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Everything you need to install Halveo OS and get started. Can’t find your answer here? Write to contact@halveos.com.
Install Halveo
Allow about 30 minutes. Before you start, back up your important files to a USB stick or an external drive.
- Download the Halveo OS ISO image from the home page.
- Plug in a USB stick of at least 8 GB. Everything on it will be erased.
- With balenaEtcher or Rufus, select the Halveo image, then the stick, then start writing.
- Restart the PC from the stick (see the next section).
- Halveo opens in trial mode: nothing is changed on your disk. Check that Wi-Fi, sound and display work.
- Double-click “Install Halveo OS” on the desktop and follow the steps: language, time zone, keyboard, disk, account.
To keep Windows, choose “Install alongside” at the disk step. At startup, a menu lets you choose between Halveo and Windows.
In trial mode, the account is called halveo and its password is live.
Start from the USB stick
Turn the PC off, plug in the stick, turn it back on and immediately press the boot menu key several times. Then choose the USB stick from the list.
| Brand | Boot menu | BIOS settings |
|---|---|---|
| Acer | F12 | F2 |
| Asus | F8 or Esc | F2 or Del |
| Dell | F12 | F2 |
| HP | Esc then F9 | Esc then F10 |
| Lenovo | F12 or the small Novo button | F1 or F2 |
| MSI | F11 | Del |
| Toshiba / Dynabook | F12 | F2 |
| Custom-built desktop | F8, F11 or F12 | Del |
On Windows 10 or 11 you can also go to Settings, System, Recovery, then “Restart now” under Advanced startup, and choose “Use a device”.
Common problems
The PC goes straight to Windows
The key was pressed too late. Try again, pressing it as soon as the PC turns on. On some PCs you first need to turn off Windows “Fast startup” in the power options.
The stick doesn’t show up in the list
Try another USB port, ideally directly on the PC rather than on a hub. Rewrite the stick with balenaEtcher if it was prepared with another tool.
A Secure Boot message appears
Halveo starts with Secure Boot turned on on most PCs. If yours still refuses, turn Secure Boot off temporarily in the BIOS settings.
The screen stays black
In the stick’s menu, choose the safe graphics startup entry if there is one, or write to us with the exact model of your PC.
System requirements
| Minimum | Recommended | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | 64-bit (x86-64) | 64-bit, 2 cores or more |
| Memory | 2 GB | 4 GB or more |
| Disk | 25 GB | 60 GB, ideally an SSD |
| Startup | UEFI or legacy BIOS. TPM 2.0 not required. | |
ARM processors, such as those in recent Macs and some Copilot+ PCs, are not supported yet.
Included software
- Firefox web browser
- LibreOffice Writer, Calc and Impress (documents, spreadsheets, slides)
- VLC media player
- Software centre, to install more apps
- File manager, text editor, image viewer, PDF reader
- Screenshot tool, calculator, ZIP archive manager
- Printer, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and sound settings
- Partition manager and system monitor
Contact
Write to contact@halveos.com with the model of your PC and what you see on screen. A photo of the screen helps a lot. Halveo Plus subscribers get an answer within 2 business days.