Installing Fedora 13

Bill Giannikos (Home Page)

In this guide we will be providing a easy set of instructions for installing Fedora 13 on your computer. This guide already assumes you have prepared your computer for Linux or alternatively have followed the guides for VMware or VirtualBox if you plan to run Fedora as a virtual machine.

After booting off the Fedora 13 DVD (which is covered in the guides mentioned in the introduction) you will be presented with the above screen. For most people you can just wait for the countdown to complete to continue.

After a little bit of loading you will be presented with the above screen, just click on the Log In button to continue.

After loading of the Fedora Live CD has completed you will be presented with the Fedora desktop. Double click on the Install to Hard Drive icon to launch the installation wizard.

On the initial installation wizard screen just click Next.

Here you can select your keyboard type. Select the type of keyboard you have and click Next.

This screen indicated to Fedora what sort of storage device you are using. For nearly everybody this would be Basic Storage Device.

This screen presents a list of storage devices that Fedora has found on your system. Select the drive you would like to install Fedora on and click Next.

Depending on the currently setup of your hard drive(s) you may see this message. Select Re-initialize all to initialize your hard drive(s).

You can now select the name of your computer. Enter what you like here and then click Next.

On this screen you can select the timezone appropriate to you.

You will also have an option labeled System clock uses UTC. This indicates whether the system clock in your computer is set to UTC time or local time. Typically if you are only going to run Fedora on this system then select this option. If you are going to be running Windows then de-select this option.

After you have selected the options appropriate to you click Next.

In this section you are able to enter the root password. This password is the administrator's password for the whole system. After entering your password twice (for verification purposes) click Next.

In this section we specify how we would like to configure the hard drive(s). The first item selects the partitioning setup which are as follows:

• Use All Space - This clears everything off the hard drive and creates a default layout for Fedora using all the space available on the drive.
• Replace Existing Linux System(s) - This clears any current Linux partition off your hard drive and creates a default layout for Fedora in the free space made available. This leaves any non-Linux partition untouched.
• Shrink Current System - This allows you to resize any partition you currently have on your hard drive and then creates the default Fedora layout in the available free space. This option is useful when you have a Windows partition using all the available hard drive space as it allows you to shrink the Windows partition to make room for Fedora.
• Use Free Space - This does not modify any partitions on your hard drive and just creates a default layout on the free space available.
• Create Custom Layout - This option is for advanced users. It allows you to create a custom layout for your Fedora installation.

The second option is if you would like to encrypt your system. The purpose of this option is to encrypt all the data on your hard drive to ensure that if your system is stolen the data on your computer can not be used. How this works is that Fedora will ask you for a password each time you start it, if the person using the system does not know the password then the system will be unable to read the information on your drive.

The Review and modify partitioning layout is for advanced users to modify the default Fedora layout.

After you have picked the options appropriate for your setup click Next.

After clicking Next you will get this confirmation box. Click on Write changes to disk to proceed with the partitioning.

Now the installation process begins, this will take about 15 minutes. When the installation process is complete click on the Close button to end the installation wizard. You can now restart the computer to boot into your new Fedora installation.

When booting into Fedora 13 for the first time you are presented with this setup agent. To begin press Forward.

This screen present you with the licensing agreement for Fedora. If you understand and agree with this license then click Forward.

Now we are presented with the Create User screen. Here type in the username you would like to use, your name and the password you would like to use. When this is done click Forward.

In this screen you are able to set the date and time. You may also like to select the Synchronize data and time over the network which will get the current date and time from servers from the Internet. After you have correctly set the current date and time click Forward.

In the Hardware Profile screen you are able to submit your hardware configuration to the Fedora team. What this does is allow Fedora to better gauge which hardware to more focus on and so this option is recommended. To send your profile click on the Send Profile option and then click Finish.

The Setup Agent is now complete and you are now able to log into your system.

Installation is almost complete but there is one very important step before being able to use Fedora and that is to install all the required security updates.

First, make sure you have a working Internet connection on your computer. Then log into your computer with the username and password you selected. Now follow these steps:

Launch the Software Update program by going to System → Administration → Software Update.

Fedora has updated its package management system so you will first need to update those packages before updating the rest of the system. The Software Update program handles this for you but requires it to be run twice. When the updates list is presented click on Install Updates.

You will now get this confirmation prompt indicting that additional packages need to be installed. Click on Continue to confirm.

After the update is complete you will see this windows, click on the OK button and the Software Update program will close. You now need to restart the update program by again going to System → Administration → Software Update.

Again when the updates list is presented (this time with a lot more packages listed) click on Install Updates.

You will again get this confirmation prompt indicting that additional packages need to be installed. Click on Continue to confirm.

Finally when the updates are complete you will see this windows. Since we need to restart the computer at this stage I would suggest clicking on Close here and then restarting the computer.

Your Fedora 13 system is now fully installed and up to date. For further guides in configuring certain parts of Fedora please view our Fedora Guides section.