Los computers without an operating system (No-OS) They are becoming more and more common. Many people don't want to be charged for the Windows operating system license and have it added to the final price of the laptop or desktop they're purchasing. The reasons can vary, from not using Windows and wanting to install a different operating system to already having a license for a version of Windows that they want to install from scratch without paying for another one.
Other teams are also coming equipped with the free FreeDOS operating system, a very basic system that allows you to perform some simple actions using commands. In these cases, installing a new operating system can be somewhat more complicated than when the hard drive comes without an operating system. Therefore, the objective of this guide will be to show you step by step how to install any operating system from a computer running FreeDOS.
What I need?
You don't need much, the only thing you should have to start the installation is:
- Un computer non-OS laptop or desktop or with the FreeDOS system.
- Un bootable installation media:
- If your computer has an optical drive, then you can do this on a bootable DVD.
- If your computer doesn't have an optical drive, you'll need to boot from a bootable USB flash drive. This can be a USB flash drive of at least 8 GB formatted in FAT.
- And a little bit of tiempo...
Remember that in the case of Windows, you'll also need a valid serial number if you purchased the license legally and it's not a pirated copy. Another option is to obtain the serial number from another Windows system you have on another computer that you're no longer using for your new copy of Windows... (as long as the version and edition are valid for the new copy you're trying to install).
How to create bootable media?
Well, in order not to explain the procedures to create a bootable media for all existing operating systems, I will explain the two most common cases: Windows and LinuxIf you opt for another operating system like FreeBSD, Solaris, etc., it would be similar to the Linux example. I'll do this to create a bootable USB flash drive, as this works for both computers with and without an optical drive.
The procedure for creating bootable optical media is similar, using a program to copy the ISO image of the operating system and burn it to a disc, such as WinISO, Free ISO Burner, Nero Burning ROM, Brasero, K3b, from the command line, etc. You can also purchase the media, as they sell USBs and DVDs for different operating systems.
You have several optionsOne way is to do it from Linux, macOS, or Windows, as I explain in the next two sections, but the other way is to do it from FreeDOS itself if you don't have any other computer at your disposal...
How to create bootable Ubuntu media
To create a bootable pendrive with a Linux distribution, you can follow these steps:
- The first that you need is a program to create media bootable, so you must download and install it if you don't have it already:
- If you're using Ubuntu, you can use Startup Disk Creator. Just search for its name in the launcher's search bar, and the icon to launch it will appear.
- If you are on any Linux or Windows or macOS distro, you can use UNetbootin. Rufus It could also be another option if you're on Windows. But the most generic option is Unetbootin, as it works on multiple platforms.
- Open the Unetbootin application Once you've downloaded it, you must run it.
- Choose the ISO image that you want to load (you must have previously downloaded the ISO image of the operating system you need). For example, if you want to install Ubuntu, you can download it from here.
- Now select the pendrive or USB drive where you want to extract the contents of the ISO and make it bootable as installation media.
- Press the Create button for it to begin creating. Wait for the process to finish, and it'll be ready.
How to create bootable Windows 10 media
To get a Windows installation media, follow these steps:
- Lo First is to get the Windows image.
- In case of doing so from another Windows system, and want to install Windows 10, you can use the tool that generates the bootable DVD or USB from Microsoft itself, and it will also download the official ISO. I've shown you the main screenshots with the steps in the gallery above, to make it more visual, but it's not a big deal; just follow the steps...
- If you do it from a Linux distro, you can also get the Windows ISO and then install the app WoeUSB and follow similar steps to those used in Linux to generate the media, i.e., select the ISO, select the connected USB media and create…
Now you already have the installation media you need. Your flash drive or DVD is created and ready to install the new operating system.
Preparing the machine for installation
Now you must prepare your computer to install the operating systemThis basically involves entering UEFI Setup and selecting the optical drive or USB drive as the boot medium, depending on the type of installation media you chose in the previous steps. This is a very important step to boot the installation menu, and one that many beginners forget…
If you have a laptop, remember to always keep it connected to the power supply. This will prevent it from shutting down in the middle of the installation process if it doesn't have enough battery power, causing the process to fail.
With FreeDOS
In case you have a computer with FreeDOS, insert the bootable media that you created in the previous steps on your computer. Once connected, you can boot the computer:
- When you start it, it will come out a message and a menu with optionsFor example, to enter the BIOS/UEFI setup, for boot options or Boot Manager, self-diagnosis, starting FreeDOS, etc.
- You must select the key corresponding to the Boot Manager.
- Then another menu will appear with the boot options. You must select your unit USB or DVD if you created an optical drive. Just use the arrow keys on your keyboard to select the option.
- Balance ENTER to enter the selected option.
- From now on will start the installation media and you must follow the steps in the Installing the operating system section.
With no-OS (without operating system)
Si it has no operating system whatsoever, you can do the following:
- Insert the medium of installation chosen on the computer.
- Start the computer.
- Press the keyss F11 or F10 or F12 (depending on the manufacturer, the key you should press may change, you can consult your computer's manual or your motherboard's manual).
- You will now have entered the Boot Manager to be able to choose the installation media from which to boot, as in the previous section.
- From now on will start the installation media and you must follow the steps in the next section.
Install the operating system
Here is the procedure It may vary depending on whether you chose to install Windows or Linux.In order not to make the article too long, I will describe the two most used systems: Windows 10 and Ubuntu.
To install Ubuntu
Note: If you're planning to install multiple operating systems, and one of them is Windows, I recommend installing Windows first on your hard drive. This way, you'll avoid having its boot loader overwrite GRUB or other operating system boot loaders, which will require you to repair it. Priority is important here…
The installation menu of the distributions such as Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, RHEL, CentOS, Debian, etc.., and even other distros that use Calamares as an installer are very similar to the procedure described in this section. So, it'll help you navigate almost any distro you want to install (except for Arch Linux, Gentoo, or Slackware, where it's a bit more advanced). If you want to install FreeBSD or similar distros, you'll see that the procedure also has many points in common...
In order not to make it heavy, I leave here a guide with the screenshots ordered to follow the steps simple:
To install Windows 10
You can follow the steps explained in this other one guide we published to describe the installation of Microsoft Windows 10 From the very beginning, there's just one IMPORTANT consideration: in the partition management step, you should delete any FreeDOS partitions created by the manufacturer. If it's a non-OS, it will be empty, and you can leave the default options shown in the Microsoft configurator.
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