Linux Lite Home | Download | Donate | Hardware Database | Forums
¶ Installation Guide
To install Linux Lite you will need to download the ISO file, then create either a bootable DVD or USB stick from the ISO. To create a bootable DVD, you need to burn the ISO as an "image" to the DVD. Below are listed three free Windows programs that will enable you to do that. If burning to a USB stick, we have also listed a free program that we recommend for doing that in Windows; or a reliable method to create a bootable USB when using a Linux system, or MacOS.
Once you have your bootable media created, you may need to access your computer's BIOS settings to set the boot order for booting CD/DVD/USB's first (before the hard drive). Typically there will be one or two special keys that can be pressed during initial power-up of the computer (before an operating system starts booting) that will allow you access to either the BIOS Settings/Startup Menu or a separate Boot Menu. Specific keys vary from one manufacturer to the next, so refer to your user manual if you are not sure how to access the settings.
¶ Writing the Linux Lite ISO to a USB on Windows
A good, simple point and click USB ISO burner is Etcher or Rufus.
¶ Guide
- Insert a 4GB or larger USB stick into your PC. You MUST format the entire USB drive to FAT32 before proceeding.
- Install, then start Etcher or Rufus.
- Select the Linux Lite ISO file from Etcher or Rufus and write the image to your USB.
These instructions are generic for Windows (Rufus is Windows only), Linux and Mac OS.
¶ Writing the Linux Lite ISO to a DVD on Windows
Here is some free DVD burning software for you to select from:
Place a blank DVD in your DVD drive, open up the program, select the ISO file that you want to burn. Choose the lowest burn speed, this will greatly reduce the risk of your burn becoming corrupt as can sometimes happen. A 4x or 6x speed is recommended if you have it. The lower the burn speed, the better.
¶ Writing the Linux Lite ISO to USB on Linux (see above, the process is similar)
Etcher allows you to create a bootable Live USB drive. You will need a 4GB or larger USB drive. Download Etcher from here.
¶ Writing the Linux Lite ISO to USB in Linux and MacOS (see above, the process is similar
Using a GUI application
You can use Etcher as mentioned above to write the Linux Lite ISO image to a USB. You will need a 4Gb or larger USB drive. Etcher works on - Windows, Mac & Linux. Download it from here.
Using a Terminal
To find out the letter of your USB stick, open a terminal and type: df -h It is usually listed as /media/yourusername/ or similar. Be very careful to make sure you choose the right drive letter, as you can see in the Filesystem column, my device is /dev/sdb1 another clue is the value in the Size column, here it is shown as 3.8G. In this example my device is listed as:
/media/jerry/INSTALLUSB in the Mounted on column.
Open a folder and make sure you are in the directory that the iso file is in. Open a terminal in that directory and type the following:
Terminal Command:
sudo dd if=linux-lite-8.0-64bit.iso of=/dev/sdx bs=4M
Change the x in sdx to match the letter of your USB device. In the above example, my device is shown as sda1 (leave out the '1')
Example:
Terminal Command:
sudo dd if=linux-lite-8.0-64bit.iso of=/dev/sda bs=4M
The Live DVD/USB image will boot into the desktop automatically, there is no need to login manually.
¶ No USB Boot option in the BIOS? Use PloP
For full instructions click here.
¶ Preparing your Computer for the Installation
If you are planning to have Linux Lite as the sole operating system on your computer, there is nothing special you need to do in preparation for the installation, even if another operating system is currently occupying the hard drive. Simply boot up your live installation disk, give Linux Lite a test run if you'd like, then start the installation by double-clicking the Install Linux Lite icon on the desktop. When you get to the Installation Type screen, tell the installer to use the whole disk and it will go ahead and erase anything that is already there, create the partitions needed, format them and install the system automatically.
If you currently have one physical hard drive and want to dual-boot Windows and Linux Lite, then you should do a few things to prepare for the installation to insure the best results.
- Create backup copies of any important data files. (You probably won't need them - but if you do, you'll be glad you made the backups.)
