There are a lot of Linux distros out there, that can give your machine a new touch. But Manjaro Linux is one of the best distros you can get right now. Manjaro comes with all the great benefits of Arch while avoiding the cons.
Manjaro, unlike Arch, is created for everyone from beginners to experts. If you are a beginner it will not disappoint you as its easy to use even from the beginning. That’s why Manjaro has appeared on our list of 5 Best Linux Distros for beginners. And if you are an expert you will also love it as Manjaro supports all sorts of customization.
Manjaro minimum system requirement
These are the recommended minimum system requirements for Manjaro Linux
- 1 GHz processor
- 1 GB of RAM
- 30 GB of Hard drive Space
- Internet Connection
- 1024×768 Display
Download Manjaro
Let’s start the installation procedure by downloading the Manjaro. Go to this official download page and download Manjaro ISO. You can download any edition depending on the desktop enviornment you like.
For an idea, if you are using a low configuration system or want faster performance then download XFCE edition, although it will also be low on features compared to KDE plasma. If you want a feature-rich desktop environment then you should download the KDE plasma variant, but it will be a little heavier on the hardware resources.
If you are still not sure, then just download the XFCE variant. As you can later change the desktop environment with a little help from Manjaro wiki. We are also downloading XFCE variant for the purpose of this tutorial.
Create Free Space for Installation of Manjaro
As in this tutorial, we are installing Manjaro Linux alongside Windows we are going to create installation space for Manjaro by shrinking partition. Type Disk Management in the search box or right-click on the start menu and click on Disk Management.
This opens Disk Management of Windows operating system. Disk management can be used to modify disk partition from within the Windows.
Now find the disk that has a lots of free space and right-click on it. Select Shrink Volume this will open a dialog box. In Enter the amount of space to shrink, enter the amount of space you would like to allocate to the Manjaro Linux in MB.
Here we are allocating 102400 MB (100 GB) for Manjaro installation. You can allocate according to your needs and space available but 30 GB(30720 MB) is the minimum recommended. Then click on Shrink and its done. You will see Unallocated Space, just close the disk management now.
Create a Bootable USB drive to Install Manjaro
To create a bootable USB drive for the installation of Manjaro Linux we are using Rufus. Rufus is free, open-source, easy to use and small in size tool. Download Rufus from this link and open Rufus.
Open Rufus and Plug a USB flash drive into your PC (Note: All the data on this USB flash drive will be deleted). Rufus autoselects USB drive just verify that it’s the correct flash drive that you want to use.
Now click on SELECT and browse to the downloaded ISO file of Manjaro. It’s normally in the Downloads folder, select that Manjaro ISO file and press START. You don’t generally need to change other settings in Rufus. It will prompt that all the data on this USB drive will be deleted, just click on OK and wait till the process gets completed.
Booting from Manjaro USB drive.
Now when you are ready to install, you need to boot from USB flash drive to start the installation of Manjaro. Restart your PC and when the motherboard logo appears, keep pressing the F10 or F12 function key(this key varies from computer to computer).
You will see a screen with options to boot from Windows and USB flash drive. On that screen select USB flash drive by pressing arrow key and then press enter.
If the above method doesn’t work for you then after restart press bios key. Its F1 or F2 generally(or you can do a quick Google search with your PC model boot key), and then navigate to the Boot tab. In that tab, devices will appear in boot priority order. In that order move the USB drive at first position and then press F10 to save and exit. After restart, your system will automatically boot from the USB drive.
Installation Of Manjaro Linux
It takes some time to boot from the USB flash drive. As soon as it finishes booting from USB flash drive you will see a glimpse of Manjaro Linux. You will see certain options select boot Manjaro and press enter.
It will open Manjaro Linux in live USB mode. Here you can try using Manjaro if you are not sure about installing it. As it’s in live USB mode, anything you do in this mode will get erased after reboot.
To begin Manjaro installation click on Launch Installer or you can click on Install Manjaro Linux on desktop. Wait and you will see an installer and choose Language, select it and click on Next. After that, it will ask to select your location. Then followed by that select keyboard layout according to your preference.
In partitions, you will see different options as compared to the image above. Because this image is from a VM there are only two options, but anyway select Manual Partitioning and click on Next.
Creating partitions to install
You will see all the partitions present in your system at this point. But as we have already created free space on the hard drive, we just need to create new partitions instead of modifying others. Now follow the instructions below and create the required partitions.
- Click on Free space of size that we created earlier to select it and then click on Create.
- First, we need to create a partition for root. Enter 20480 MB in size. Set mount point as / and click OK. (Here we are creating root partition of 20 GB, you can create according to your needs and the space available, but 4 Gb should be minimum.)
- Now create the second partition for Swap. Set the size to 4096 MB, and in flags select Swap. (Here 4GB for swap should be sufficient but if you plan to do hibernation or have very low RAM on the system then double the Swap partition to 8192MB or 8GB.)
- Allot the remaining space to the home partition. Select mount point as /home, click OK.
- Now when you are done click on Next.
On-screen Installation Instructions
After you click Next it will ask for certain details like name and password. Fill the details and click on Next. The installer will ask for the Office suite installation, choose whichever you like and click on Next. Verify the settings properly before clicking on Install. When done click Install and then on Install Now this will start the installation of Manjaro Linux on your system.
Completion of Installation of Manjaro Linux
The installer will take some time to copy all files and complete installation. When the installation completes you will see All done. Tick on Restart Now and click Done and also remove the USB flash drive.
As we have installed Manjaro Linux alongside Windows after a reboot you will see Grub bootloader, select Manjaro Linux in it and press enter.
First Boot of Manjaro Linux
At the start, you will see your system name and password option, enter the password you kept earlier and press enter.
Conclusion:
This answers how to install Manjaro Linux on your system we hope you love it. If you have any question feel free to ask us in comments we would love to help you. And if you earlier changed boot order to USB at first then do remember to change it back.