How to Install Fedora Linux

Users can Easily Put Linux Software on Their Home Computers

Oct 30, 2009

The process of installing Fedora Linux is very simple. It takes less than 30 minutes to install and boot a fully functional Linux server.

Fedora is the free community version of Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL). Fedora is known for quickly integrating highly innovative enterprise features such as Xen and SELinux. This Linux distribution is intended for those who want bleeding edge enterprise applications before they end up in RHEL. Most who want to use Fedora are those who want a Linux server on the Internet serving web, blogging software, message boards, or other LAMP (Linux Apache MySQL PHP) server applications.

Those who need the a free, 100% compatible version of RHEL in a production environment should consider installing CentOS instead. CentOS stands for Community Enterprise Operating System. The typical user of CentOS are those who want to run a stable derivative of RHEL without the latest features that may not have been fully tested and debugged yet.

Which Fedora to Download?

The first thing to do is to download a copy from the Fedora project website. Most people who have Windows compatible computers should download the x86 version. The big exception to that rule applies to those who have non-Intel based Apple Macintosh computers.

The harder decision is to decide whether to run it as live media or install to the hard drive. With live media, Fedora loads into memory without touching the hard drive. It's also a stripped down version of the OS with fewer applications. Live media allows the user to play with Fedora without committing hard drive space to the operating system.

Boot Fedora CD or DVD

After burning the CD or DVD, put it in the computer where Fedora will be installed. Go into the BIOS Setup as the system powers up (usually by pressing F2 or F8 when requested). In the BIOS setup, make sure the DVD/CDROM is first for boot priority. Then save the settings and exit.

Fedora Server Install Settings

The remainder of this article focuses on installing Fedora to a hard drive with the install media option.

The default settings for the installation will work fine for most. If it's possible for the computer to be connected to the network and Internet before installation, do so because Fedora can then fetch the correct time for the system's clock from the Internet

If the system will be dual booting, it may be easier to use the existing boot loader that came with the original operating system than configuring everything to work with GRUB, Fedora's bootloader. In a dual boot situation, be very careful about selecting disk partitions so that an existing partition does not get deleted.

If the system dual boots with Microsoft Windows, do not select the option to set the system clock to UTC. Windows defaults to the local time zone rather than the UTC, so it will change the system time which causes some programs in Fedora to not run properly.

It takes less than 20 minutes for the computer to install Fedora software from the DVD on a modern computer. Once it's all done, log into the system and begin using the fully functional Fedora installation.

The copyright of the article How to Install Fedora Linux in PC Software/OS is owned by John Wu. Permission to republish How to Install Fedora Linux in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.