So, you want to use Manjaro Linux on your computer (or maybe you just want to try a Linux Distribuiton in general), in this group of articles called “Manjaro Journey” i will try my best to explain my journey to understanding and customizing Manjaro to my liking.
These tutorials may not be for everyone, since i have more focus on customizing and making my desktop experience more “snappier” and not so much the terminal/scripting part. Still i hope that it’ll spread the word of a better way to experience desktops.
Anyways, let’s install Manjaro.
Stuff/Steps to install Manjaro
To install Manjaro on your computer you will need the following things:
- A USB stick (4GB minimum).
- The Manjaro ISO file (get it from the website: https://manjaro.org/downloads/official/kde/):
The one that i get is Minimal KDE(\/ this one \/).
If you go back and choose other manjaro flavor it’s up to you, i personally like KDE, but there should be no problem in following this tutorial if you choose another one.
- A program to make your USB stick a bootable USB stick (I use Balena Etcher: https://www.balena.io/etcher/).
Now that you have the stuff check the steps:
- Make a Bootable USB using Balena Etcher.
- Turn Off your PC.
- Open up your BIOS to deactivate secure boot, turn on UEFI (if not activated) and change the boot order to make the USB as first.
- Save the BIOS changes and exit.
- Install Manjaro by following the Installation Tool.
These steps will be now explained.
Make a Bootable USB using Balena Etcher.
To make a Bootable USB you first need to open Balena Etcher:
The process is pretty straightforward, just:
After the flashing you should have a Bootable USB drive with Manjaro Linux.
BIOS changes
BIOS’es are different on most computers, so your BIOS is probably different from mine but they should have the settings that i will change.
Change your Boot Mode (to UEFI):
Disable your Secure Boot:
Change your boot order, for your USB to be first:
NOTE: If your computer support’s it, you should turn on your hotkey for a Boot Menu, if you don’t have a Boot Menu dont worry, it’s not necessary.
Installing Manjaro
Now for the final part of this tutorial, installing Manjaro, this part will need for you to have your USB stick on the computer and the BIOS settings all set up.
You will be presented with the following screen:
You should boot up with proprietary drivers if you have a NVIDIA GPU, if you dont have one on your computer, run open source drivers.
After choosing the drivers to boot up you will be presented with Manjaro KDE:
You may explore Manjaro now before installing, in this tutorial i will not touch on that but you are free to explore.
After launching the installer you need to select the language:
Select Location:
Select Keyboard:
Erase disk (you may want to do your partitioning if you want, i wont):
Choose your names/passwords for the system:
And after checking if everything is how you want, just press install:
And just wait for manjaro to be installed:
Now manjaro is installed, turn off your computer, remove the USB, turn on your PC and after that you should be ready for your new manjaro experience:
