Are you sick of feeling like you’re being watched and want more privacy? Maybe you’re tired of Windows enabling settings and preferences without your consent. Or maybe you’re on a version of Windows where your device is no longer supported and no longer receives security updates, leaving your computer vulnerable. Whether you want to dual-boot or completely replace your operating system... I’ve got the perfect solution for you!
Why CachyOS?
You may ask, why CachyOS? Out of all the available versions of Linux, why is this the one I’m recommending to you? CachyOS is a perfect choice because it offers a middle ground between familiarity and power. It’s built on the foundations of Arch Linux, which offers ongoing support and crucial security updates for ALL computers and laptops.
But the real star of the entire reasoning is the desktop environment: KDE Plasma. It looks and feels very familiar to Windows due to the fact that the taskbar and start menu look almost identical, yet at the same time, there is a lot of customisation available to make it look more aesthetically appealing.
Performance and Gaming
CachyOS is optimised for many different workloads but excels in gaming performance; it is often advertised as the fastest Linux distribution/flavour. From testing and using it as my daily driver for many months now, I can confirm CachyOS’s claim that it is indeed “Blazingly Fast”.
Debunking the Linux Myth
I know that you may be thinking, "I have heard that Linux has a steep learning curve and everything is terminal." But I can confirm that not everything needs the terminal, as CachyOS has implemented an “App Store” of sorts. They have an application that first pops up after installing CachyOS called CachyOS Hello.
This app is your gateway to the system—it lets you perform system updates/tweaks, reinstall packages, install all gaming packages (Steam, GOG, Epic Games & many more), and much more. Inside the menu, there is an "Install Apps" button which provides many different applications that you can download at the click of a button and a simple "Y" in a pop-up terminal to confirm the download.
Furthermore, due to the latest 2026 updates, Cachy has replaced the older software (Octopi) with a new tool called Shelly. It is a brand-new and modern software centre that replaces the older tools, giving you a smoother and more visually appealing experience for managing your entire library of applications.
The Ultimate Safety Net: Snapshots
If I still haven’t convinced you because you’re scared of messing up your system, there is another feature that will put your mind at ease. This is called “snapshots”.
CachyOS uses a file system known as BTRFS by default, which allows the system to basically take a “picture” of your entire OS after performing certain tasks. For example, when you finish your first installation, CachyOS creates a permanent baseline snapshot. If you’re “ricing” your desktop—or in other words, tweaking system files, functionality, and appearance—and something goes wrong, you don’t need to panic as you have a snapshot.
All you need to do is boot into the system's Grub or Limine menu (the screen you see when you first turn the computer on), select the "Snapshots" entry, and pick the one from before the error occurred. In seconds, your machine is restored to exactly how it was—it’s the ultimate "undo" button for your entire OS.
Phase 1: Making a Bootable Drive
The reasons are clear. The safety net is active. Now, let’s build "The Powerhouse". Follow the steps below to flash your drive and take control of your hardware.
- Download the CachyOS ISO: Head to the official CachyOS Website and grab the latest version by clicking either “Download Desktop Edition” or “Download Handheld Edition”, and then select “Direct” (Direct means downloading directly from Cachy).
- Download BalenaEtcher: Head to the official BalenaEtcher Website and click “Download Etcher”, then choose the version that your system requires.
- Flash the ISO onto the Drive: Now it is time to flash the ISO onto the drive:
- Plug in your USB drive: It must be at least 8GB in size. Warning: This will wipe everything on your USB; make sure to back up anything important on the drive to the cloud to avoid data loss.
- Select the Image: Open BalenaEtcher and select “Flash from file” to pick your CachyOS ISO file.
- Select the Target: Select your target USB. It should automatically fill this in with your USB device, but if it doesn't, make sure to select the correct drive manually.
- Flash: Hit “Flash!” and wait for your device to finish flashing. You should receive a message saying “Flash Complete”.
Phase 2: Making a Partition for CachyOS (Dual-Boot ONLY)
If you’re wanting to dual-boot CachyOS with Windows, follow the steps below (if you don’t want to dual-boot, skip this step and go to Phase 2.1):
- Open Disk Management: Open your search bar on your start menu and search for “Disk Management”.
- Shrink your Volume (Drive): Right-click the drive that you would like to shrink and select “Shrink Volume”.
- Choose the amount: Enter the amount of space that you feel like you would need for CachyOS in mebibytes (MiB). I would recommend at the very least 20 gigabytes (GB) (in mebibytes this is 20000MiB).
