Getting Started: Install Linux in a VM, WSL, the Cloud or on Hardware

You learn Linux by using it, so the first step is a system where you can type commands, install software and break things without consequences. You do not have to replace your current operating system. A virtual machine or WSL gives you a full Linux environment in a few minutes, and a cloud server gives you the same kind of machine you will manage at work.

This part compares the options, walks through each one, and ends with the first things to do on a fresh install.

Prerequisites

• A computer with at least 8 GB of RAM and 30 GB of free disk space for a virtual machine, or any computer with an SSH client for a cloud server.
• Administrator rights on that computer to install virtualization software or WSL.
• For a cloud server: an account with a cloud provider and a payment method.

Choose a Distribution and Version

For this guide, install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (the examples use it) or Ubuntu 26.04 LTS, the newest long-term release. LTS releases get security updates for five years, or ten with Ubuntu Pro, which is free for personal use on a few machines. Debian 13 and Fedora 44 work too; the guide points out where commands differ.

• Ubuntu Server has no desktop and is what you run in the cloud. It is the better choice for learning server work.
• Ubuntu Desktop includes the GNOME desktop, a browser and a graphical terminal. It suits a laptop or a VM you use every day.

Download images only from the distribution's own site (ubuntu.com, debian.org, fedoraproject.org). On a Mac with Apple Silicon, or any ARM computer, download the ARM64 (also called aarch64) image; the usual amd64 images do not run there.

Your Options

Option	Setup time	Cost	Risk to your computer	Best for
Virtual machine	15 to 30 minutes	Free	None	Learning, experiments, snapshots before risky changes
WSL on Windows	5 minutes	Free	None	Developers on Windows who want a Linux shell and tools
Cloud server	2 minutes	A few dollars a month, often free credits	None	Practising real server administration over SSH
Live USB	15 minutes	A USB stick	None (nothing is installed)	Testing hardware compatibility before installing
Dual boot or full install	1 hour	Free	Possible data loss if partitioning goes wrong	Using Linux as your main system

You can also run docker run -it --rm ubuntu:24.04 bash to get an Ubuntu shell in seconds, but a container has no systemd, no kernel of its own and a minimal set of packages. It is fine for trying commands, not for learning to run a system.

Option 1: A Virtual Machine

A virtual machine (VM) runs a complete Linux system inside your current one. Give it 2 CPUs, 4 GB of RAM for a desktop (2 GB is enough for a server) and a 25 GB disk.

The fastest route on any operating system is Multipass, Canonical's tool that creates Ubuntu VMs from the command line. Install it from canonical.com/multipass (on Linux: sudo snap install multipass), then:

multipass launch 24.04 --name lab --cpus 2 --memory 2G --disk 20G
multipass list               # show VMs and their IP addresses
multipass shell lab          # open a shell inside the VM; type exit to come back

When you no longer need the VM, run these on your own machine, not inside the VM:

multipass stop lab
multipass delete --purge lab # remove it completely

If you prefer a graphical installer or another distribution, use the virtualization software for your system:

During a graphical installation, accept the defaults unless you have a reason not to: erase the virtual disk (it is only a file on your computer), create a user, and on Ubuntu Server tick Install OpenSSH server so you can connect from your own terminal later.

Take a snapshot of the VM after the installation. When an experiment goes wrong, you roll back in seconds instead of reinstalling.

Option 2: WSL on Windows

The Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL 2) runs a real Linux kernel in a lightweight VM that Windows manages for you. It works on Windows 11 and on Windows 10 version 2004 and later. Open PowerShell as Administrator:

wsl --install                     # installs WSL and Ubuntu; restart if asked
wsl --list --online               # distributions you can install
wsl --install -d Ubuntu-24.04     # a specific distribution
wsl --list --verbose              # installed distributions and their WSL version
wsl --update                      # update the WSL kernel and tools
wsl --shutdown                    # stop all distributions

After the restart, Ubuntu opens and asks you to create a Linux username and password. They are separate from your Windows account; the password is what sudo asks for.

Things to know about WSL:

• systemd is enabled in current Ubuntu images, so systemctl works. If an older distribution does not have it, add [boot] and systemd=true to /etc/wsl.conf and run wsl --shutdown.
• Files: your Windows drives appear under /mnt/c, /mnt/d and so on, and Windows can open the Linux files at \\wsl$\Ubuntu-24.04\home\<you>. Keep your projects in the Linux home directory: file access across the boundary is much slower.
• Networking is mostly automatic. Services you start in WSL are reachable from Windows at localhost.
• WSL is great for development tools. To practise server administration (boot, disks, firewalls), a VM or a cloud server is closer to the real thing.

Option 3: A Cloud Server

A small cloud VM costs a few dollars a month, often less while you have trial credits, and behaves exactly like the servers you will manage at work. Every provider follows the same steps:

1. Create an account. For DigitalOcean, you can use this DigitalOcean referral link: new accounts that sign up through it get DigitalOcean's standard sign-up credit (the page lists the current amount), and you add a payment method before you create a Droplet. AWS, Google Cloud, Azure, Hetzner and others have their own free tiers or credits.
2. Create a server (DigitalOcean calls it a Droplet, AWS an EC2 instance) with Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and the smallest size.
3. Pick a region close to you.
4. Add your SSH public key instead of a password. If you do not have one yet, run ssh-keygen -t ed25519 on your computer and paste the contents of ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub (Part 6 explains keys).
5. Create the server and copy its public IP address.