- Create Windows recovery disk(s) if you haven't already done so before.
- Defragment your largest Windows partition (likely the "C: drive"). If Windows partitions currently span the entire hard drive, one (or more) of its partitions will need to be shrunk down to make room for the Linux installation.
- Shrink the Windows partition from within Windows disk management. (You can shrink the partition during the installation, but it is probably best to use Windows to shrink Windows partitions.)
- If you defragmented and shrunk the Windows partition ahead of time, leave the resulting space as unpartitioned, unused, free space. DO NOT create any new partitions from within Windows for the Linux Lite installation. (If you are familiar with partitioning and want to create the partitions ahead of time, use GParted for doing that while booted in the live Linux Lite DVD/USB.)
- If you plan to have the shrinking done by the installer, it is still recommended that you defragment the Windows partition ahead of time.
If you have more than one physical hard drive and want to dual-boot Windows and Linux Lite, with Linux Lite on its own dedicated physical drive, then we recommend you make a request for guidance in our Forum if you are unfamiliar with Linux based installations. Otherwise, general instructions for such an installation are listed below.
- If Windows is on the first drive, it's boot loader will be replaced with the Linux boot loader (grub2) unless you specify a different drive. That is fine, but an alternative is to install the boot loader to the Linux hard drive, then set the BIOS to boot from that drive. That will preserve the Windows boot loader on its own drive.
- Once installation is complete, reboot and the Linux boot loader will have automatically detected your Windows installation and added it to the boot menu choices.
¶ Installing Linux Lite to your computer
Start your computer, and go into your system BIOS and check that the boot order is set so that DVD and USB devices are set to boot first. This varies from BIOS to BIOS. Refer to your motherboard documentation for more information.
You are advised to disable Secure Boot and make sure UEFI is set to Enabled in your BIOS. See here for more information before proceeding if you need any more clarification.
Once you are happy with your BIOS set up, insert the DVD disc or USB stick into your computer and reboot your computer. You'll be greeted with the following screen. Let the timer run down if you want to boot to the Live session.
Live Boot Menu
Make sure Boot Linux Lite Live System is highlighted, press the enter key to boot the Live session. This is also a good way to check that all of your hardware is supported.
The other options are:
Boot Linux Lite Live System - boot directly into the Linux Lite Desktop.
Direct install OEM Setup - install Linux Lite option for hardware vendors.
Compatibility Mode Linux Lite - use this option if you're having trouble with the first 2 options.
Reboot - restart off your computer.
Shutdown - turn off your computer.
Some of these boot options may or may not appear as they do in the image above. The types of options varies from release to release.
NOTE: If you are having any trouble booting Linux Lite after installation, please read through this trouble shooting guide.
The computer will go through the boot up process, this may take anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes depending on your hardware. There will also be a compulsory file check, this is checking all of the files on the DVD or USB to ensure they meet file integrity. It is advised not to skip this procedure. The login for the Live user is automatic, there is no need to login. If for some reason you need to login, simply type in linux beneath Other and click on Log In (no password required).
An internet connection is not required to install Linux Lite.
Once you've had a look around Linux Lite and are ready to install the first step is to double click on the Install Linux Lite icon on your Desktop.
Welcome
The installer will then open on the desktop and display the first window of the installer. Select your Language and click next.
Location
The next step is to select your location. Select your system language and your numbers and dates locale.
Keyboard
Select your keyboard type and click Next.
Partitions
Now it is time to choose the method of installing Linux Lite to your hard disk. You will have several options during this phase of the installer.
Erase Disk
NOTE: This option will erase your entire hard drive. Make sure this is what you want to do before proceeding.
Upon selecting Erase Disk, the installer will automatically select the default partitioning scheme.
Install alongside
To be written.
image here
Replace a partition
To be written.
image here
Manual partitioning
To be written.
Users
Enter a your name, username (login name), name for the computer eg. mylaptop and a secure password (enter twice).
Login automatically is optional.
Summary
Last chance to check all your settings before you proceed with the installation.
