Create Pop!_OS Installation Media

Pop!_OS can be run from a USB drive in a live environment. You can use the live USB to install Pop!_OS permanently on a system, demo Pop!_OS without installing, or use the drive as a system recovery tool.

Preparation

Creating a bootable Pop!_OS USB drive requires three components:

  • A USB flash drive. The flash drive must have at least 8 GB of free space. All data on the flash drive will be lost during the creation process.

  • The Pop!_OS.iso image: Download Pop!_OS at this link.

  • A program to write the Pop!_OS.iso image to the flash drive. Reference the table below for popular image flashing software.

ProgramOS Compatibility
balenaEtcherWindows, macOS, Linux
PopsicleLinux
RufusWindows

Choose a Pop!_OS Image

Pop!_OS offers its ISO image in 3 varieties:

  • Intel/AMD - An ISO that does not include propriety NVIDIA drivers.

Note: If you accidentally install the non-NVIDIA version on a PC with a discrete NVIDIA GPU, run sudo apt install system76-driver-nvidia in a Terminal session to obtain the missing drivers.

  • NVIDIA - An ISO containing proprietary NVIDIA drivers for systems with discrete NVIDIA GPUs.

  • RAS PI 4 - An ISO image compatible with the ARM64 processor in a Raspberry Pi 4.

Create the Installation Media

This process will vary depending on the host operating system. Refer to the appropriate page for your current operating system.