Connect from your terminal (macOS, Linux, or Windows PowerShell, which includes an SSH client):

ssh root@203.0.113.10        # DigitalOcean and many others log you in as root
ssh ubuntu@203.0.113.10      # AWS and some others use a default user called ubuntu

The first time, SSH asks you to confirm the server's host key fingerprint; type yes. Then follow the new server checklist in Part 10: create your own user, turn off root and password logins, enable the firewall.

Option 4: Live USB, Dual Boot or a Full Install

To run Linux directly on a computer, write the installation image to a USB stick:

1. Download the ISO and its SHA256SUMS file, and check the download. For example (example output):

   sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS --ignore-missing
   

   ubuntu-24.04.5-desktop-amd64.iso: OK
   

2. Write the image to a USB stick of 8 GB or more with balenaEtcher (Windows, macOS, Linux), Rufus (Windows) or Fedora Media Writer. On Linux, sudo dd if=ubuntu.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync works too; check the device name with lsblk first, because dd overwrites whatever you point it at.

3. Restart the computer and open its boot menu (usually F12, F10, F2 or Esc at power-on) to boot from the USB stick.

4. Choose Try Ubuntu to run a live session without installing anything, which is a good way to check that Wi-Fi, graphics and sound work.

For a dual boot next to Windows, prepare first:

• Back up your data.
• If the Windows drive uses BitLocker or device encryption, write down the recovery key before you change anything.
• Turn off Fast Startup in Windows' power settings, so Windows does not keep the disk locked.
• Leave Secure Boot on: Ubuntu, Fedora and Debian boot with it. Only some third-party drivers, such as NVIDIA's, need an extra step: the installer asks you to set a password and confirm it at the next boot (MOK enrollment).

Then start the installer, choose Install Ubuntu alongside Windows (or shrink the Windows partition by hand), and finish the installation. At every boot, the GRUB menu lets you pick the system.

Desktop Environments

On a desktop installation, the desktop environment decides how windows, menus and settings look. Ubuntu and Fedora Workstation use GNOME; Kubuntu and Fedora KDE use KDE Plasma; Linux Mint uses Cinnamon; Xfce is a light option for older hardware; Pop!_OS uses COSMIC. The command line works the same on all of them. Open a terminal with Ctrl+Alt+T on Ubuntu, or search for "Terminal".

First Steps After Installing

Whichever option you chose, open a terminal and do these once:

# 1. Install all updates (Part 5 explains apt and dnf)
sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade        # Fedora/RHEL: sudo dnf upgrade
sudo reboot                                     # if a kernel update was installed

# 2. Check what you are running
cat /etc/os-release
uname -r

# 3. Install tools this guide uses
sudo apt install curl git htop tree jq python3-venv     # Fedora: sudo dnf install curl git htop tree jq

# 4. Set the time zone (servers usually stay on UTC)
timedatectl
sudo timedatectl set-timezone Europe/Berlin     # pick yours from: timedatectl list-timezones

On Ubuntu, security updates install automatically (unattended-upgrades); Part 10 shows how to check and configure that. On a server, continue with SSH keys and the firewall before anything else.

Troubleshooting

The VM does not start or is very slow. Hardware virtualization is probably off. Enable Intel VT-x or AMD-V (sometimes called SVM Mode) in the firmware settings. On Windows, VirtualBox and VMware can run next to Hyper-V, but older versions could not; update them.

WSL reports error 0x80370102. Virtualization is disabled in the firmware, or the Virtual Machine Platform feature is off. Enable both and restart.

The USB stick does not show up in the boot menu. Re-create it with another tool, try another USB port, and check whether the firmware is set to boot UEFI devices.

Wi-Fi or graphics do not work after installing. Connect with a cable if you can, then open Software & Updates, Additional Drivers, or run sudo ubuntu-drivers install, which installs the recommended proprietary drivers (for NVIDIA graphics, for example). As a temporary workaround for a black screen, add nomodeset to the kernel line in the GRUB menu.

The clock is wrong after booting Windows. Linux stores UTC in the hardware clock and Windows stores local time. Run timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 on Linux, or better, set Windows to use UTC.

Common Mistakes

• Downloading an amd64 image for an ARM computer, or the other way round.
• Installing without a backup when you resize or overwrite partitions.
• Leaving password logins on for a cloud server.
• Forgetting a cloud server that keeps running and costing money.
• Doing everything as root. Create a normal user and use sudo (Part 6).

Summary

• Practise on a VM (Multipass is the fastest), WSL on Windows, or a small cloud server; none of them risks your current system.
• Use an LTS release such as Ubuntu 24.04 or 26.04, and the ARM64 image on ARM hardware.
• For a real installation: verify the ISO, back up, keep the BitLocker recovery key, and leave Secure Boot on.
• After installing: update, reboot if needed, install basic tools, and secure servers before anything else.

Next: The Linux Command Line Interface, where you start using the terminal.

Keep Learning

• Exercise: Creating and connecting to your first Linux server
• Linux Terminal simulator, if you want to try commands before you install anything
• Introduction to Docker, once you have a Linux system to run it on