. Downloaded Batocera Image:

• Downloaded the official Batocera x86_64 image (.img.gz) onto a host computer.

2. Connected Samsung SSD to Host PC:

• Connected the 500 GB Samsung SSD to the host PC using a USB-to-SATA adapter or enclosure.

3. Configured Raspberry Pi Imager:

• Launched Raspberry Pi Imager on the host PC. Selected CHOOSE OS > Use custom, and picked the downloaded .img.gz file. Clicked CHOOSE STORAGE and designated the connected Samsung SSD.

4. Wrote Image & Finalized Assembly:

• Clicked WRITE and confirmed the formatting warning. Once verified, safely ejected the drive, mounted the Samsung SSD back inside the HP EliteDesk 800 G2, and powered the machine on. Batocera automatically expanded its user data partition on first boot.