Porteus — Portable Linux
Porteus can be downloaded for two architectures: 32-bit (i486) and 64-bit (x86_64).
If you are running a 64-bit computer system then you can download any edition. If you are running a 32-bit system then you are limited to the 32-bit editions.
Select your desired edition from the dropdown menu below, then click on the ‘Download’ button below to start the transfer.
You have chosen to download a Release Candidate. This is a development release and should be considered unstable.
Which additional modules would you like to download?
Click on the logo for your graphics board (or chip) to download the proprietary drivers. Open source drivers for these chips are included in the ISO’s by default. You can also download VirtualBox modules and the Crippled Sources module (this module contains kernel header files which may be needed for compilling additional drivers) here.
Looking for detailed installation instructions about Kiosk? Please have a look on Official Installation/Customization Guide for Porteus Kiosk
How to burn or create a Bootable USB stick
Though Porteus can be installed on just about any bootable media (including hard drives, compact flash cards, etc), the most popular choices are to install Porteus to a CD or USB flash drive. For instructions to get up and running with one of these methods, click on one of the buttons below.
Burn It !
Simply download the ISO and burn it to a CD or DVD as an ISO image file using your favorite CD burning software. Most CD/DVD creation software has this function. Please be aware that this is not the same as simply burning a file to disk or creating a ‘data disk’. The end result should not be a disk that contains the .iso file, e.g.’porteus-v2.0-i486.iso’. The end result should be a disk that contains two folders: one called ‘boot’ and one called ‘porteus’. If your software doesn’t have this option, try downloading and installing a free application such as imgburn. Once you’ve burned the ISO image to disk, follow the instructions under ‘Try it’, below.
Copy It !
The easiest way to install Porteus to a USB drive is to burn the ISO to a CD following the instructions on this site. Once you boot into Porteus from the CD, you can select ‘Porteus Installer’ from the desktop menu (under the’System’ submenu) and follow the prompts to complete the installation to your flash drive (note: you will have to select the option to install the bootloader if you don’t already have a bootloader installed on your flash drive for some other linux distribution). If you would like to install Porteus to a USB drive without burning the ISO image to a CD first, this can easily be accomplished by extracting the ISO file (just like unpacking a zip file), copying the contents to the root (top-level directory) of your flash drive, and executing either the Porteus-installer-for-Windows.exe (if you’re using windows) or the Porteus-installer-for-Linux.com (if you’re using linux). More detailed instructions can be found in our Official Installation Guide, here:
Try it
Porteus is easy to use, and since it can be run off a CD or flash drive, there is no need to partition your hard drive or modify your existing windows or linux setup.
Try it !
Once you’ve burned Porteus to a CD or installed it to a flashdrive, you need to reboot your computer and modify your BIOS settings to boot from the desired device (CDROM or flash-drive) first. Then, insert your CD or flash drive, exit BIOS, and you should be presented with a menu to select your desktop environment or other options. To boot with the default option, press enter or simply wait a few seconds for the bootloader to timeout. To boot with other options, use your arrow keys to move down the menu, and press enter when your desired entry is highlighted. For more information on configuring your BIOS, please read Appendix A of our Official Installation Guide, here: