Install Rocky Linux

This page is the quick path: media, verification, minimal flow. The full step-by-step guide lives at Installation guide (main-site reference ↗).

1. Get the media

Pick a version and mirror on the download page. For production, prefer the Minimal ISO (~1.5 GB) or the DVD ISO (full offline set). Current major release: Rocky Linux 10 (Current).

Repository layout of the released media

Rocky publishes images and checksum files under a per-major-version directory (dl.rockylinux.org/pub/rocky/<major>/), with BaseOS / AppStream / images partitions per architecture.

2. Verify

Caution

Skipping verification is the #1 source of install incidents. Always check SHA-256 before burning media or attaching it to a VM.

sha256sum -c CHECKSUM --ignore-missing

3. Minimal install flow

1. Burn a USB stick (dd, Rufus, or Etcher) or attach the ISO to a VM;
2. Boot and choose Install Rocky Linux 10;
3. Destination: automatic partitioning (XFS + LVM) is fine; for production consider a separate /var;
4. Software selection: Minimal Install; enable the NIC in the installer (static or DHCP);
5. Set the root password and create a first admin user (wheel group);
6. Reboot, then run first-boot initialization (below).

Minimum hardware requirements

The project documents minimum hardware requirements (CPU, memory, disk, architectures) to check before installing.

Official basis for the install flow

The official installation guide covers the Rocky install flow: media preparation, installer steps and post-install checks.

First steps after install

sudo dnf update -y && sudo reboot
sudo hostnamectl hostname <your-host>

• Initial setup (main-site reference ↗) — timezone, repos, SSH, firewall baseline
• Kickstart (main-site reference ↗) — unattended bulk deployment
• Server baseline checklist (main-site reference ↗) — production acceptance