Stop Guessing: A Beginner’s Guide to Installing Mainstream Linux Distros

Choosing the Right Distribution

If you are completely new, pick Ubuntu or Linux Mint for their out‑of‑the‑box driver support and large community help. For server or enterprise use, choose Rocky Linux or AlmaLinux , which are 1:1 compatible with RHEL and replace the discontinued CentOS. If you prefer a Chinese‑style desktop, Deepin or UOS offer a polished UI and low learning curve.

Pre‑Installation Preparations

Backup your data before any partition changes, whether on a VM or a real machine. Create a bootable USB using Ventoy or Rufus ; Ventoy lets you drop an ISO onto an 8 GB drive without re‑flashing. BIOS settings : disable Secure Boot and Fast Boot to avoid boot failures.

Installation Pitfalls

The installer is graphical, but pay attention to two critical steps:

Partitioning : For a VM, select “Erase disk and install”. For dual‑boot, choose “Something else” (manual partition), create an ext4 partition in the pre‑allocated free space, mount it as /, and avoid separate /home or /boot partitions.

Bootloader location : The default is the whole disk (e.g., /dev/sda or /dev/nvme0n1) and works for most cases. If you already have a Windows EFI partition, you can install the bootloader there, but installing to the whole disk lets GRUB automatically detect Windows and build a dual‑boot menu.

First Steps After Installation

Change software sources : Switch to mirrors from Alibaba Cloud, Tsinghua, or USTC to speed up downloads dramatically.

Update the system : Run sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade (for Ubuntu/Debian) to apply security patches and latest packages.

Install drivers : For NVIDIA GPUs, use the “Additional Drivers” tool to install the recommended proprietary driver, preventing video stutter or external monitor issues.

Final Advice

Don’t fear breaking the system; reinstalling takes only minutes. Start by experimenting in VirtualBox or VMware, then move to real hardware once you’re comfortable.