How to Install CachyOS in 2026 (Step by Step for Beginners)

This tutorial takes about 7 minutes to complete.

This guide shows how to install CachyOS on your PC, from downloading the ISO to your first login, and which installer options to pick as a beginner and why. It follows the video, with the exact keys, button names and options from the recording.

New to Ventoy? The Ventoy page explains what it is, and the Windows 11 Ventoy walkthrough shows the Windows steps in more detail. If you are already running CachyOS, there is also a guide to installing Ventoy on CachyOS.

Warning: this is a fresh install. It formats everything on the drive you select, and there is no disk partitioning or dual boot. Back up anything important first.

Before you start

You need a PC, a USB stick or an external drive larger than 8 GB, and at least 25 GB of free disk space. You will also need a second computer, or the same PC while it still runs its current system, to download the ISO and prepare the USB drive. The video does this part on Windows 11, because many people switching to Linux are coming from Windows.

A wired internet connection is the easiest and most reliable way to connect.

Jump to a chapter in the video: Intro · Get the ISO · Ventoy USB · Copy ISO · Boot menu · Secure Boot fix · Install CachyOS · First boot

Step 1: Download the CachyOS ISO

Open your browser and enter the address of the official CachyOS download page, cachyos.org/download. Click Download Desktop Edition.

Click Direct, and your download should begin. The video skips through the wait. When the download is complete, open your Downloads folder and you should see your CachyOS ISO file.

The video also puts the ISO in its own folder, which is optional but keeps it easy to find. Right-click the ISO and click Cut. Go to This PC and the C drive, right-click, choose New, then Folder, and name it ISO. Open the folder and paste the ISO there.

Step 2: Download Ventoy

To make a bootable ISO drive, the video uses Ventoy. It turns your USB stick or external drive into a multi-boot ISO drive, so you can store multiple ISOs on it and boot from them.

Open the browser and go to ventoy.net. Click Downloads, scroll down, find the Ventoy Windows zip file and click it. Scroll down and find the Windows zip file again, then click it. Your download should start shortly.

Step 3: Extract Ventoy and open Ventoy2Disk

Once the download is finished, go to your Downloads folder and close the browser. Now you need to extract the zip file: right-click it, click Extract All, and then click Extract. The new folder should open.

Go inside the Ventoy folder and look for the Ventoy2Disk application. Double-click it, and click Yes to give administrator access. Now the Ventoy application is open.

Step 4: Select your USB drive

Connect your external USB drive. If you do not see your USB stick or external storage device, click the green refresh button. If you still do not see it, open the Options menu and click Show All Devices. This shows all the drives on your PC.

Warning: make sure not to install Ventoy on your main drive. Make sure you install it on your external drive. Also back up any important files you have, because this will format and erase everything on the disk.

Step 5: Turn on Secure Boot Support

Open the Options menu again and make sure Secure Boot Support is checked. In case you have any problems with Secure Boot errors, this should help fix it. Step 9 shows how to fix the Secure Boot errors if you still get one.

Step 6: Install Ventoy on the USB drive

Make sure you have everything backed up from your drive, and then click Install. A warning says the device will be formatted and all the data will be lost. Click Yes to continue.

A second window double-checks that you want to format the device and lose all the data. You can click Yes.

When it is finished you will see Congratulations: Ventoy has been successfully installed to the device. Click OK, and then close the Ventoy application.

Step 7: Copy the CachyOS ISO to your Ventoy drive

Open the file manager. If you look on the side, you can see your Ventoy drive. Go to This PC and the C drive, find the ISO folder, right-click the ISO file and copy it. Go back to This PC, double-click the Ventoy drive, then right-click and paste the ISO file. When the ISO file has finished copying to the Ventoy drive, close the window.

Tip: for blazing fast speeds and more storage space, use an external NVMe drive. The NVMe enclosure tutorial shows how to build your own NVMe drive with an NVMe enclosure, and the Orico M.2 NVMe enclosure page has the product details.

Step 8: Boot from the USB with the boot menu key

Shut down your computer and reboot into the BIOS or boot menu. Plug the USB into the PC you are installing on, then restart and tap the boot menu key right as it powers on. The key depends on the brand. Here are some common ones.