Install
Finish
Follow the onscreen instructions.
¶ Direct install OEM Setup
Choose - Direct install OEM Setup from the Boot menu.
Live Boot Menu
Click on the Install Linux Lite (OEM) icon on your Desktop.
Welcome
Location
Keyboard
Users
Set Up
Finish
¶ Securely Erasing files Permanently
The following tutorial explains how to set up and securely erase files on Linux Lite. This method will ensure that even with data recovery software, files will be irretrievable.
1. Open your home folder, go to: Edit, Configure custom actions...
2. Click the + symbol in the top right, and enter the following details as shown in the picture below on the Basic tab:
Name: Shred file...
Description: Securely erase files permanently
Command: shred -u %F
(the icon chosen here is emblem-important from All Icons)
3. In the Appearance Conditions tab, select the following:
File Pattern: *
Click on Ok and Close when finished.
Now when you want to permanently and securely erase a file from your computer without the chance of recovery, right click any number of files and select Shred file...
¶ Setting your Language
Here's how to set a language system wide following an install of Linux Lite.
1. Click on Menu, Settings, Language Support.
2. You will get a dialog box pop up, click on Remind Me Later.
3. Now click on the button Install / Remove Languages.
4. In this example, we'll install the Portuguese language. Scroll down, find your language and tick the box next to it, then click on Apply.
You'll then be prompted for your password.
After you've entered your password, your computer will begin to download all the language files, this may take a while.
6. Once that is done, scroll to the bottom of the Language for menus and windows box and drag your newly installed language to the top of the list. Then click on Apply System-Wide, you'll be prompted for your password again. Now wait for the settings to be applied, it will take a few moments.
7. Now click on the Regional Formats tab, select the language you just installed, and click on Apply System-Wide. Enter your password again if prompted to.
8. Now logout and login again and you will see that your new language has been applied.
Please note that not all programs may not have your language applied. If this is the case, search for that program in Package Manager and see if there is a language pack available for it. Also note that after you have changed your language, some of the Menu items may not be translated properly. There is little we can do about this, an easy way to rename Menu entries is by going to Menu, Settings, Menu Editor and editing the entries there.
¶ Enabling TRIM on your SSD
Trim in Linux Lite Series 5.x and onwards is now a SystemD service that runs automatically weekly. There is no need to set up Trim anymore in Linux Lite.
You can get further information regarding Trim in your system by running the following commands in your terminal:
Open a terminal and do:
Terminal Command:
systemctl list-timers -a
and:
Terminal Command:
sudo journalctl -u fstrim.timer
¶ Drives & Partitions
Let's familiarize with the terms drive, partitions and volumes. They are commonly used terms and understanding what they are will help you in the process of mounting drives/partitions.
The term drive refers to a physical storage device such as a hard disk, solid-state disk, removable USB flash drive etc. In Linux, devices are represented by special file system objects called device nodes, which are visible under the /dev directory.
Storage devices are labeled under /dev according to the type of device, followed by a letter signifying the order in which they were detected by the system. In Linux the prefix sd is used for all PATA, SATA and SCSI devices. For instance, the device files /dev/sda, /dev/sdb and /dev/sdc correspond to the first, second and third device (drive) respectively.
A physical storage device (drive) can be divided into multiple logical storage units known as partitions. Each partition will show up under /dev as a separate device node. A number after the device letter signifies the number of the partition. For example, the device node files /dev/sda1 and /dev/sda2 refer to the first and second partition of the first device (drive). Note that on PCs using MBR partitioning, due to the limit of four primary partitions and the way extended partitions are handled the partition numbering can slightly differ from the actual partition count.
The term volume in Linux is related to the Logical Volume Manager (LVM), which can be used to manage mass storage devices. A physical volume is a storage device or partition. A logical volume created by the LVM is a logical storage device which can span multiple physical volumes.
