Installation HOWTO: install Linux on a PC, step by step

Updated November 2026

Installing Linux takes about half an hour. Download an image, check it, write it to a USB stick, boot from the stick, try the live system, and click through the installer. This page goes through each step, with the decisions that matter: which distribution, how to lay out the disk, whether to encrypt, and how to keep Windows if you want both.

In the days of the original Installation HOWTO, you chose between floppy sets and configured X by hand. Today's installers find your hardware on their own. Your real choices come before and after the installer runs.

Choose a distribution

A distribution is the Linux kernel plus the programs, installer, update system and support period around it. For a first install, pick one of the big ones. They have the most users, so answers to your questions already exist.

DistributionGood forSupport period (as of November 2026)
Ubuntu 26.04 LTSDesktops and servers, most third-party software targets itStandard security updates to May 2031. A new LTS every two years.
Debian 13 "trixie"Stable desktops and servers, conservative updatesReleased August 2025. Debian LTS coverage until June 30, 2030.
Fedora WorkstationRecent software, close to upstream GNOME and kernelsShort: a new release every six months, each supported for about 13 months, so plan to upgrade at least once a year. Fedora 45 (released November 3, 2026) is current.
Linux Mint 22.xPeople coming from Windows. Built on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS packages.Until April 2029
AlmaLinux, Rocky LinuxServers that need RHEL compatibilityLong: AlmaLinux 9, for example, gets updates until 2032

Most distributions offer several desktops. GNOME and KDE Plasma are the most complete. Xfce and others are lighter. You can try each one from the live USB before installing. The installer needs little: Debian recommends 2 GB of RAM and 10 GB of disk for a desktop system. In practice, 4 GB of RAM and 40 GB of disk make for a comfortable desktop with a modern browser.

Before you buy a machine for Linux, see Hardware HOWTO.

Download and verify the image

Download the ISO image from the distribution's own website. Also download its checksum file and the signature for that checksum file. Checking both proves the image is complete and really came from the project.

Ubuntu

# in the folder with the ISO, SHA256SUMS and SHA256SUMS.gpg
gpg --keyid-format long --verify SHA256SUMS.gpg SHA256SUMS
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS 2>&1 | grep OK

If gpg says "No public key", fetch Ubuntu's signing keys first:

gpg --keyid-format long --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com \
  --recv-keys 0x46181433FBB75451 0xD94AA3F0EFE21092

Debian

Debian publishes SHA512SUMS and SHA512SUMS.sign next to each image, signed with the "Debian CD signing key". Check the key fingerprint against the one listed on Debian's verification page, then:

gpg --verify SHA512SUMS.sign SHA512SUMS
sha512sum -c --ignore-missing SHA512SUMS

Fedora

curl -O https://fedoraproject.org/fedora.gpg
for file in *-CHECKSUM; do
  gpgv --keyring ./fedora.gpg --output - "$file" | sha256sum -c --ignore-missing
done

You want to see Good signature from gpg and OK next to your ISO's name. Anything else means a bad download. Delete it and download it again.

On Windows or macOS, the same check works with certutil -hashfile file.iso SHA256 (Windows) or shasum -a 256 file.iso (macOS), compared by eye against the checksum file.

Make the USB stick

On Linux, write the image with dd or a graphical tool. On Windows and macOS, use Fedora Media Writer or a similar writer. The full steps, including how not to overwrite the wrong disk, are in Bootdisk HOWTO. A stick of 8 GB or more is enough.

Prepare the computer

Boot and try the live system

Insert the stick and open the one-time boot menu, often with F12, F11, F10 or Esc at power-on. Pick the "UEFI:" entry for the stick. Most images start a live desktop first. Use it to check Wi-Fi, sound, the touchpad, the camera and suspend before you change anything on the disk. If the screen stays black, choose the "safe graphics" or nomodeset boot option. See BootPrompt HOWTO.

Partitioning and encryption

The installer offers a guided choice, usually "Erase disk and install" or "Install alongside". For a single-OS laptop, the guided "erase disk" with encryption is the right answer for most people. What the choices mean:

EFI system partition (ESP)
A small FAT32 partition the firmware boots from. The installer creates or reuses it. On a dual-boot disk, Windows and Linux share the same one. Do not format it.
File system: ext4 or btrfs
ext4 is simple and very reliable. btrfs (the default on Fedora and openSUSE) supports snapshots, so you can roll back a bad update, and transparent compression. Either is a good choice.
LVM
A layer that lets you resize and add volumes later. Debian's and Ubuntu's encrypted guided installs use it.
Encryption (LUKS)
Encrypts the whole Linux partition, so a lost laptop does not mean lost data. You type a passphrase at boot. Use a long one, and keep it safe: without it, nobody can recover the data. Encrypt any laptop.
Swap
Space used when RAM is full, and needed for hibernation. Installers now make a swap file, a swap partition, or compressed swap in RAM (zram) automatically.

A separate /home partition is optional. It makes reinstalling easier, but splits your free space in two. For more manual layouts, see Partition mini-HOWTO.

Run the installer

The steps are much the same everywhere:

  1. Language, keyboard layout and time zone.
  2. Network: connect to Wi-Fi so the installer can fetch updates and firmware.
  3. Disk layout, as above. Read the summary screen before you confirm. It lists every partition that will be formatted.
  4. Your user account. The first user gets administrator rights through sudo. On Debian, leave the root password empty to get the same setup.
  5. Optional extras: Ubuntu offers third-party drivers and media codecs, and Debian lets you pick a desktop.

When it finishes, remove the stick and restart.

Dual boot: GRUB's menu should list Windows. If it does not, the os-prober step may be switched off, or Windows may be installed in a different firmware mode. See Linux + Windows dual boot.

First steps after installing

# Install all updates
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade     # Debian, Ubuntu, Mint
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh                   # Fedora, RHEL family
sudo pacman -Syu                             # Arch

# Firmware updates for BIOS, SSD, docks
fwupdmgr refresh && fwupdmgr get-updates

Mistakes to avoid

The classic Installation HOWTO is kept by the Linux Documentation Project at tldp.org.

Sources