You could also check your motherboard's documentation. Keys vary by model. If yours does not work, check the manual of your computer or motherboard.

Tap the key, do not hold it. Tap it repeatedly right after you press the power button, with the USB already plugged in. The boot menu lets you pick the USB drive once, and the BIOS setup key opens the firmware settings, where you can change the boot order.

Acer: on some models the F12 boot menu must first be enabled in the BIOS. Press F2, go to Main, set F12 Boot Menu to Enabled, then save and restart. Lenovo: many models also have a small Novo button that opens a boot menu.

If the key does nothing: fast boot can use up your keystrokes. On a Windows PC, hold Shift and click Restart, then choose Use a device and pick your USB drive. To open the BIOS setup that way, go to Troubleshoot, Advanced options, then UEFI Firmware Settings.

The boot menu keys for Dell, HP, Lenovo, ASUS, Acer, MSI and Gigabyte are the ones said in the video. The BIOS setup keys, the Novo button and the Acer setting come from the manufacturers' support pages and other published lists: Dell, HP, MSI, Acer and the Gigabyte BIOS manual.

In your boot menu, locate your Ventoy drive. In the video, the first device shown is the Ventoy drive. Select it and press Enter.

Step 9: If you get the Secure Boot failure

If you see the error Verification failed: (0x1A) Security Violation, the video calls it the infamous secure boot failure. This is one of the Secure Boot errors, and the fix only takes a minute. Press Enter for OK. When it asks you to press any key to perform MOK management, press Enter.

Go down to Enroll key from disk and press Enter. The selected key will be enrolled into the MOK database. Make sure you select VTOYEFI and press Enter. Then scroll down until you see ENROLL_THIS_KEY_IN_MOKMANAGER.cer and press Enter.

Go down to Continue and press Enter. Choose to enroll the keys, scroll down to Yes and press Enter. Then press Enter again to reboot the PC.

Step 10: Boot the Ventoy drive and start the installer

After the reboot, Ventoy has booted successfully. To install CachyOS, hit Enter on the ISO, boot into normal mode and select the first option.

When the CachyOS desktop loads, click Launch installer. Now you are in the CachyOS installer.

Step 11: Choose your installer options

These are the choices from the video, one screen at a time.

Language, location and keyboard

Select your language: the video chooses American English and clicks Next. Choose your location and click Next. Choose your keyboard and keyboard layout: the video chooses English with the default layout, then clicks Next.

Bootloader

Here you can choose your bootloader. You could choose GRUB, but the video sticks with Limine. Click Next.

Drive and erase disk

This is where you select the drive you want to install CachyOS on. You need to be very careful here. Make sure you have the correct drive selected. The video's list also shows the Ventoy drive, but it wants CachyOS on its 50 GB hard drive, so it selects that one.

The video is not doing a dual boot installation. It is a fresh installation, so everything on the drive is erased and the disk is formatted. Make sure to back up any important files. Click Erase disk. If you want to encrypt your hard drive, select Encrypt system; the video leaves it unchecked. Click Next.

Desktop

Here you can choose your desktop environment. The video selects GNOME, because it gives fewer problems when running local AI. Click Next.

Additional packages

If you need any additional packages, you can select them here. The video leaves the list as it is. Click Next.

Your name and password

Enter your name, your username and your hostname, and then enter your password. Then click Next.

Summary and install

The next page is a summary of your installation details. If everything looks good, click Install. It reminds you that this is going to erase your whole disk, so make sure you have everything backed up, and then click Install now.

Step 12: Restart and set up GNOME

When the installation has finished, you can restart your computer: click Restart now and then click Done.

After the restart, select the first option and log in with your password. Close the welcome screen.

Fix the display

The first thing to do is change the display resolution. Right-click, choose Display settings and go to Resolution. In the video the resolution is changed to 4K, 3840 by 2160, and the scaling to 200%. Then click Apply and keep the changes.

Appearance

Go to Appearance and make sure dark mode is on. The video leaves the colours as they are. Then close the window.

You have now downloaded the CachyOS ISO, made a Ventoy USB, booted it with your boot menu key, installed CachyOS with Limine and GNOME, and finished the first-boot setup. In the next video you will see how to install local AI using Ollama.

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