Preparation steps

System Requirements

Before preparing the installation, make sure that the computer used meets the minimum system requirements in order to run CachyOS. The installer uses an online installation process so a stable and relatively fast internet connection is mandatory.

Virtual Machines

It is not recommended to install CachyOS on a virtual machine. VMs can have issues with incorrect configuration or can be broken entirely. It is recommended to install CachyOS on bare metal.

Minimum requirements

• 3 GB RAM
• 30 GB of Storage Space (HDD/SSD)
• Stable internet connection

Caution

Unstable internet may result in extended installation times or failed installations in the worst case.

Recommended requirements

• 8GB RAM
• 50 GB of Storage Space (SSD/NVMe)
• x86-64-v3 capable CPU
• 50 Mbps or better internet speed
• NVIDIA GPU (900+ - e.g: GTX 950), AMD +GCN 1.0 (e.g: AMD R7 240) or Intel (Integrated HD Graphics series or higher. Arc Series)

x86_64 Microarchitecture Level Support

x86-64 ABI	CPU Families / Examples
x86-64-v3	AMD Family 15h (Excavator) AMD Family 17h (Zen) AMD Family 17h (Zen+) AMD Family 17h (Zen 2) AMD Family 19h (Zen 3) Intel 4th Gen Core (Haswell) Intel 5th Gen Core (Broadwell) Intel 6th Gen Core (Skylake) Intel 7th Gen Core (Kaby Lake) Intel 8/9th Gen Core (Coffee Lake) Intel 10th Gen Core (Comet Lake) Intel 12th Gen (Alder Lake) Intel 13th Gen (Raptor Lake) Intel 14th Gen (Raptor Lake Refresh) Intel 15th Gen (Lunar / Arrow Lake)
x86-64-v4	AMD Family 19h (Zen 4 / Zen 4c) AMD Family 1Ah (Zen 5 / Zen 5c) Intel 6th Gen Core (Skylake X) Intel 8th Gen Core i3 (Cannon Lake) Intel Xeon / 10th Gen Core (Ice Lake) Intel Xeon (Cascade Lake) Intel Xeon (Cooper Lake) Intel 3rd Gen 10nm++ (Tiger Lake) Intel 4th Gen 10nm++ (Sapphire Rapids) Intel 5th Gen 10nm++ (Emerald Rapids) Intel 11th Gen (Rocket Lake)

Creating a Bootable CachyOS USB Drive

There are several tools and methods that can be used to create a bootable USB drive of CachyOS.

Tip

Keep a copy of the CachyOS ISO in the same drive or in a different location, so that you can use it later for troubleshooting purposes via chroot.

Note

The USB drive must have at least 8GB of available space.

balenaEtcher

1. Download balenaEtcher. balenaEtcher supports flashing an image of Linux, MacOS and Windows. If a .zip file was downloaded, extract it and execute the binary using the following commands:

   # Extract zip file:
   bsdtar xvf <zip file name>
   # cd to the new folder:
   cd balenaEtcher-linux-x64/
   # Execute balenaEtcher:
   ./balena-etcher

2. Plug in a USB drive to the computer.
3. Select Flash from file and select the CachyOS ISO image file.
4. Click Select target and choose the USB drive that was previously plugged in.
5. Press Flash to start the flashing process.

Note

balenaEtcher may prompt for administrator privileges. If so, enter your password and click on Authenticate.

Command Line Interface (Linux & MacOS)

1. Plug in a USB drive.
2. Detect the plugged USB drive using the following commands:

   # Linux
   # The USB drive could be identified e.g: /dev/sda, by disk model and size.
   sudo fdisk -l
   
   # MacOS
   # USB drives are identified as "/dev/diskY" where "Y" could be 0,1 etc.
   diskutil list

3. Copy the iso contents to the plugged-in USB drive by running:

   # Replace <usbdrive> with the label of the drive.
   sudo dd bs=4M if=full_iso_name.iso of=/dev/<usbdrive> status=progress oflag=sync

• dd will now copy the contents of the ISO file over to the plugged-in USB drive.

Rufus (Windows Only)

1. Plug in a USB drive.
2. Download Rufus and install it, or run the portable version.
3. On Device, click on the dropdown list and select the plugged-in USB drive.
4. On Boot selection, click on SELECT and locate the CachyOS ISO image file.
5. Click START.

Ventoy (Linux & Windows)

Linux

1. Plug in a USB drive.
2. Download Ventoy
3. Untar Ventoy using the following command:

   # Replace version with the correct one e.g: ventoy-1.1.07-linux.tar.gz
   bsdtar xvf ventoy-version-linux.tar.gz
   # cd to the new folder: (version might change)
   cd ventoy-1.1.07/

4. Execute VentoyGUI.x86_64 by either double clicking on it or via the terminal:

   # It will ask for administrative privileges, enter your credentials
   ./VentoyGUI.x86_64

5. Select the plugged-in USB drive by clicking on Device.
6. Click on Install.
7. After it finishes installing Ventoy into the plugged-in USB drive, close the window and place the CachyOS ISO file into the new usable partition of the drive.

Windows

1. Plug in a USB drive.
2. Download Ventoy
3. Run Ventoy2Disk.exe
4. Select the plugged-in USB drive by clicking on Device.
5. Click on Install.
6. After it finishes installing Ventoy into the USB drive, close the window and place the CachyOS ISO file into the new usable partition of the drive.