Home / Guides / Installation

How to Install Linux

A step-by-step walkthrough from download to desktop. No experience needed.

Good news: Most Linux distros have a point-and-click installer that's just as easy as setting up Windows. You don't need to type any commands to install Ubuntu, Mint, Fedora, or most popular distros.

Before You Start

What you'll need

Step 1: Download your Linux distro

Go to the official website of the distro you picked and download it. The file you get will end in .iso — think of it like a snapshot of the entire operating system packed into one file. Not sure which distro? Take our quiz.

Step 2: Put it on a USB drive

You can't just copy the file onto the USB drive like a normal file. You need a special tool that makes the USB drive "bootable" — meaning your computer can start up from it.

Ventoy (recommended, easiest option):

  1. Download Ventoy from ventoy.net
  2. Run it and select your USB drive
  3. Click "Install" — this sets up the drive once
  4. Now just drag and drop your downloaded .iso file onto the USB drive like any normal file
  5. Done! You can even put multiple distros on the same drive and pick which one to try

Other options: Rufus (Windows, very popular) or balenaEtcher (any platform, dead simple — pick file, pick drive, click flash).

Step 3: Boot from the USB drive

Now you need to tell your computer to start up from the USB drive instead of your hard drive:

  1. Plug in the USB drive
  2. Restart your computer
  3. As it's starting up, press the boot menu key — this is usually F12, F2, Esc, or Del (it depends on your computer brand, and it usually flashes on screen briefly)
  4. Select your USB drive from the list
  5. Linux will start up from the USB
Can't find the boot menu? Try Googling "[your laptop/PC brand] boot menu key". Common ones: Dell = F12, HP = F9/Esc, Lenovo = F12, ASUS = F2/Esc.
Having trouble booting? (Secure Boot, UEFI settings)

Some computers have a security feature called Secure Boot that can prevent Linux from starting. Most popular distros (Ubuntu, Fedora, Mint) work fine with it, but if you're having trouble:

  1. Enter your computer's setup screen (usually F2 or Del at startup)
  2. Look for "Secure Boot" and try disabling it
  3. Save and restart

Modern computers use a startup system called UEFI (older ones use something called BIOS). You usually don't need to worry about this — the Linux installer handles it automatically. But if you see options like "Legacy mode" or "CSM", stick with UEFI mode for newer hardware.

Installing Ubuntu or Linux Mint

These are the easiest distros to install. The whole process takes about 15-20 minutes and feels a lot like setting up a new phone.

The installation

  1. After booting from USB, you'll see an option to "Try" or "Install" — you can try it out first without changing anything on your computer, or go straight to installing
  2. Pick your language, keyboard layout, and time zone
  3. Connect to WiFi (if you're not on ethernet)
  4. Choose how to use your disk:
    • "Erase disk and install" — wipes everything and gives the whole disk to Linux. Best if this computer will be Linux-only.
    • "Install alongside Windows" — keeps Windows and lets you choose which to use each time you start up. See the dual-boot section below.
  5. Create your username and password
  6. Wait for it to finish, then restart and remove the USB drive

After installing: first things to do

Open the Terminal app (search for it in the app menu) and run these commands to make sure everything is up to date:

# Update everything (you'll be asked for your password)
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

That's the most important one. Here are some other useful things to set up:

Install common apps and media support 
# This installs video/audio support so you can play any media file
sudo apt install -y ubuntu-restricted-extras

# Install Flatpak (an app store that works on any Linux distro)
# Linux Mint already has this built in
sudo apt install -y flatpak
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

# Install Steam for gaming
sudo apt install -y steam
Install NVIDIA graphics drivers

If you have an NVIDIA graphics card, you'll want to install their drivers for better performance (especially for gaming). AMD and Intel graphics work out of the box.

# This automatically picks the right NVIDIA driver for your card
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

Restart your computer after this finishes. See our NVIDIA troubleshooting guide if you run into issues.

Installing Fedora

Fedora's installer is also graphical and straightforward, though it looks a little different from Ubuntu's.

The installation

  1. Download Fedora Workstation from getfedora.org (that's the desktop version)
  2. Put it on a USB drive and boot from it (same steps as above)
  3. The installer will guide you through language, keyboard, and disk setup
  4. Click the disk icon to select where to install — for most people, the default is fine
  5. Create your account and finish the installation

After installing: first things to do

# Update everything
sudo dnf upgrade -y
Enable extra software sources (for media codecs, NVIDIA, etc.)

Fedora doesn't include some software by default for legal reasons. To get things like video codecs and NVIDIA drivers, you need to enable an extra software source called RPM Fusion:

# Enable RPM Fusion (copy and paste this whole block)
sudo dnf install -y \
  https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm \
  https://mirrors.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-$(rpm -E %fedora).noarch.rpm

# Now install media codecs so videos and music play properly
sudo dnf group install -y multimedia
sudo dnf install -y ffmpeg

# NVIDIA drivers (only if you have an NVIDIA card)
sudo dnf install -y akmod-nvidia
Install common apps 
# Fedora already has Flatpak set up, so you can install apps from Flathub
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
flatpak install flathub com.spotify.Client

# Or install from Fedora's own repos
sudo dnf install -y git curl vim htop

Installing Arch Linux

Heads up: Arch Linux does not have a graphical installer. It's installed entirely through the command line. This is an intermediate-to-advanced process. If you're new to Linux, start with Ubuntu or Fedora — you can always try Arch later.