¶ Mounting Drives & Partitions
Mounting drives and partitions in Linux Lite is easy. While the following approach is generally acceptable, it imposes some limitations in the way a drive can be used in your system. For instance, the drive will remain mounted as long as the computer is not restarted or the drive is not manually unmounted. You will need to mount the drive after each reboot. Also, as administrator, you can read and write to the drive but no other user will be able to write to the drive or read any of its content. Read on Automount Drives & Partitions for all users section for other options.
By default, all drives connected to your computer will show up on the Desktop as well as in Thunar File Manager, as long as the drive in question contains at least one partition.
As you may have noticed in the screenshot above, the drive shown is grayed-out, meaning that it is not mounted by default. To mount a drive in Linux Lite, double click the desired drive and type the administrator password when prompted to do so. Mounting drives requires administrative privileges.
Once mounted, the drive icon reflects just that (not longer grayed-out)... you are now ready to use the drive.
¶ Automount Drives & Partitions for all users
A more user-friendly way to mount drives in Linux Lite is to have them automount at startup and allow all users to read and write to the drive.
The instructions below shows how to mount a drive in Linux Lite with automount options and read and write permissions for all users. You can follow these steps to mount as many partitions as you may need.
Start by creating a folder to assign a mount point path to the drive. Open Terminal and execute:
Terminal Command:
sudo mkdir /media/disk1
... where disk1 is the name of the folder we are creating and /media is the directory under which it will be created.
Then, open Menu, Settings, Disks. Select the disk you want to make available from the left column, then click on Edit Mount Options as shown below.
Set the following mount option:
- 1- Switch off Automatic Mount Options
- 2- Check Mount at startup
- 3- Mount options: users,noexec,nosuid
- 4- Mount Point: /media/disk1 (the path of the folder you created in the previous step)
- 5- Identify As: /dev/sdb1 (it may be sdb1, sdb2, sdc1 or similar - select from the drop down menu)
- 6- Filesystem: ' auto ' or ' ext4 ' (Linux) or ' ntfs ' (Windows) if you want to be explicit.
Optionally, you could also set a Display Name for your drive, making it easier to identify. The Display Name will be appended to the mount options(3) as you type it.
Click OK to apply your changes and enter your password when prompted to do so.
Finally, you can either reboot your computer or manually mount the device so that you don't have to reboot. The configured drive will mount automatically on every reboot from there on. All users will be able to read and write on the drive and no prompt for administrative password will be required. To manually mount the drive, click on Mount selected partition (little triangle in the Volumes actions buttons):
The selected drive will then be mounted.
Repeat these steps to automount other drives (or additional partitions within a drive) as needed.
¶ Automount Windows Partitions for all users
Linux Lite can read and write NTFS file systems on external drives by default. To mount a Windows partition, create a new folder to assign a mount point path for the Windows partition. Open Terminal and execute:
Terminal Command:
sudo mkdir /media/disk1
... where disk1 is the name of the folder we are creating and /media is the directory under which it will be created. Make sure to create a new folder for each drive you are mounting in your system. For example, assume you are already using /media/disk1 to automount a different drive or partition, you want to have a different folder to assign a mount point path for the Windows partition then; it can be named anything you want: disk2, disk3, windowsdisk, etc. and make sure to adjust the Mount Point options accordingly in the steps below.
Next, open Menu, Settings, Disks, select the disk which contains the Windows partition from the left column, highlight (click) the Windows partition and finally click on Edit Mount Options:
Set the following mount option:
- 1- Switch off Automatic Mount Options
- 2- Check Mount at startup
- 3- Mount options: defaults
- 4- Mount Point: /media/disk1 (the path of the folder you previously created)
- 5- Identify As: /dev/sdb3 (it may be sdb2, sdb3, sdc2 or similar - select it from the drop down menu)
- 6- Filesystem: ' auto ' or ' ntfs ' (Windows) if you want to be explicit.
Click OK to apply your changes and enter your password when prompted to do so.
Finally, you can either reboot your computer or manually mount the device so that you don't have to reboot. The configured drive will mount automatically on every reboot from there on. All users will be able to read and write on the drive and no prompt for administrative password will be required. To manually mount the drive, click on Mount selected partition (little triangle in the Volumes actions buttons):
The selected drive will then be mounted.
