GNU/Linux Beginners Guide | Section 1: Pre-Install

In this section, you will be creating a bootable Fedora live environment on a USB flash drive, which you will than boot from and test basic functionality.

Step #1A: Go to the Fedora Workstation download page, scroll down until you see "Fedora Media Writer", and click on the download icon

Step #1B: This will bring you to a GitHub page. Click on the win64 version if using Windows, or the OSX version if using macOS.

Step #2A: User Account Control will pop up when trying to run the installer executable, accept it.

Step #2B: The installer for Fedora Media Writer contains no PUPs, so it's safe to click next on every step.

Step #3A: Fedora Media Writer should now launch. Get your flash drive ready, and unplug any other external media that you do not want overwritten. Follow the wizard on default settings.

Step #3B: Ensure the correct drive (if multiple are detected) is selected. Clicking "Download and Write" will automatically partition your flash drive with a bootable instance of Fedora Live. This might take a while depending on the speed of your internet connection. [WARNING: This will reformat your drive and destroy all data on it, back up anything important before continuing!]

Step #4A: Find out what your boot menu key is. You can generally find this by typing "[PC/Motherboard manufacturer] boot menu key" into your search engine of choice. Common boot menu keys include F2, F11, F12, and Del. Boot menus typically look something like this:

The red arrow is pointing towards the option that should be selected to boot into the live Fedora system. Usually, you can identify which option to pick because the correct entry will either have the name of the flash drive, will have "USB" in the entry, or both. In most systems, you can use the arrow keys to select the boot device.

Step #5A: After selecting the right option, you'll be presented with the Fedora GRUB Menu. Hit enter on the default option. It will verify that nothing is corrupted. If the check fails, repeat step 3 again.

Step #6A: The Fedora Workstation live environment should now be booted. Do a quick test of hardware functionality by opening the quick settings at the top right

If your system supports WiFi and Bluetooth, it should show up here. You should also be able to control display brightness if you are using a system (such as a laptop) that supports such a functionality. If any of these do not show or work, this may indicate a missing driver or hardware incompatibility. Since I cannot know what your hardware is, if you run into such an issue you will have to do your own research on your system's hardware compatibility with GNU/Linux.

Complete! You have successfully created bootable Fedora install media and have booted into the live system. If all looks fine, than you can continue to the next section.