Installing Linux on a computer usually involves downloading an installation image, writing it to a USB drive, starting the computer from that drive, and following a graphical installer. You do not need to replace Windows immediately: a live USB lets you test the desktop before deciding what to install.
The part that deserves most attention is disk setup. Choosing the wrong language is fixable. Choosing the wrong disk can erase your files. This guide follows a cautious installation process for a conventional 64-bit Intel or AMD laptop or desktop, with notes on keeping Windows, disk encryption, hardware checks, and common installation problems.
1. Decide How You Want to Install Linux
Before downloading anything, decide whether Linux will replace your existing operating system or run beside it. That choice affects your backup plan, storage requirements, and the options you select in the installer.
| Installation approach | What happens | When to choose it |
|---|---|---|
| Replace the existing system | Linux takes over the selected disk, deleting its existing contents. | You have backed up your files and no longer need the installed operating system. |
| Dual boot | Linux and another operating system share the computer, with a choice at startup. | You still need Windows applications or want a gradual transition. |
| Install on another internal drive | Linux uses a separate drive, though boot configuration still needs attention. | Your computer has another suitable SSD or hard drive. |
| Use a virtual machine | Linux runs inside your existing operating system. | You want to learn or test software without repartitioning the computer. |
If you only want to learn the desktop or practise Linux administration, running Linux in a virtual machine may be enough. It avoids changing the physical disk layout, although it does not provide the same hardware test as booting Linux directly.
Choose a distribution before proceeding. Follow its installation documentation rather than mixing instructions from unrelated systems. Our guide to choosing a Linux distribution covers that decision; the steps below concentrate on getting your chosen system installed safely.
2. Back Up Your Files and Prepare a Recovery Route
Make a backup even if you intend to keep your current operating system. Resizing partitions, selecting installation targets, and changing boot settings all introduce opportunities for mistakes. An installer’s promise to preserve files is not a replacement for a separate copy.
Copy documents, photos, downloads, local email archives, and project folders to another device or a verified backup service. Check less obvious locations too: browser profiles, password manager databases, application settings, game saves, and files stored outside your usual home folder.
Open several files from the backup to confirm that you can actually retrieve them. If your cloud storage uses online-only placeholders, check that the files you need are available independently of the computer you are about to change.
Keep recovery media or documented recovery instructions for your current operating system. Disconnect the backup drive before starting the Linux installer so it cannot become an accidental installation target. For an existing Linux computer, use a desktop backup and recovery plan that covers both personal files and the configuration you need to restore.
Save Your Windows Encryption Recovery Key
If Windows uses BitLocker or Device Encryption, locate its recovery key before changing firmware settings or the boot arrangement. Hardware and security changes can trigger a recovery prompt, and Microsoft cannot recreate a lost key. Follow Microsoft’s BitLocker recovery key instructions and keep an accessible copy outside the computer.
For a work or school device, obtain permission before installing another operating system. Its encryption, management settings, and recovery process may belong to the organization, not the person using the keyboard.
3. Check the Computer and Gather What You Need
Prepare a working computer for downloading the installer, an empty USB drive, a reliable power supply, and enough time to deal with a problem without rushing. A 16GB USB drive is a sensible starting point, but check the size required by your chosen installation image. Writing the installer will erase the USB drive.
Check the distribution’s published processor, memory, and storage requirements. Treat the minimum storage figure as an installation threshold, not a comfortable allowance for years of applications and files. As a planning choice, allocating 60–100GB gives a basic desktop more room to grow; games, virtual machines, and large media collections need their own allowance.
Record the computer model, graphics hardware, Wi-Fi adapter, and internal drive capacities. These details help you assess Linux hardware compatibility and identify the correct installation disk later.
For an older machine, check more than its age. Available memory, storage health, processor architecture, and graphics support all matter. A lighter desktop may be a better fit, as covered in our guide to running Linux on older computers.
This walkthrough is not a general installation procedure for Apple Silicon Macs, Chromebooks, or every ARM computer. Those devices need platform and model checks. Apple Silicon users should start with the Asahi Linux installation and platform FAQs rather than applying ordinary PC disk-erasure instructions.
4. Download and Verify the Installation Image
Download the desktop installation image from the distribution’s official download page or a mirror it lists. Choose a supported stable release unless you deliberately want a testing version. Check the release notes for known installation problems affecting your hardware.
Match the image to the processor architecture. For an ordinary 64-bit Intel or AMD PC, the download is commonly labelled x86_64 or amd64. The amd64 label does not mean it is restricted to AMD processors. An ARM image is not interchangeable with an x86_64 image.
The downloaded file will often have an ISO extension. Keep it intact; you do not normally need to extract its contents before writing it to a USB drive.
