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A Trisquel Live-CD/DVD/USB allows to try Trisquel without permanently installing it or deleting data on your computer (nevertheless, the data can be read and modified, if desired). Furthermore, the Live-CD/DVD/USB can be used to install Trisquel on your computer (see last section of this manual). But at first, let’s start the Live-System.
Prerequisites
This manual assumes that you already have a Live-CD/DVD/USB with Trisquel at hand. If this is not the case, please refer to the following manuals to create a Live-CD/DVD/USB:
Starting the Live-System
- Insert the Live-CD/DVD in your computer’s CD/DVD drive or plug-in the Live-USB.
- Restart your computers (make sure you really “restart”, not switch into standby or hibernate mode, as Microsoft uses the term “shutdown” to indicate “hibernate” since Windows 8!)
- If you see a Trisquel screen that allows you to select a language, you have made it. Choose the desired language (English should be selected as default) with the arrow keys on your keyboard, press “Enter” and choose the entry “Try Trisquel without installing” from the menu. Again, confirm your selection by pressing “Enter”.
- If you don’t see a Trisquel screen, your normal operating system will boot from the hard drive. In order to start the live-system, you have to restart your computer and enter the BIOS resp. UEFI menu (this is usually accomplished by pressing a special button during startup, often “Escape”, “F2”, “F12”). Specify the boot order with the CD/DVD drive or USB drive on top of the list, above the hard drive (HDD). Some system additionally offer a “choose temporary startup device” menu that can be used to directly select the device to be used for booting. However, these settings are only temporary, whilst modifications in the BIOS resp. UEFI are permanent. Restart your computer and follow the instructions of the previous step.
Make the Live-System your boot priority
Preface
It may seem difficult or risky to change settings the the BIOS or UEFI (its modern equivalent) menu. However, don’t worry, as all tools and settings in those menus can always be reset to default values. Just watch out for the “Restore defaults” option available in most menus. On top of that, changing your BIOS or UEFI configuration does affect neither your operating system nor your personal data. Hence don’t be shy to try (or retry) different configurations in case the Live-system doesn’t start at the first attempt.
Instructions
- Restart your computer again and repeatedly press the key to enter the BIOS or UEFI of your computer. In the best case, there is even a special hotkey that allows you to directly choose the boot media (CD/DVD or USB). (Not all BIOS/UEFI variants provide this feature though.) The key needed to enter the BIOS is usually displayed on the screen for a short(!) time directly on startup. If not, just try the usual suspects like “Delete”, “Escape”, “F2”, “F9”, “F10”, “F11” or “F12”.
- If you can directly select the boot media, select the CD/DVD drive resp. the USB drive, which contains the Live-CD/DVD/USB. If you see a Trisquel screen that allows you to select a language, you have made it. Choose the desired language (English should be selected as default) with the arrow keys on your keyboard, press “Enter” and choose the entry “Try Trisquel without installing” from the menu. Again, confirm your selection by pressing “Enter”. If you don’t see a Trisquel screen, restart your computer and enter the BIOS or UEFI settings to modify the boot order.
- In the BIOS or UEFI settings you make generally use of the arrow keys on your keyboard to navigate through the menus and the “Enter” key to confirm selections. The language of the BIOS or UEFI of your computer should already be set to English as this is the default language.
- Search the menus for the terms “Start” or “Boot”.
- If your computer is relatively new, you will have to disable “UEFI boot” resp. “Secure Boot”. Perhaps you also have to select “Legacy Mode” or “BIOS Mode” (may vary from machine to machine, but has always the same meaning and effect).
- Modify the boot order (or “boot sequence”, “boot priorities”, etc.) in a way that the CD/DVD/USB drive is listed above the hard drive (HDD). This can be done by selecting a device and using the “+”- or “-”-key to move a device up or down in the boot order list. Again, the necessary keys may vary from machine to machine, but they are usually indicated in the menu.
- Save your changes and quit the BIOS (options “Save & Exit” or “Save & Quit” or similar).
- If you see a Trisquel screen that allows you to select a language, you have made it. Choose the desired language (English should be selected as default) with the arrow keys on your keyboard, press “Enter” and choose the entry “Try Trisquel without installing” from the menu. Again, confirm your selection by pressing “Enter”.
- If not, repeat the instructions and try a different BIOS or UEFI configuration. Don’t give up! The BIOS or UEFI configuration can be a little tricky, but eventually you will make it!
Install Trisquel from the Live-System
If you like Trisquel after trying it for while, you can use the Live-CD/DVD/USB to install it on your hard drive. To this end the Live-System comes with a program with a graphical user interface that guides you through the installation process. You can run the installation program by double-clicking the icon “Install Trisquel” that is located on your desktop.
The installation itself is quite straightforward; it just consists of some easy steps:
Choose your language (English, probably), install Trisquel on the complete hard drive or alongside your current operating system (the operating system to boot can be selected on each startup in a menu). Now you can adjust the clock (depending on where you are based), choose an arbitrary user name and a sufficiently strong password (e.g. three or four single words that are not related to each other) and the name of your computer (can be chosen arbitrarily). On top of that it is possible to encrypt the user’s data as an additional security layer, for example in case your computer is stolen. The encryption does not effect normal usage, but it may prolongate the boot process for a couple of seconds. (The user’s /home directory can also be encrypted later on, however, the encryption procedure requires a little more effort in this case as the operating system itself is already in use.)
