this post was submitted on 10 Jun 2026
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I am working on windows 10 currently. I was wondering if MX Linux could be installed directly from online. Thanks for taking the time to reply.

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[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 1 points 5 hours ago

:3

1st step:

Install gentoo (stage3).

2nd step:

Hijack with bedrock.

3rd step:

Fetch any debian or devuan.

4th step:

Change repos & add things

Ta-da!

;D

Now your MX Linux, installed "directly" online, also has gentoo and bedrocklinux capabilities too. ;)

More "sane"(?) methods may exist, but just for breadth-of-possibilities and whimsy, I offered this alternative route. ;)

[–] brawndo@piefed.social 11 points 1 day ago

Yes you can. However, if you are not familiar with systems administration then you will experience much more difficulty than just using the USB method.

Whatever you do, backup all of your important files and data from Windows before you attempt anything. To be extra safe create a Windows recovery USB.

After you have backed up important things then just read as much as you can regarding your OS of choice, like MX, and then try it. Having a second source of internet for any problems that may arise is recommended, like a smartphone.

And then try it. My first foray into Linux dealt me about a week of struggles before I got ot working. That was 20 years ago and thing have gotten better since then.

You will struggle at first. You may even fail a few times, but the feeling of accomplishment and the freedom of having an OS that allows you to do what you want and not what a corporation deems profitable is priceless. You will enjoy that feeling.

[–] MartianSands@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Strictly speaking yes, but only if you have more than one hard drive. You'd need some technical expertise, because it's not a normal thing to do.

In reality, you would be better off buying the cheapest USB storage you can find (which should be cheaper than the cost to post it to you, these days) and turning that into an installer

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

You don't even need another hard drive. I followed a different set of instructions years ago just to say I did it.

https://linuxvox.com/blog/reinstall-ubuntu-from-terminal/

[–] TheViking@nord.pub 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This method is simply lovely 😍😍

[–] passenger@sopuli.xyz 2 points 23 hours ago

Just back up first whatever you do...

[–] Lehmuusa@nord.pub 6 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What is the reason you want to do it specifically this way?

I think if you want a very easy solution, then this might actually be the answer you are looking for:

Get an USB stick. Then download the program called Unetbootin . Open the program. It has a list of all Linux distributions out there. I'd say choose Linux Mint. I'm using OpenSuSE Tumbleweed, and am very happy with it as well.

Then in the bottom of the Unetbootin screen, choose your USB stick and press the install button. After that reboot your computer from that USB stick and things will be rolling just fine! :)

You'll be creating the USB stick with almost zero effort. It works and it's easy.

[–] TheViking@nord.pub 1 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

If i download a windows version of unetbootin, i can use it on my current windows 10 laptop ?

[–] Lehmuusa@nord.pub 1 points 6 hours ago
[–] TheViking@nord.pub 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Are you talking about a pendrive ?

[–] Lehmuusa@nord.pub 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I guess that's the word, yes.

A thingy you plug into an USB port for saving files on it.

[–] TheViking@nord.pub 1 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

A pendrive is a pretty expensive item. Nevertheless, it's probably the best method to install Linux.

[–] Lehmuusa@nord.pub 1 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

New ones are something like 64 GB and do indeed cost some 8 € or so, but since you only need some 4 GB, you can find a used one for 0,50 € or so :)

[–] TheViking@nord.pub 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It's said that €5 isn't a lot of money, but a standard pendrive wouldn't come less than ₹700-800, and that's a lot of money.

[–] Lehmuusa@nord.pub 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

That's what I guessed and decided to talk about the 8 € as big money. Because when I was living in Ukraine, where some people had a monthly salary of 70 €, it was indeed big money.

But anyway, you can get a used pendrive for 40 INR for sure. No need to pay 700 for a new one with 64 GB, if a used one with 4 GB suffices for your needs :)

[–] TheViking@nord.pub 1 points 6 hours ago

Any pendrive doesn't come less than INR600-700. Anyways, i found out one having 29.2 GB of free space.

[–] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

PXE / Net boot / install is a thing but that's not really meant for Linux noobs. Often times it's something IT departments do to install the same OS image on multiple systems on the same network (not just Linux, Windows and others can do this too). I've never attempted to do that over the internet so can't say much else about that process.

Being this is linux4noobs I suspect you're just talking about one system being installed, a regular USB install would be far more feasible in your use case. You're kind of going straight into hard mode attempting more advanced types of installs.

[–] MehBlah@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago
[–] nykula@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Do you want to run specific apps, or see what the desktop UI looks like?

[–] TheViking@nord.pub 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I want MX Linux as the heart of all my work.

[–] Digit@lemmy.wtf 1 points 4 hours ago

I'd just download an iso, carefully dd it to a small USB pendrive, boot into it, run the installer, installing to the main drive (or another larger usb). I wonder... many ways one could accomplish this with help of a virtual machine intermediary stage.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 1 day ago

Its not something I would want to do because if something goes wrong I want the physical media to boot off of regardless of its a cd or usb device.

Back on the day, I was able to coerce the Windows bootloader into chainloading GRUB, which then launched a netboot kernel and initrd for Ubuntu that contained the CLI installer. I don't know if that's still possible, but I only needed one hard drive for it and it worked great until the laptop sadly melted itself to death several years later (it had a desktop P4 in a 14-inch laptop chassis, so I was surprised it took that long to die).