Repeat these steps to automount other drives (or additional partitions within a drive) as needed.
¶ Controlling Access to Mounted Drives
Usually, you want to mount drives in Linux Lite and make them available to all users. But there are times when controlling access to those drives becomes a necessity. For example, you may want to automount a Windows drive at startup but prevent other users from modifying the contents in that drive; which is certainly important. Maybe you do not want them to see its content at all. There is a simple (yet effective) way for accomplishing just that at the time of mounting drives and partitions; by using uid, gid and umask.
A user ID (uid) is a unique positive integer assigned by Linux operating system to each user. Each user is identified to the system by its uid, and user names are generally used only as an interface for humans. The same is true for gid (group ID) but it references groups instead of users.
The user file-mode creation mask (umask) is use to determine the file permission for newly created files. It can be used to control the default file permission.
Let's put together some examples on how we could set some restrictions at the time of mounting drives.
First, we need to know the uid/gid of the administrative account we are using to mount the drive. In this example, our username is liteuser. Open Terminal and execute:
Terminal Command:
id -u username id -g username
... where username is your administrator account username; liteuser in our case.
For umask, we are going to go with the most common options you'll usually need:
umask 222 - Assigns permissions so that everyone has read-only access for files and directories, including your account.
umask 077 - Assigns permissions so that only you have read/write access for files, and read/write/search for directories you own. All others have no access permissions to your files or directories.
umask 022 - Assigns permissions so that only you have read/write access for files, and read/write/search for directories you own. All others have read access only to your files, and read/search access to your directories.
umask 002 - Assigns permissions so that only you and members of your group have read/write access to files, and read/write/search access to directories you own. All others have read access only to your files, and read/search to your directories.
Using Menu, Settings, Disks, mount a drive with some content in it using your uid, gid and umask=077:
With the above mount options, this is what liteuser and user1 accounts get to access.
Feel free to experiment with umask options, different groups and users. For additional references, see man mount and man umask.
¶ Adding another User
To add another User to Linux Lite, click on Menu, Settings, Lite User Manager. Then click on Add New User and enter a name, and the same password twice.
Please note, there is a character limit for both your user and the user you are tying to add of 30 characters. If you get an error adding a user, this could be one of the reasons why.
To change your own password via the command line, do:.
passwd
To change someone else's password via the command line (you must have sudo rights to do this), do:.
sudo passwd otherusersnamehere
And follow the onscreen instructions.
NOTE: Choose a strong password, a mix of upper and lower case as well as a mix of numbers and characters. An example of this would be:
h8Ea#m04C!kS5x^p
would be considered a strong password. Use a program like KeePassXC to keep all your passwords safely stored and NEVER use the same password for different websites and accounts.**
Never compromise your security for convenience.
You will then be asked for your password, enter it and click on OK to finish creating the new user account. The new user will have the same rights as the default user (you) except for Administrator rights meaning they will be unable to modify system settings such as installing software and changing system files.
User Permissions
If you want your new user to have Administrator rights, in the right hand pane scroll down to sudo, place a tick in the box beside it and click on Apply. You can give the new user other group permissions to by using this method, but out of the box this should not be necessary as by default, the application already does all this for you. Now when the new user next logs in, they will have the same full system rights as you. You will both be 'Administrators'.
¶ Removing a User
NOTE: Before removing a user account make sure their files are backed up to a usb device or the cloud first. Removing an account also removes all that persons documents, pictures, videos, files etc.
This is as easy as selecting the user that you want to remove from the Select user drop down box, clicking on Remove selected user and clicking on Apply. If you are asked for your password, please enter it and then click Ok. Next a confirmation box will appear, read the message and if you want to proceed click on Yes. The user account and all their data has now been removed.
¶ Resetting your Password
Forgot your password? It happens to all of us at some stage. Fortunately setting it again is fairly straight forward. Lets begin.
Boot up your computer and immediately press and hold down the Shift or ESC key. You should see a screen like this.