- Complete the Shrink: Click “Shrink”. You should now see an empty space with that amount titled “Unallocated Space”. Leave this exactly as it is; the CachyOS installer will use this space later.
Phase 2.1: Making Your PC Boot from USB
Now that the ISO has been loaded onto your USB drive, we now need to tell your computer to basically load the USB instead of your Windows. This involves entering the BIOS.
- Restart and Tap the Key: Restart your PC after your USB drive has been flashed. As soon as the screen goes black, start spamming your BIOS key repeatedly. Common keys to enter the BIOS (can vary depending on your manufacturer) are F12, F2, F10, or Delete. If none of these work, search for your specific motherboard and it should provide the right key.
- Select Your USB Device: Once you have successfully booted into your BIOS, there should be a menu (usually at the top) listing your storage drives. Look for your USB drive (it is usually labelled with the brand name of your USB device) and then move that device to the front of the list.
- Disable Secure Boot: Before leaving your BIOS, you must disable Secure Boot, otherwise the system won’t boot into the drive. For MSI motherboards, you can do this by finding the security tab and setting Secure Boot to disabled. If your motherboard manufacturer is not MSI, research your motherboard and it should provide the correct path to disable Secure Boot. Once that is done, make sure when leaving the BIOS to save your changes.
- Entering the Live Environment: Once you have left your BIOS and waited a few seconds, you should see the CachyOS boot screen. Select the first option and wait for the desktop environment to load.
Phase 3: Installation to Dual Boot with Windows
Launch the Installer
Once you have booted into the live environment, you will be greeted with a menu (CachyOS Hello). Click on the “Launch Installer” button.
Choose Limine as Your Bootloader
You will then be presented with a notification telling you to choose between the Grub bootloader and the Limine bootloader. In this prompt, choose Limine.
Select Your Language
Next, you will have to choose your preferred language (this will not affect the setup process).
Select Your Region
You will now have to choose your region (if not automatically filled).
Select Your Keyboard Layout
After selecting your language, you will be required to choose a keyboard layout (please make sure this matches your hardware; if you make a mistake, you can change it in the actual operating system).
Select Manual Partition
Once you have completed all previous steps, you’re finally onto the step that installs CachyOS alongside Windows. We’re selecting manual partition because it gives us full control over said partition and also helps us to avoid unintentional changes to the existing Windows installation. Once you have selected manual partition, click “Next”.
Partition Layout
To set up our partition, we will now need to create two separate partitions: one being boot and the other being “/” (root), or in other words, our storage space. First, click on the empty space or unallocated space that we created earlier on. Next, click on the “Create” button; in the size section, enter 4016 MiB, set the file system to fat32, the mountpoint to /boot, and select boot as the flag. Once you have done that, click the “OK” button in the bottom right to go back to the partition manager. Next, click on the remaining space and then click “Create” once again. Once you’re back in the create a partition menu, leave the size as it is, as this will be your storage space. Set the file system to btrfs, and set the mountpoint to “/” (root). Once you have done that, click “OK” in the bottom right, and then “Next”.
Choose the Desktop Environment
The next step in our installation process is to choose a desktop environment. The desktop environment basically determines how your computer looks aesthetically. My personal recommendations are KDE Plasma and GNOME. KDE Plasma is for those who prefer customisability and a Windows-esque aesthetic. If you prefer Apple devices like Mac, you may prefer GNOME, as it’s clean and looks very familiar to a Mac layout. Once you have made your choice, click “Next”.
Installing Additional Packages
Up next on our to-do list is the option to choose additional packages to install right into the system. I recommend installing “Printing-Support” and “Support for HP Printer/Scanner” so that your computer is immediately ready to print documents without the hassle of looking for drivers. Once you’ve selected all the additional packages that you want, click “Next.”
User Credentials
Now that all the hard work is done, it is now time to move on to setting up your user credentials or, in other words, your “user profile.” Fill in your name (which can be the same as your username), choose a username, and then set a computer name. The computer name is used to identify your computer on your Wi-Fi network. Most importantly of all, make sure when filling out the password field to set a secure password. If you can’t think of a password, I recommend using a password generator that saves all your passwords; I personally recommend NordPass. Do not tick the “Log in automatically without asking for the password” option, as this is unsecure—unless, of course, you’re the only person who has access to said computer. Finally, you can either tick or untick “Use the same password for the administrator account.” Once done, click “Next.”
Summary
Now you will be shown a complete summary of all the changes that are about to take effect in the next step (the installation). Please take a moment to review all the information presented to be sure that you have followed all of these steps correctly.
