# Getting started

> What WolOS is, what you need, and the way from the download to your own desktop, in five steps.

Source: https://wolos.org/manual/getting-started

## What it is

WolOS is an operating system for the PC you already own: the program that starts when you switch the computer on and that every other app runs on, the way Windows or macOS does on other computers. You get a desktop with a menu bar at the top and a Dock at the bottom, a Store for apps, System Settings for everything you can change, and your own files in your home folder. Nothing about it needs a terminal: every everyday task has a window, a button and a picture in this manual.

You can try it before you decide. WolOS runs from a USB stick without touching the computer's disk, so you can see whether your Wi-Fi, screen and sound work, and then install it on its own or next to Windows.

## Why WolOS does it this way

You sat down to write, play, draw or talk to someone, not to look after a computer. So WolOS is built to stay out of the way: it starts quickly, it does not change a setting without asking you, and it keeps a second copy of itself for every update, so a bad update is undone by starting the computer again. The things that take a technical person an afternoon on other systems (codecs for music and video, the tools for games or programming) are one switch in the installer or one click in the Store.

## What you need

| You need | Why |
|---|---|
| A 64-bit PC from roughly the last ten years | WolOS starts through UEFI, which every such PC has. |
| 16 GB of free disk space or more | The installer refuses a smaller disk. More is better: your files go here too. |
| A USB stick of 4 GB or more | WolOS is copied onto it. Everything that was on the stick is erased. |
| About half an hour | Most of it is waiting while the stick is written and WolOS installs. |
| Your Windows recovery key, if you keep Windows with BitLocker | Windows may ask for it once after the install. |

> **Tip:** No spare PC? A virtual machine works too: give it the downloaded file instead of a stick. The [Download](/download#virtualbox) page lists the settings that work.

## How

The way from the download to your own desktop has five steps. Each one links to the page that explains it in full.

1. **Download WolOS.** Open the [Download](/download) page and click the download button. You get one file whose name ends in `.iso` (an ISO), about 2 GB.
   The Download page also shows the file's checksum. Comparing it is optional; it proves the file arrived complete. On Windows, open PowerShell in your Downloads folder and run the one command of this page, then compare the long code it prints with the one on the Download page:

   ```
   Get-FileHash wolos-*.iso
   ```

2. **Write the stick.** Use an image writer: balenaEtcher (Windows, macOS, Linux) or Rufus (Windows; choose *DD Image mode* when it asks). Choose the `.iso` file, choose the stick, and start. When the writer says it is done, the stick is ready.

   > **Careful:** The writer erases the whole stick. Copy anything you want to keep off it first, and check twice that you picked the stick and not another drive.

3. **Start the computer from the stick.** Plug the stick in, switch the computer on and, right away, press the key that opens the boot menu: often F12, F11, F8 or Esc (the computer usually shows which for a second). Pick the entry with the stick's name; on some computers it starts with *UEFI*.
   You see the WolOS welcome page with two buttons. **Try WolOS** (1) runs the whole desktop from the stick and changes nothing on the computer. **Install WolOS** (2) starts the installer.

   ![The WolOS welcome page on the stick: the White Rabbit, the sentence that trying changes nothing and that nothing changes until you click Install on the last page; 1 marks Try WolOS and 2 marks Install WolOS.](/img/manual/installer-begin-1280-annotated.png)

   If the computer has Secure Boot switched on, it may show a blue screen before the welcome page. That screen comes from the computer, not from WolOS, and appears once; [Secure Boot](/manual/secure-boot) walks you through it.

4. **Install.** Click **Install WolOS** and answer the installer's questions: language, time zone, which disk, whether to keep Windows, a password for the disk, your account. Every page says in plain words what will happen, and nothing on the disk changes until you click **Install** on the last page, a summary of every change. [Installing WolOS](/manual/install) shows every page, and [Installing next to Windows](/manual/dual-boot) has the extra steps for keeping Windows.

5. **Start WolOS.** When the installer says *WolOS Is Installed*, click **Restart** and take the stick out when the screen goes dark. The computer starts WolOS and shows the login window with your account. [Your first day](/manual/first-day) continues from there.

## A worked example

Alice has a three-year-old laptop with Windows on it and wants to try WolOS without losing Windows.

She downloads the ISO on the laptop, writes it to a 16 GB stick with balenaEtcher and restarts with the stick in, pressing F12 until the boot menu appears. She picks the stick and clicks **Try WolOS**. In Control Center she joins her Wi-Fi, plays a video in the browser to hear the speakers, and closes the lid to check that the laptop sleeps and wakes. All of it works, so she restarts, clicks **Install WolOS**, chooses **Install Alongside Windows** and gives WolOS half of the disk. Twenty minutes later the laptop shows a short list at every start: WolOS or Windows.

## If something goes wrong

| What you see | What it means and what to do |
|---|---|
| The computer starts Windows as if the stick were not there | The boot menu key was pressed too late, or the stick is not in the list. Restart and press the key several times as soon as the screen lights up. If the stick is not listed, write it again; some writers need their DD or "image" mode. |
| The boot menu lists the stick twice | Pick the entry that starts with *UEFI*. |
| A blue screen says "Verification failed" | That is the computer's Secure Boot check. Press Enter and follow [Secure Boot](/manual/secure-boot), or switch Secure Boot off in the computer's settings for the first start. |
| The welcome page never appears and the screen stays black | Wait a minute: the first start from a slow stick takes longer. If it stays black, try another USB port, preferably one directly on the computer. |
| The installer finds no disk | Click **Look Again** after connecting the disk. [Installing WolOS](/manual/install) explains what the installer never offers. |
| The virtual machine shows a black screen after the install | Check its display settings against the [Download](/download#virtualbox) page. |
| Anything else after the install | [Recovery](/manual/recovery) lists every way back, from undoing a setting to starting the previous version of WolOS. |