Try out easy and friendly Operating Systems

I am going to show you how to try out any Operating System on your computer from a USB! Since we are creating a liveUSB (i.e. a USB with an operating system on it) the host computer doesn’t need to be changed. You could use the liveUSB as a demo and continue to use Windows after turning it off, and back on again. Of course, there are a few other options such as Virtual Machines, but this is the best in my opinion. Just a heads up the following requires administrative privileges, which in case you don’t have: I’m sorry, I feel that pain.

(MacBook users sorry, but I suspect Apple products probably require a slightly different process. Maybe even easier!)

Examples of Operating Systems include:

• OS X
• Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 10
• Android
• iOS

Linux has a reputation for being difficult, this is due to its rough start trying to acquire support for hardware. Today, Linux is only as difficult as you desire, evident by the fact that kids internationally are installing it onto their raspberry pies. The following are all Linux variants that are shipped to consumers already installed into consumer-grade hardware:

• Steam OS
• Android
• Chrome OS
• Ubuntu in India
• Firefox OS

There are over 250 Operating Systems based on Linux, aka distributions, most of which are Free and Open Source. So first lets decide which one to use.

Linux window shopping: a term referring to the browsing of goods by a consumer with no intent to purchase because it’s free.

Xfce, Cinnamon

GNOME 3, KDE Plasma 5

There is a distribution for everyone. Luckily for you, if you’re a newbie, here’s some recommendations:

• A variety of Operating Systems for retrieving your forgotten Windows password.
• Lubuntu: for computers with less than 1GB RAM.
• Pinguy OS: aimed at providing everything most users will ever want from the start.
• Zorin OS: Windows-like operating system aimed at users who want something familiar.
• Android-x86 to run Android on your PC or laptop (its as silly as it sounds)
• Manjaro Linux: for the power-users who love their computer.

If you want, see the “Choose a Linux” section under notes further down for more info on how to choose a distribution. Go to any of those webpages. Once you have made your choice, download the so-called disc image, it’s a file with the .iso format (or very rarely .img). Chances are that you’ll see two options: 32-bit and 64-bit versions. The 32-bit disc images will work on any computer, while 64-bit will only work on 64-bit computers. See the notes section for help with finding out which one your computer is.

Burn the image to the USB

ALL CONTENT ON THE USB WILL BE REPLACED.

Download one of the following programs to copy the OS directly onto the USB.

1. LinuxLive USB Creator seems to be very powerful, while extremely user friendly, which makes me sad that I’ve never used it.
2. UNetbootin is pretty much the classical approach, since its been around for so long (although they both do pretty much the same thing)

Sadly simply copy & pasting the .iso wont work ☹, because then it would still be treated as a file. In fact this is most clear with certain programs that allow you to explore the contents of the OS by mounting the .iso file. That is where the term burn comes from, since this process was initially done on CDs which (believe it or not) don’t have the concept of files. Instead data is burned onto a CD with lasers, which can then be converted into files by a OS, so that term was carried over to apply to liveUSBs too.

Enter the BIOS

Now we have to access the BIOS, or its successor UEFI, which is what starts and chooses the Operating System. On older machines it normally tells you what to press to access the BIOS for a second or two, when you turn the computer on. This event is called the Power-on self-test (or POST), if you want to search it. You will see it before the computer shows the Boot Screen, which signifies that the computer has begone starting the OS. If you don’t see such a message during start up you probably have UEFI and can continue reading, else you can skip to the boot order section (lucky you).

We’re going to access the BIOS without having to depend on a bunch of hardware specific keys. This is section is pretty much going through the same process as the relevant WikiHow article (which has pretty pictures). Assuming you have your computer turned off, turn it on.

1. Now hold down the SHIFT button (￪), while pressing restart.
2. It will load a screen with some of options one of which is the option to Troubleshoot your PC. (another option is Use a device which is mentioned bellow)
3. When you choose that option, it will give you the choice between reseting the PC and a mysterious Advanced options.
   We’re going advanced! (Don’t worry its advanced, but also super simple)
4. In the advanced options you’ll want to select UEFI firmware settings, which will then finally restart your into the UEFI settings.

You may be tempted to fiddled with the “Start-up Settings” option (I was), which is in the same menu as the UEFI firmware settings (under “Advanced options”). However, despite its name it has absolutely no relevancy to what we’re doing, and as there is no need I highly discourage it.

Boot order (UEFI settings and Workarounds)

Now, you need to search for the menu in charge of the boot order. Since this is handled by hardware vendors, it could vary quite a bit, just like how the keys to enter the BIOS can vary. Here is some information on how it may look:

• Slideshow of what in my experience most BIOS look like.
• Some info on Different possible menus

Once there, you need to turn off secure boot, which only allows a pre-authorized OS (i.e. Windows) to boot. Note, it is possible to authorize an OS of your choosing, but its rather complex. You’ve already done a brilliant job of following this guide which has a bunch of small steps that unfortunately could potentially go wrong. Some OS shamefully don’t support UEFI yet, in which case you need to enable legacy mode.

Then I suggest you arrange the boot order so that if there’s a USB plugged in with a OS on it, it will take precedence over the OS already installed on the harddrive.

Otherwise you would have to manually chose which one to boot, by repeating the above steps up to the point where you reach the Troubleshoot” option. There you should see the option to Use a device from which you choose to Use a USB drive. This is fine if you’re just occasionally trying another operating system. However the problem with this option is that whenever you turn on your computer you have to let it boot into Windows before moving onto Linux.

When I made these changes it asked me to type in a passcode which it showed on screen, to make sure I was authorizing these changes. It wouldn’t display what I was typing anywhere so I got slightly confused, however it worked fine despite that (i.e. what I inputted was being read by the PC).

Notes

Why this guide?

There are generally a lot of guides to do this, but most are outdated or unclear. Most people have a USB laying around, not an empty CD. In addition, if your computer was made 2007 or later then it has UEFI, not BIOS, which should have a lot more support by now than it does. This is partially because UEFI is so cumbersome compared to BIOS, so this guide is an attempt to remedy that.

Also, since most people replace their laptop rather frequently compared to desktops, chances are you have a new-ish laptop, and therefore you need this guide. Even if you have an old unusable computer this guide is useful, as Linux is perfect for re-invigorating old computers (See Lubuntu).

Choose a Linux

I like makeuseof.com’s list of Best Linux Distributions, because I believe it does a great job of representing the wide range of personalities in the Linux community. There is a distribution for everyone. The main thing in common with all of them is that they use the Linux kernel, which is what programs use to talk to the hardware. From there on, pretty much anything can be different and it would still be a Linux distribution. Therefore, Linux users search and choose their operating system based on a few criteria;

• Perhaps most important is the projects objective, but also the values of the community.
• The Desktop Environment (i.e. how it looks) as this is what you’re staring at all day.
• The Package manager which is the Linux equivalent to an app store.
• What Operating System it is derived from (wikipedia article), since it may inherit certain characteristics from the parent.

Know for sure if you have 64-bit hardware

I am sure your computer’s processor is 64-bit if it:

1. is from after 2005, as that is when Microsoft made a 64-bit version of Windows XP. It is also 2 years after 64-bit processors were first released for personal computers (now even smartphones are 64-bit).
2. has more than 4GB of RAM since that’s the limit a 32-bit processor can handle.

Unfortunately sometimes the architecture of the CPU is specified, making things seem far more complicated than necessary. Not to worry, when they say x86_64 (or even i686) they mean 64-bit, and i386 means 32-bit. Of course if you do have 64-bit it doesn’t really matter, it will still run.
i.e. if it has a 3 in it, it is 32-bit.