Installation guide

Install Lunex OS

Start with a disposable virtual machine. Lunex 0.8 is an experimental x86_64 Linux system, and physical PC hardware has not been validated.

1. Prepare a safe test environment

• A 64-bit Intel/AMD virtual machine with at least 4 GiB RAM, two CPUs, and standard VGA is the recommended first test. Allocate 6 GiB or more for large packages in a live session.
• Use a new, disposable virtual disk of at least 8 GiB for installation tests. Extra storage is needed for applications and their temporary files. Do not attach host physical disks to the VM.
• The ISO supports BIOS and UEFI boot. It is unsigned, and Secure Boot is unsupported.
• Only compatible, unused disks with a stable identity and 512-byte logical sectors are eligible. Unsupported controllers, ambiguous disks, mounted/in-use devices, and certain existing layouts are refused. These checks do not guarantee that a particular physical PC works.

2. Download and verify

Get the ISO and SHA-256 checksum from the download section. Follow the verification guide before booting it. If downloads are marked as preparing, the release has not yet been made available here.

Attach the verified ISO to your VM as its optical boot image. If you later make a USB installer, use a trusted disk-image writer and verify the selected USB device carefully: writing the image erases that USB device.

3. Explore the live desktop

Boot the ISO and try Files, Settings, sound, display, and networking before installing. Live-session files, applications, and settings are stored in RAM and disappear at shutdown. Copy anything you need to a safe separate location before shutting down.

Hardware compatibility is not guaranteed. An absent Wi-Fi adapter can mean unsupported hardware, a physical radio switch, or missing device-specific firmware. Virtual-radio tests cannot establish support for your adapter.

4. Review the exact destination

Open the installer. No disk should be preselected. Review the disk model, capacity, path, stable identity, existing partitions, and filesystems. Select only a spare disk you intend to erase.

The installation creates a GPT layout with BIOS boot, EFI, and Linux system/home partitions. Review the exact on-screen layout, acknowledge the erase warning, and type the complete disk-specific confirmation phrase shown by the installer.

If you connected to Wi-Fi in the live session, the optional “Keep this Wi-Fi connection” choice copies only that approved current connection. It does not copy live browser profiles, general live files, or every live Wi-Fi profile. Saved network credentials are root-readable on an unencrypted disk.

5. Let installation finish

Keep the installation media connected and power stable until completion. Once disk writing begins, the operation cannot safely be canceled. An interruption can leave the target disk incomplete.

After the success message, shut down, detach the ISO or remove the installation media, and boot the installed disk. Some firmware requires choosing that disk or its “UEFI OS” entry manually.

6. Set up the installed system

• Reconnect in Network and explicitly choose “Remember this network and reconnect after reboot” if you want persistence. Remembering is optional and initially unchecked.
• The installer’s setup name is not an account password. This is a single-user, automatic-sign-in system.
• To enable locking, open Settings → Lock screen and choose a 12–128-character printable English-keyboard password. Super+L starts the native blank lock screen; type your password and press Enter. Escape clears your entry and does not unlock.
• Idle locking is optional. An app already holding an X input grab can delay it. A lock or broker crash ends the graphical session and may lose unsaved work.

Security and accessibility limits

The disk is not encrypted. Screen locking does not protect data against reboot, physical rescue access, or malicious same-user X11 applications. Root and remote logins remain disabled outside explicit local rescue mode, but that does not replace disk encryption. Avoid shared/public computers and sensitive data.

Text scaling, contrast modes, and keyboard controls are available. Complete screen-reader and assistive-technology support has not been verified. Try your required tools before relying on the system.

Already running Aster 0.7?

Do not run the whole-disk installer to update it. Use only the separate exact-version offline repair when available and when its checks confirm your installation is supported. Follow its included guide, use the prescribed installed rescue mode, preserve the rollback backup, and reboot only after success. Modified or unsupported installations may be refused.

Version 0.7 did not retain Wi-Fi passwords after reboot. A password already forgotten cannot be recovered; after a successful repair, connect once with remembering enabled.