Install guide

Before you start

• Download the 64-bit ISO from the Download page and check its SHA-256 checksum there.
• NoovexOS 64 needs an x86-64 PC with at least 64 MB RAM. It boots with BIOS (legacy/CSM) or UEFI.
• The UEFI loader is not signed: turn Secure Boot off in the firmware settings.
• NoovexOS is a preview. Try it from a USB stick or a virtual machine before installing it on a disk you care about.

USB stick on Windows (Rufus)

1. Download Rufus from rufus.ie and plug in a USB stick. Everything on it will be erased.
2. Select the stick under Device and the NoovexOS ISO under Boot selection, then press Start.
3. When Rufus asks how to write the image, choose "Write in DD Image mode". ISO mode does not work for this image.
4. When it is done, boot the PC from the stick (usually F12, F11, F8 or Esc opens the boot menu).

USB stick on Linux or macOS (dd)

Find the stick's device name first (lsblk on Linux, diskutil list on macOS). Writing to the wrong device erases that disk.

sudo dd if=Noovex64_v10.00.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress conv=fsync

sudo dd if=Noovex64_v10.00.iso of=/dev/rdiskN bs=4m

Replace /dev/sdX or /dev/rdiskN with your stick. On macOS, run diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN first.

Ventoy

Ventoy has not been tested with NoovexOS. NoovexOS uses its own boot loader, which may not start from Ventoy's menu. If it does not boot, write the ISO with Rufus in DD mode or with dd instead.

VirtualBox

1. New virtual machine: Type "Other", Version "Other/Unknown (64-bit)".
2. Memory: 2048 MB is a good choice (the minimum is 64 MB). 2 CPUs.
3. Under Storage, attach the NoovexOS ISO to the optical drive. A hard disk is only needed if you want to install.
4. Start the machine. Enable EFI under System if you want to test UEFI boot.

QEMU

One command on Linux (add -enable-kvm for speed). snapshot=on keeps the ISO file unchanged.

qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2048 -smp 2 -drive file=Noovex64_v10.00.iso,format=raw,snapshot=on

For UEFI, add the OVMF firmware:

qemu-system-x86_64 -m 2048 -smp 2 -bios /usr/share/ovmf/OVMF.fd -drive file=Noovex64_v10.00.iso,format=raw,snapshot=on

First boot

The boot menu offers:

• NoovexOS Desktop: start the desktop straight from the USB stick or ISO, without installing.
• NoovexOS (Safe Mode): start with fewer drivers if the normal start fails.
• Recovery Environment: repair tools.
• Install NoovexOS: install to a disk.
• Boot Configuration: boot settings.

If a start fails, write down the stop code shown on the failure screen and open an issue on GitHub.

Updates

Installed systems can update themselves: Settings > Update & recovery > NoovexOS Update (or the update command) checks noovexos.site, downloads the new version, checks its size, SHA-256 and kernel build checksum, and keeps the previous version. If the new version does not start twice in a row, NoovexOS starts the previous version again by itself.

Installing to a disk

1. Choose Install NoovexOS in the boot menu.
2. Pick a disk and create a partition, or choose Install whole disk. Install whole disk erases everything on that disk.
3. Choose the file system: FAT16, FAT32, NTFS or NVXFS.
4. Wait for "Installation Complete", remove the USB stick and restart.