Installing the Operating System
Once you’re confident that everything is correct, click “Install” and then “Install Now.” After you’ve hit the “Install Now” button, you will be greeted with an installation page. If you want to see what is going on behind the scenes, click on the “Black Box” next to the installation percentage. Also, underneath the loading/installation bar, you can see what the current operation is (e.g., resizing). During this process, DO NOT shut down your computer, as this can corrupt your system at worst, or force you to restart the entire process.
Rebooting into the Operating System
Finally, once everything is installed and you see a screen saying “All done,” you can reboot your system. To reboot your system successfully, tick the “Restart now” box and then click “Done.” Once the computer goes to a black screen and it has stopped printing text, remove your USB drive and boot into your BIOS. Now, locate the boot priority section in your BIOS and set Limine as your number one boot option (don’t worry, you will be able to choose to either boot into Windows or CachyOS because of the Limine bootloader); this process can vary depending on your motherboard. When booting into CachyOS, always select “linux-cachyos”; if you need to revert to a previous build of CachyOS, snapshots are also available in the Limine bootloader. Once you have booted into the operating system, all you need to do is simply log in with the credentials that you created.
Phase 3.1: Installation to Replace Windows
Launch the Installer
Once you have booted into the live environment, you will be greeted with a menu (CachyOS Hello). Click on the “Launch Installer” button.
Choose Limine as Your Bootloader
You will then be presented with a notification telling you to choose between the Grub bootloader and the Limine bootloader. In this prompt, choose Limine.
Select Your Language
Next, you will have to choose your preferred language (this will not affect the setup process).
Select Your Region
You will now have to choose your region (if not automatically filled).
Select Your Keyboard Layout
After selecting your language, you will be required to choose a keyboard layout (please make sure this matches your hardware; if you make a mistake, you can change it in the actual operating system).
Select Erase Disk
Once you have completed all previous steps, you’re finally onto the step that installs CachyOS and removes Windows. We’re selecting Erase Disk because it will wipe the drive completely, reformat it, and prepare a fresh slate for your new operating system. Once you have selected Erase Disk, click “Next.”
Choose the Desktop Environment
The next step in our installation process is to choose a desktop environment. The desktop environment basically determines how your computer looks aesthetically. My personal recommendations are KDE Plasma and GNOME. KDE Plasma is for those who prefer customisability and a Windows-esque aesthetic. If you prefer Apple devices like Mac, you may prefer GNOME, as it’s clean and looks very familiar to a Mac layout. Once you have made your choice, click “Next.”
Installing Additional Packages
Up next on our to-do list is the option to choose additional packages to install right into the system. I recommend installing “Printing-Support” and “Support for HP Printer/Scanner” so that your computer is immediately ready to print documents without the hassle of looking for drivers. Once you’ve selected all the additional packages that you want, click “Next.”
User Credentials
Now that all the hard work is done, it is now time to move on to setting up your user credentials or, in other words, your “user profile.” Fill in your name (which can be the same as your username), choose a username, and then set a computer name. The computer name is used to identify your computer on your Wi-Fi network. Most importantly of all, make sure when filling out the password field to set a secure password. If you can’t think of a password, I recommend using a password generator that saves all your passwords; I personally recommend NordPass. Do not tick the “Log in automatically without asking for the password” option, as this is unsecure—unless, of course, you’re the only person who has access to said computer. Finally, you can either tick or untick “Use the same password for the administrator account.” Once done, click “Next.”
Summary
Now you will be shown a complete summary of all the changes that are about to take effect in the next step (the installation). Please take a moment to review all the information presented to be sure that you have followed all of these steps correctly.
Installing the Operating System
Once you’re confident that everything is correct, click “Install” and then “Install Now.” After you’ve hit the “Install Now” button, you will be greeted with an installation page. If you want to see what is going on behind the scenes, click on the “Black Box” next to the installation percentage. Also, underneath the loading/installation bar, you can see what the current operation is (e.g., resizing). During this process, DO NOT shut down your computer, as this can corrupt your system at worst, or force you to restart the entire process.
Rebooting into the Operating System
Finally, once everything is installed and you see a screen saying “All done,” you can reboot your system. To reboot your system successfully, tick the “Restart now” box and then click “Done.” Once the computer goes to a black screen and it has stopped printing text, remove your USB drive and boot into your BIOS. Now, locate the boot priority section in your BIOS and set Limine as your number one boot option; this process can vary depending on your motherboard. When booting into CachyOS, always select “linux-cachyos”; if you need to revert to a previous build of CachyOS, snapshots are also available in the Limine bootloader. Once you have booted into the operating system, all you need to do is simply log in with the credentials that you created.