Installation

Installation

RetroLinux installs from the live ISO. Boot it, and the installer runs automatically — no manual partition tables, no hand-edited configs, no archinstall knowledge required. You answer a series of guided questions, review your choices, and the installer builds the whole system for you.

This guide splits the installer into topic pages — one for each group of related questions — so each one can go deep without overwhelming you. It is written for complete beginners: if you have never installed Arch Linux (or any Linux) before, you are in the right place.

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📷 Screenshot

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The three stages

Installing RetroLinux is split into three stages. Understanding this up front makes everything below easier to follow.

Stage	When it runs	What it does
1 · Live ISO setup	While booted into the USB	retroinstall walks through 25 steps (some asking several questions), then runs archinstall to build the base system
2 · Chroot post-install	Right after archinstall finishes	Runs inside the freshly-installed system: repo deploy, packages, network, AUR helper
3 · First boot	Your very first login	Applies modules, drivers, wallpaper, theme, GRUB, Timeshift and reboots

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The installer steps, by topic

Page	Installer steps
Installation Basics	Install type · release branch · ricing mode
User Accounts	User account · root password · hostname
Localization	Keyboard layout · language · timezone
Display	Aspect ratio · resolution
Storage & Encryption	Disk selection · LUKS encryption
Kernel & Bootloader	Kernel · GRUB theme, resolution, OS prober, snapshots, timeout
Mirror Regions	Mirror regions · custom mirror
Services	Bluetooth · fingerprint · printing · SSH
Software Choices	AUR helper · editor · file manager · browser
Network Setup	Network type · WiFi · Ethernet
Config & After	Writing the config · review · archinstall · chroot · first boot

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Requirements

Before you start, make sure you have:

• The RetroLinux ISO (download from the Releases page)
• A USB drive (4 GB or larger) to flash it to
• A computer with a 64-bit x86_64 CPU and an NVIDIA, AMD, or Intel GPU
• Internet access (Ethernet recommended, Wi-Fi is supported)
• A backup of anything important on the target disk — the installer erases it

Warning

The installer wipes the disk you select and sets up BTRFS with encryption. There is no undo. Back everything up before you begin.

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Booting the ISO

Flash the ISO to your USB drive, then boot from it. Any of these work:

• dd — dd if=retrolinux.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync (make sure /dev/sdX is your USB drive!)
• balenaEtcher — the graphical, cross-platform writer
• Rufus — the classic Windows writer
• Ventoy — drop the ISO onto a Ventoy stick and boot it; RetroLinux supports Ventoy, so you can keep multiple ISOs on one drive and pick this one from the Ventoy menu

retroinstall starts automatically when you boot. If you ever exit it (for example with Ctrl+C), just run retroinstall again — your answers so far are saved, and it resumes exactly where you left off.

You can also run it in debug mode, which pauses after every step and shows you what is happening behind the scenes:

retroinstall --debug

Or preview the generated install configs without installing anything:

retroinstall dry

State is saved to /tmp/retroinstall_state after every step, so the installer is resilient to interruptions.

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Troubleshooting

• The installer stopped with an error — a QR code appears for reporting; the last log lines are shown. You can retry from the error screen.
• You interrupted the installer — just run retroinstall again; your answers are saved in /tmp/retroinstall_state.
• First boot looks stuck — the post-install can take a few minutes; the log is written to /var/log/retrolinux-setup.log (or ~/.retrolinux-setup.log).
• You want to start the install from scratch — remove the saved state: rm /tmp/retroinstall_state.

For more background on the underlying technology, the Arch Wiki installation guide, BTRFS, and GRUB pages are excellent references.