[hemmerling] Red Hat Enterprise Linux ( RHEL ), The CentOS Project ( CentOS ), Fedora Linux ( F ), openSUSE, Amazon Linux ( AL )

Using "Rufus 4.9.2256" on Windows to prepare a USB Stick as Media for RHEL, CentOS, F, openSUSE, AL Installer

Drive Properties

Persistant partition size = “0” GB.
Partition Scheme: “MBR”.
Target system: “BIOS or UEFI”.
[x] List USB Hard Drives.
[x] Add fixes for old BIOSes ( extra partition, align, ect. ).
[_] Enable runtime UEFI media validation.

Format Options

File system: “FAT32 ( Default )”.
[x] Quick Format.
[x] Create extended label and icon files.
[_] Check device for bad blocks.

ISOHybrid Images & DD Mode

Rufus message, when trying to transfer a RHEL, CentOS, F, openSUSE image to a USB stick:

The image you have selected is an "ISOHybrid" image.
(_) Write in ISO Image mode ( Recommended ).
(x) Write in DD Image mode.

I selected “DD”.

With “ISO” for “CentOS Stream 10”, there is the error message:

GRUB loading.
Welcome to GRUB!
error: file '/boot/grub/i386-pc/normal.mod' not found.
Entering rescue mode...

CentOS Stream 10: UEFI Bootloader

Rufus message, when trying to transfer a “CentOS Stream 10” image to a USB stick:

Rufus detected that the ISO you have selected contains a UEFI bootloader that has been revoked and that will produce a "Security Violation" screen, when Secure Boot is enabled on a fully up to date UEFI system.

reddit "r/CentOS" - "CentOS won't boot on secure boot" - ” Revocation of UEFI bootloaders happens all the time and CentOS Stream 9 was released in 2023, so, yeah, it happens to be using a UEFI bootloader where vulnerabilities have been found and that has therefore been revoked, hence the message you see in Rufus. One would have expected CentOS to at least have released an updated version of CentOS Stream 9 that uses a non-vulnerable bootloader, but it appears they haven't done that”.

CentOS Stream 10: Selecting the proper Grub Version

Rufus message, when trying to transfer a “CentOS Stream 10” image to a USB stick, for the first time:

The image uses Grub 2.12-nonstandard-gdie but the application only includes the installation files for Grub 2.12.
As different versions of Grub may not be compatible with one another, and it is not possible to include them all, Rufus will attempt to locate a version of the Grub installation file ( "core.img" ) that mateches the one from your image.

- Select "Yes" to connect to the Internet and attempt to download it.
- Select "no" to use the default version from Rufus.
- Select "Cancel" to abort the operation.

Note: The file will be downloaded in the current application directory and will be reused automatically if present. If no match can be found online, then the default version will be used.

I selected “Yes”.

CentOS Stream 10: Installation Process

CentOS installation screen:

Install CentOS Stream 10
Test this media & install CentOS Stream 10
Install CentOS Stream 10 in FIPS mode

On my Notebook “Dell Vostro 1000” ( 2 GB RAM ), with all 3 options, the computer reboots while installation still loads data before showing any further welcome screen.

Fedora WORKSTATION

Fedora WORKSTATION is a Live installation.
On my Notebook “Dell Vostro 1000” ( 2 GB RAM ), the computer hangs before showing any further welcome screen.

Fedora SERVER 42: Installation Process

Required Disk Space

Base environment:
1. “Fedora Server Edition” - “Your current Fedora software selection requires 2.15 GiB of available space”.
2. “Fedora Custom Operating System” - “Your current Fedora software selection requires 1.61 GiB of available space”.

openSUSE Leap 15.6: Installation Process

Suggested Partitioning for "Dell Vostro 1000"

Create GPT on /dev/sda.

Default User

openSUSE Forums "Default user password?".
- “With the live CD, the default user is 'linux' and the password is empty for this user”.
Create partition /dev/sda1 ( 109.79 GiB ) for / with btrfs.
Create partition /dev/sda2 ( 2.00 GiB ) for swap.

Basic Installation Parameters

Free memory on systems:


Desktop	free -m			cat /proc/swaps	Comment
Desktop	Mem: total	Mem: available	Swap: used	”/dev/sda5 Used	Comment
Fedora Server Edition	1829	1455	0	0
Fedora Custom Operating System	1829	1464	0	0
openSUSE Desktop with KDE Plasma	?	?	0	0
openSUSE Desktop with Gnome	?	?	0	0
openSUSE Desktop with Xfce	?	?	0	0
openSUSE Desktop with Deskop	?	?	0	0
openSUSE Server	1845	1508	0	0