Verify the download using the project’s instructions. A checksum comparison checks whether your file matches the published image. Signature verification also checks the authenticity of the published verification material when performed with the correct signing key. The Linux Mint ISO verification instructions distinguish these checks and provide the steps for that distribution.
If verification fails, stop. Download the image again and investigate a repeated mismatch instead of hoping the installer will overlook it.
5. Create the Bootable Linux USB
Use an image-writing application recommended by your distribution. Select the downloaded image, select the USB drive, and review the destination before starting. The writer needs to create bootable installation media; dragging the ISO into the USB drive’s file browser is not the same operation.
Check the USB drive’s capacity and model in the writing application. Disconnect other removable drives if their presence makes the choice confusing. Wait for writing and any verification stage to finish, then eject the drive properly.
Fedora provides its own tool for this purpose: Fedora Media Writer and Workstation installation downloads support creating a live USB that can start the computer before installation.
The exact controls depend on whether you are preparing the USB from Windows, macOS, or Linux. Follow our separate guide to creating a bootable Linux USB drive for the writing procedure rather than guessing at partition-scheme options.
6. Start the Computer From USB and Test Linux
Insert the installation USB into the target computer and restart it. Open the manufacturer’s one-time boot menu during startup. Common keys include F12, F10, and Esc, but check the model’s documentation because there is no universal shortcut.
Select the USB device rather than the internal drive. Where the menu offers both UEFI and legacy entries for the same USB, use the mode appropriate to the installation. If you are keeping an existing operating system, match its boot mode.
Do not switch to legacy mode just because an old tutorial says to. UEFI and Secure Boot are separate settings, and Fedora supports installation with Secure Boot enabled. The Fedora documentation on UEFI installation and Secure Boot also explains why an existing operating system’s boot mode matters.
Check the Live Desktop Before Installing
If offered a choice such as Try or Install, start with the live desktop. Test the equipment you depend on: connect to Wi-Fi, play audio, check the microphone and webcam, adjust brightness, and attach your usual external display. On a laptop, test the touchpad and suspend and resume.
Use the desktop for a short, ordinary task. Open several browser tabs, move windows between screens, and type enough to notice a wrong keyboard layout. A successful boot is useful evidence, but it does not prove that every device works.
A live desktop normally runs from the USB and does not install itself simply because you opened it. It can still modify internal disks if you deliberately mount filesystems, edit files, or use disk tools. Treat those actions with the same care you would on an installed system.
USB performance is not a fair measure of the finished installation. The Linux Mint installation guide’s live-session notes identify slower operation and nonpersistent session changes as differences from an installed desktop.
If an essential device fails, establish the likely fix before erasing your existing system. “I will sort out networking afterward” is a poor plan when that computer is your only route to the instructions.
7. Run the Graphical Installer
Open the installer from the live desktop or return to its installation screen. The order and wording vary between distributions and releases. Follow the meaning of each choice rather than expecting every screen to match a screenshot.
Set Language, Keyboard, and Network Options
Select your language, accessibility preferences, and keyboard layout. Use the keyboard test field if one is available, including punctuation and symbols that may appear in your passwords. Correcting a layout now is easier than troubleshooting an apparently wrong password later.
Connect to a trusted network if practical. Whether you can install without internet depends on the image: a full desktop image and a small network installer do not have the same requirements. Do not assume an offline installation includes every driver or application you need.
If the installer offers software selections, choose the smaller set unless you want the extra applications immediately. Review any optional third-party driver or media support choices rather than enabling unfamiliar settings automatically. Keep a note of anything you decline so you can revisit it after installation.
Select the Installation Disk
Identify the destination by its model and capacity, not just its position in a list. Computers with multiple drives deserve an extra check. Device names can be unfamiliar, and the first displayed disk is not necessarily the one you intended to erase.
For example, a computer might contain a 512GB SSD for the operating system and a 2TB drive holding photographs. If Linux is replacing the operating system, the larger data drive should not become part of the installation plan. If you cannot confidently identify both, cancel and check before proceeding.
Read the installer’s proposed changes carefully. Look for every partition it intends to delete, resize, or format, including changes on disks other than the main destination.
Replace the Existing Operating System
Choose the guided erase-disk option only when everything on the selected disk can be removed. Existing system partitions, recovery partitions, applications, and personal files on that disk are not protected by their names or purpose.
Let the guided installer create its standard layout unless you have a reason to do otherwise. Do not copy a complicated partition recipe simply because it appears more advanced. A straightforward layout is easier to install and maintain.
Keep Windows or Another Operating System
If you want both systems, use the installer’s alongside option only after completing the preparation for your chosen distribution. An absent alongside option is a reason to investigate, not permission to select erase disk instead.
Keeping Windows adds decisions about encryption, available space, partition resizing, and startup behavior. Follow our Linux and Windows dual-boot installation guide before making disk changes. Installing Linux on a separate drive still requires checking which partitions and boot files the installer will use.
Choose Encryption and Account Settings
Decide on encryption before confirming disk setup. Ubuntu’s guided installer offers passphrase encryption after selecting its erase-disk route; its hardware-backed option has separate requirements. Check the choices in the current Ubuntu Desktop installation instructions rather than assuming every release presents the same options.
For a portable computer carrying personal files, consider encrypting the Linux installation. Store the passphrase and any recovery information somewhere secure outside that installation. Encryption protects encrypted data at rest; it does not replace backups or protect files from every threat after you log in.
Create your user account, choose a strong login password, and set the time zone. An encryption passphrase and a login password may be separate credentials. Check which prompt you are answering rather than assuming one password controls everything.
Use Manual Partitioning Only With a Clear Plan
Manual partitioning is appropriate when the guided choices cannot produce the layout you need. It is not a required stage of learning Linux.
Before using it, know the purpose of each existing partition, which ones must remain untouched, and where the new system will be mounted. Our guide to the Linux filesystem and directory structure explains the root directory and other paths you may encounter. If you cannot explain a proposed format operation, do not approve it.
Review the Final Summary
Before the installation starts writing changes, check the target disk, partitions being formatted, encryption choice, and whether the existing operating system will remain. Take a photo of the summary if you want a record.
Keep the computer connected to power and leave the installation USB inserted until instructed otherwise. Do not interrupt installation because a progress indicator pauses briefly. If an error appears, record its full wording before closing the installer.
8. Restart Into the Installed System
When installation finishes, use the installer’s restart option. Remove the USB when prompted, or after shutdown if that is the instruction provided. The next boot should use the installed system rather than return to the live desktop.
Enter the disk passphrase if requested, then sign in. Confirm that you are in the installed system: your account should be present, and restarting without the installation USB should still reach Linux.
If Windows starts instead, use the firmware’s one-time boot menu to check for a Linux entry. A different default boot order does not, by itself, prove that installation failed. Avoid reinstalling until you know whether the installed system can start.
9. Update Linux and Check Everyday Tasks
Open the distribution’s software updater and apply the available updates. Restart when requested, then repeat the hardware checks you performed in the live session. Test networking, audio, displays, and laptop suspend before restoring all your files.
Use the distribution’s supported driver process where extra graphics software is needed. Avoid installing an unrelated driver package from a forum post. Our guide to installing and troubleshooting NVIDIA and AMD graphics drivers covers that work separately.
Restore personal files in stages. Start with documents and other data, then decide which application settings to bring across. Copying an entire old configuration into a fresh installation makes later troubleshooting harder.
Install applications through trusted distribution packages or the appropriate supported application format. The guide to native Linux packages, Flatpak, and Snap explains the differences without turning the installation process into a software-shopping exercise.
Set up regular backups before the new installation becomes your only working copy. Keep the installation USB somewhere accessible as recovery media, and retain your old-system backup until you have checked the files and tasks that matter.
Common Linux Installation Problems
The Computer Ignores the USB Drive
Check that the image was written as installation media rather than copied as a file. Try the one-time boot menu, another USB port, and another USB drive if necessary. Confirm the image architecture and review any verification errors before changing firmware security settings.
The Installer Cannot See the Internal SSD
Stop before changing storage-controller settings. Intel RST configurations can affect disk access, and switching controller modes can prevent an existing Windows installation from starting or disrupt a RAID arrangement. Follow the relevant precautions in Ubuntu’s Intel RST installation documentation and your computer manufacturer’s instructions.
Wi-Fi Is Missing
Check whether Wi-Fi is disabled in the desktop or by a hardware control, then identify the adapter before looking for drivers. Establish a supported connection method rather than installing random downloads. Use our Linux Wi-Fi troubleshooting guide for the diagnostic process.
The Screen Goes Black During Startup
If the installation media offers a documented safe-graphics or compatibility option, try it as a diagnostic step. Record whether the failure occurs before the boot menu, during startup, or after the desktop begins loading. Those are different problems, even when the screen looks equally unhelpful.
Linux Installs but Will Not Boot
Check the selected boot entry and whether installation used the intended firmware mode. Do not format partitions or repeatedly reinstall as your first response. Work through recovering a Linux system that will not boot, keeping the installation USB and your backup available.
A finished installation should survive a restart without the USB, connect reliably, run your normal applications, and have a working backup plan. Once those checks pass, you can make Linux your everyday system without leaving the recovery work to chance.