Arch is popular because you build your system from the ground up, choosing exactly what gets installed. It's a learning experience, and the community considers it a rite of passage.

The easy option: Arch now includes a script called archinstall that walks you through the setup with menus. Just type archinstall after booting from the USB. It takes about 10 minutes.

Full manual installation (the classic way)

This is the traditional Arch install process. Every step is done by hand in the terminal. It's long, but it teaches you exactly how a Linux system is put together.

1. Boot from the Arch USB — you'll land at a command prompt. No desktop, no menus, just a blinking cursor. That's normal.

2. Connect to the internet

# If you're on ethernet, it should work automatically
# For WiFi:
iwctl
# Then type: station wlan0 connect "Your Network Name"
# Enter your WiFi password when prompted, then type: exit

# Check that it's working
ping -c 3 archlinux.org

3. Set up the disk

This is where you divide your hard drive into sections for Linux. Think of it like creating separate rooms in a house — one for the system, one for your files.

# Open the disk partitioning tool (it has a simple menu interface)
cfdisk /dev/sda

# Create these partitions:
# - 512 MB partition, type "EFI System" (for startup files)
# - The rest of the disk, type "Linux filesystem" (for everything else)
# Write changes and quit

# Format the partitions
mkfs.fat -F32 /dev/sda1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sda2

# Mount them (connect them to the system so we can install to them)
mount /dev/sda2 /mnt
mount --mkdir /dev/sda1 /mnt/boot/efi

4. Install the base system

# This downloads and installs the core Linux system
pacstrap -K /mnt base linux linux-firmware

# Save the disk layout so Linux remembers it after restarting
genfstab -U /mnt >> /mnt/etc/fstab

# Switch into the newly installed system
arch-chroot /mnt

5. Configure the basics

# Set your time zone (change to your location)
ln -sf /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York /etc/localtime
hwclock --systohc

# Set language
echo "en_US.UTF-8 UTF-8" >> /etc/locale.gen
locale-gen
echo "LANG=en_US.UTF-8" > /etc/locale.conf

# Give your computer a name
echo "my-arch-pc" > /etc/hostname

# Set a password for the root (admin) account
passwd

6. Install a bootloader (this is what lets your computer start Linux)

pacman -S grub efibootmgr networkmanager sudo vim

# Install the bootloader
grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot/efi --bootloader-id=GRUB
grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

# Enable internet for after reboot
systemctl enable NetworkManager

7. Create your user account

# Create a user (replace "yourname" with your preferred username)
useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash yourname
passwd yourname

# Give your user admin permissions
EDITOR=vim visudo
# Find the line that says "# %wheel ALL=(ALL:ALL) ALL"
# Remove the # at the start to uncomment it, save and exit

8. Reboot into your new system

exit
umount -R /mnt
reboot

Remove the USB drive as it restarts. You should see a login prompt. Log in with the username and password you just created.

After Arch is installed: getting a desktop

Arch doesn't come with a desktop by default — you choose and install one yourself.

# For GNOME (similar to macOS):
sudo pacman -S gnome gdm
sudo systemctl enable gdm

# For KDE Plasma (similar to Windows):
sudo pacman -S plasma sddm
sudo systemctl enable sddm

# Restart to see your new desktop
reboot

You'll also want an easy way to install community-made software:

# Install yay (a helper tool for the Arch community repository)
sudo pacman -S --needed git base-devel
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/yay.git
cd yay && makepkg -si

# Now you can install almost anything. For example:
yay -S spotify
yay -S google-chrome

Running Linux Alongside Windows

You don't have to give up Windows to try Linux. "Dual-booting" means having both on the same computer — every time you start up, you pick which one to use.

How to set it up

  1. Back up your important files first
  2. Make room on your hard drive from within Windows:
    • Open Disk Management (right-click the Start button > Disk Management)
    • Right-click your main drive (usually C:) and choose "Shrink Volume"
    • Shrink it by at least 50 GB to give Linux some space
  3. Disable Fast Startup in Windows — this can cause problems with dual-booting:
    • Go to Control Panel > Power Options > "Choose what the power buttons do"
    • Click "Change settings that are currently unavailable"
    • Uncheck "Turn on fast startup"
  4. Boot from your Linux USB and install — the installer will detect Windows and give you the option to install alongside it
  5. After installing, every time you start your computer you'll see a menu where you can choose Windows or Linux
Important: Always back up your data before dual-booting. If Windows uses BitLocker drive encryption, you'll need to turn it off before making changes to your drive layout, or you could get locked out of Windows.

After Installing: Checklist for Any Distro

  1. Update everything — Run your distro's update command (see package managers guide)
  2. Install graphics drivers — Only needed for NVIDIA cards. AMD and Intel work automatically.
  3. Set up backups — Tools like Timeshift let you take snapshots of your system, so you can undo changes if something goes wrong. Think of it like System Restore in Windows.
  4. Install your apps — Check if your distro has a graphical "Software Center" or app store. You can also use terminal commands or Flatpak (works on any distro).
  5. Explore your desktop — See our desktop environments guide to learn about customization

Next steps