Hello, im trying to install mint to try getting away from Microsoft, but im running into issues installing, and all my troubleshooting is making me even more confused (I am not very techy)

I have windows installed on my nvme drive, and a 30gb section partitioned off for mint. I also have an empty ssd for more storage (/home). When I go through the installation process, it doesn't recognize another operating system on the computer, and when I try "something else" to install it, I get an error saying "no EFI system partition was found".

I know I can partition off a small section for the EFI partition, but I am trying to dual boot and I assume this is not the right way to do it, especially considering it doesn't recognize that windows is on the system. I'm also very hesitant to just send it, as I don't want to lose any of my stuff (the most important stuff is backed up)

Edit: I'm trying to install mint 22.1, but almost all of the resources online are talking about 21

Edit 2: I have learned my BIOS mode is legacy, not UEIF (i assumed it was since my bios screen says UEIF when booting)

Edit 3: got it working!