Guide

Getting started

ShedOS ships as a single bootable ISO. Flash it to a USB stick, run the installer, and reboot into a configured Hyprland desktop with your toolchain already installed.

Make the install USB

Already have the ISO — say, from the Download page? Skip step 1 and start at step 2.
you@shedos — ~/Downloads
# 1 · Download the latest ShedOS stable ISO
╭─ ~/Downloads
╰─❯ curl -fL --retry 5 --retry-all-errors -C - -O \ https://repo.shedos.org/iso/shedos-2026.07.03-x86_64.iso
######################################################### 100.0%
# 2 · Verify it against the published checksum
╭─ ~/Downloads
╰─❯ curl -fLO https://repo.shedos.org/iso/shedos-2026.07.03-x86_64.iso.sha256
╭─ ~/Downloads
╰─❯ sha256sum -c shedos-2026.07.03-x86_64.iso.sha256
shedos-2026.07.03-x86_64.iso: OK
# 3 · Find your USB stick — not your system disk
╭─ ~/Downloads
╰─❯ lsblk -o NAME,SIZE,TYPE,MOUNTPOINTS
NAME SIZE TYPE MOUNTPOINTS
nvme0n1 476.9G disk ← system disk — leave it alone
├─nvme0n1p1 1G part /boot
└─nvme0n1p2 475.9G part /
sdb 28.9G disk ← your USB stick (the size matches)
└─sdb1 28.9G part /run/media/you/SHEDOS
# 4 · Write the ISO to the stick — this erases it
╭─ ~/Downloads
╰─❯ sudo dd if=shedos-2026.07.03-x86_64.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M conv=fsync oflag=direct status=progress
2671771648 bytes (2.7 GB, 2.5 GiB) copied, 49 s, 54.5 MB/s
╭─ ~/Downloads
╰─❯ sync
Which one is the USB? (step 3) Your system disk is the one with partitions mounted on / and /boot — usually the big internal nvme0n1 or sda. The USB stick is the device that only shows up once you plug it in, and its size matches the stick. Write to the whole disk (/dev/sdb), never a partition (/dev/sdb1).
dd won't ask twice It writes straight to whatever of= names. Read the device back before you press enter — aim it at the wrong disk and you overwrite the one you’re working from, with no undo.

Rather not use the terminal?

dd is the Linux and macOS route — there’s no dd on Windows. Coming from Windows, or if you’d just rather click, any of these writes the same ISO. Each opens in a new tab.
balenaEtcher
WindowsmacOSLinux
Point-and-click image writer — the easy choice on Windows and macOS.
Rufus
Windows
The classic Windows USB writer: tiny, fast, no install.
Ventoy
WindowsLinux
Keep several ISOs on one stick and pick which to boot.
GNOME Disks
Linux
Already on GNOME systems — its “Restore Disk Image…” action.
Impression
Linux
A focused, modern GTK image writer.
Popsicle
Linux
Pop!_OS's flasher — writes to several sticks at once.
On Linux or macOS you can skip dd from the terminal too: the image is a hybrid ISO, so cp shedos-2026.07.03-x86_64.iso /dev/sdb && sync works.

Run the installer

Boot the USB from your firmware’s boot menu. The installer walks you through partitioning, user creation, and locale, with ShedOS defaults pre-seeded. Your Git identity (name and email) is collected on the user page, alongside the account you create.

First boot

The machine boots to the ShedOS greeter — log in with the account you created (there is no autologin on installed systems). The desktop — Hyprland, waybar, mako, kitty — comes up already themed and ready.

On your first login a short welcome tour overlays the desktop and walks you through the essentials. Esc skips it, and shedman tour replays it any time.

Next

  • Upgrading — how updates and dotfile merges work.
  • Commands — the full shedman CLI reference.
  • Keybindings — every shortcut the desktop ships with.
← Managing your keys Upgrading →