Next press the e key whilst that top line is highlighted. This will take you to the next screen. Use your arrow keys to move down to the line highlighted in the picture below. Use the arrow key until you reach the end of that line.
Press the backspace key repeatedly until you remove: ro splash quiet $vt_handoff and replace that text with: rw init=/bin/bash so that it looks like the picture below.
Now press either F10 or Ctrl+X to boot your machine to a command prompt.
At the prompt, type: passwd jerry where jerry is your username, then press enter.
You will be asked to type in a new password twice.
Your password has now been changed. Now we are ready to save those changes, then reboot the computer.Type in: sync then hit enter. Then type in: reboot -f
Your computer will reboot. If you see the screen shown below again, just hit enter. This is normal and won't appear the next time you reboot your computer. You may also not see the boot animation on this boot, this to is normal and will reappear next time you boot up.
Now login with your password.
¶ Terminal Basics
Linux Lite is designed to be such that new users won't have to venture into the terminal to much. But, there will be some occasions where we need to run the odd terminal command. The following is a very basic introduction to some of the more common terminal commands that will help you to navigate around your computer, should you need to.
TIP: instead of typing out the entire name of a file or folder, type the first few letters and hit your TAB key, this will auto complete the name. This will save you lots of time but be careful and make sure you have typed the correct file name. In the examples below 'directory' also means 'folder'.
When you first open a terminal, your location in the file system will be your home directory. You can confirm that by using the first command listed below, "pwd". It will show that you are in "/home/username", where "username" is your actual username.
pwd - shows you the present working directory (the directory you are currently in). If you get lost, just type "pwd" and it will tell you where you are in the file system.
ls - display a list of files and directories in the current directory
ls -la - a more comprehensive listing that displays file properties in the current directory, including hidden files and their properties.
cd - change directory, change to another directory. For instance, if you are currently located at /home/username and want to go to your Documents folder, type: cd Documents. If you then type pwd, you will see that your location is now /home/username/Documents. No matter where you are in the terminal typing just cd will return you to your home folder in the terminal.
cd .. - go back one directory (up to the parent directory of your current location).
cp - copy file to another directory
rm - remove a file or directory
rm -rf - permanently delete a file or directory
mv - rename a file or directory.
You can also use it to move a file from one location to another eg. mv /home/jerry/file1.doc /home/jerry/Documents
cat - display the contents inside a file
mkdir - make a new folder
rmdir - remove a folder
killall - kill a program with that name
man - read the manual for a particular program (type q to exit the manual)
¶ More uses
Linux Lite uses the Bash shell by default. The shell is a command-line interface that interprets your commands and runs system utilities or scripts.
Basic syntax:
command [options] [arguments]
Examples:
ls -l /home # List files with details
cd Documents # Change to the Documents directory
mkdir new_folder # Create a new directory
rm file.txt # Delete a file
Keyboard shortcuts:
Tab: Auto-complete file or command namesCtrl + C: Cancel running commandCtrl + D: Log out of shellCtrl + R: Reverse search command history
¶ Common Commands
File and directory management:
cp file1 file2 # Copy file
mv file1 file2 # Move/rename file
rm file1 # Delete file
touch file1 # Create empty file
nano file1 # Edit file in terminal
System and package management:
sudo apt update # Update package lists
sudo apt upgrade # Upgrade installed packages
sudo apt install app-name # Install a package
sudo apt remove app-name # Remove a package
Navigation:
pwd # Print current directory
ls # List files in current directory
cd .. # Go up one directory
Process and system info:
ps aux # View running processes
kill PID # Terminate a process
df -h # Disk usage
free -h # RAM usage
¶ Bash Aliases
Aliases let you define shortcuts for long or repetitive commands.
Create or edit aliases:
nano ~/.bashrc
Add lines like:
alias update='sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade'
alias cls='clear'
alias ll='ls -alF'
Activate changes:
source ~/.bashrc
Aliases streamline your workflow and reduce the need to type full commands repeatedly.
CopyLeft Linux Command Reference:
