From a USB stick, Animux runs at full speed on your real computer and uses its real graphics card, without changing anything on the hard disk. Making the stick takes about half an hour, most of it waiting.
Before you start#
- A USB stick of 16 GB or more. The ISO file is 12 GB. A USB 3 stick (often blue inside the plug) is much faster, both to write and to run from.
- Everything on the stick is erased. Copy anything you want to keep onto your computer first.
- Unplug other USB drives and memory cards, so you cannot pick the wrong one by mistake.
- The ISO file
animux-genesis64-deb_28.iso(Get the ISO).
Optional: check the ISO is not damaged
A download that broke halfway gives a stick that does not start. On Windows, open PowerShell (right-click the Start button → Terminal) and type, with your own path:
Get-FileHash "C:\Users\you\Downloads\animux-genesis64-deb_28.iso" -Algorithm SHA256
Compare the long code with the SHA-256 published next to the download. On macOS use shasum -a 256 file.iso, on Linux sha256sum file.iso.
Pick one of the three programs below. On Windows, Rufus is recommended.
Option A: Rufus (Windows, recommended)#
- Download Rufus from https://rufus.ie/. The Portable version needs no installation. Start it and answer Yes when Windows asks for permission.
- Device: choose your USB stick. Check the size, so you do not pick another disk.
- Boot selection: click SELECT and choose
animux-genesis64-deb_28.iso. - Leave Partition scheme, Target system and everything else as Rufus fills it in.
- Click START.
- Rufus says "ISOHybrid image detected". Choose Write in DD Image mode and click OK.
- Confirm that the stick will be erased. Writing takes 10 to 30 minutes.
- When the bar says READY, click CLOSE.
DD Image mode is important
The ISO contains files bigger than 4 GB. The other choice, ISO Image mode, cannot copy them, and the stick then does not start.
Windows says: You need to format the disk
After writing, Windows may say You need to format the disk in drive E: before you can use it. Click Cancel. This is normal: Windows cannot read the stick's Linux format. Formatting would erase Animux again.
Option B: balenaEtcher (Windows, macOS, Linux, simplest)#
- Download balenaEtcher from https://etcher.balena.io/, install it and start it.
- Flash from file → choose
animux-genesis64-deb_28.iso. - Select target → choose your USB stick. Check the size.
- Flash! Wait until it says Flash Complete (10 to 30 minutes). Etcher checks the stick for errors by itself after writing.
On macOS, click Ignore if macOS says it cannot read the disk; on Windows click Cancel at the "format the disk" message, as above.
Option C: Ventoy (several ISO files on one stick)#
Ventoy is useful when you want to keep several builds or other systems on the same stick.
- Download Ventoy from https://www.ventoy.net/, unpack it and start
Ventoy2Disk.exe. - Choose the stick and click Install. This erases the stick once.
- Copy
animux-genesis64-deb_28.isoonto the stick like a normal file (Explorer or Finder). Later versions can sit beside it. - When you start from the stick, Ventoy shows a list. Choose the Animux ISO, then Boot in normal mode.
Start the computer from the stick#
- Plug the stick in and switch the computer on, or restart it.
- Straight away, press the boot menu key a few times. It depends on the maker:
| Maker | Boot menu key |
|---|---|
| Acer, Asus (laptops), Dell, Lenovo (most), Toshiba | F12 |
| Asus (desktops), MSI | F8 or F11 |
| HP | F9 (or Esc, then F9) |
| Gigabyte, ASRock | F12 or F11 |
| Lenovo with a "Novo" button | press the small Novo button while off |
| Apple Mac (Intel) | hold ⌥ Option while starting |
- Choose the USB stick. It may be listed twice, once as UEFI: … and once without. Either works; UEFI is preferred.
- The Animux boot menu appears. Press Enter. The desktop appears after one to three minutes.
From Windows 10 or 11, without a boot key
Hold Shift while you click Start → Power → Restart. In the blue menu choose Use a device and then your USB stick.
Apple Macs with an M1, M2 or later chip (Apple silicon) cannot start Animux; use a virtual machine there.
If it does not start#
| What you see | What to do |
|---|---|
| The stick is not in the boot menu | Use a USB port directly on the computer (not a hub or front port). Write the stick again; with Rufus, check you chose DD Image mode. |
| "Secure Boot violation", or the computer skips the stick | Open the firmware setup (usually F2 or Del right after switching on), set Secure Boot to Disabled, save and restart. You can enable it again later. |
| The screen stays black after the boot menu | Wait two minutes. Still black: restart and choose Workstation (KMS / no nomodeset) in the boot menu. See also Troubleshooting. |
| Windows' disk is locked inside Animux | In Windows, turn off Fast Startup: Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do → untick Turn on fast startup. |
| Writing fails or stops halfway | Try another USB port or another stick. Cheap or old sticks often fail with files this big. |
Saving your work in the live session#
The live session forgets everything when you switch off. Save your projects to:
- a second USB stick or disk: it appears on the desktop and in the file manager when you plug it in;
- the computer's own hard disk (it is visible in the file manager; be careful not to delete anything there);
- a cloud drive in Firefox.
To keep everything automatically, install Animux.
Using the stick as a normal stick again#
The stick stays an Animux stick until you change it. To get it back for files:
- Windows: start Rufus, choose the stick, set Boot selection to Non bootable and click START. Or open Disk Management (right-click the Start button), delete every partition on the stick, then right-click the empty space → New Simple Volume.
- macOS: Disk Utility → choose the stick → Erase (format ExFAT).
- Linux or Animux: the Disks program → choose the stick → Format Disk.