This is just a brief description of openSUSE installation. For more thorough help see the official documentation.

Before starting there are a few things you should be aware of.

• CPU: Intel: Pentium or later; AMD: Duron, Athlon, Athlon XP, Athlon MP, Athlon 64 and Sempron
• RAM: 256 MB, 512 MB or more recommended (for installation via Live CD you need 512-1024 MB)
• Disk Space: 5,0 GB for a normal installation (10 GB or more recommended)
• Sound and Graphics Card: Most modern cards are supported

When you burn the downloaded ISO files to a CD/DVD it's important to remember to burn them as ISOs/images with your CD/DVD writer software, or the media won't be bootable.

If your computer won't boot from the CD/DVD media, check that the computer BIOS is configured to boot from CD/DVD.

Having openSUSE and MS Windows installed on the same computer is usually fairly simple if MS Windows was installed first. During installation openSUSE will detect MS Windows and the bootloader will display a menu on each startup letting you choose whether to boot openSUSE or MS Windows.

openSUSE needs to be installed on a separate partition/disk. It's recommended to free up space beforehand using a partitioning tool that you're familiar with. But you can also let the openSUSE installer resize your MS Windows partitions - it's strongly recommended to defragment the MS Windows partition before doing so.

If you turn on your printer and other peripherals during installation, there's a good chance of them being autodetected and configured.

When you're ready, insert the DVD and (re)start the computer. Live CD installation is described below.

The first thing you'll see is this welcome screen.

Then you're presented with a menu. Here you can select your desired language and a few other options, afterwards begin installation.

The licence agreement is only to inform you of your rights. It doesn't require your acceptance, since it doesn't limit your use. Check that language and keyboard layout are as desired.

Here you choose whether to perform a new installation or upgrade an existing openSUSE installation.

Set the timezone here. If you have only GNU/Linux it's recommended to set the hardware clock to UTC, if you dual boot with MS Windows set it to local time.

Various different graphical user interfaces (desktop environments) exist for GNU/Linux. KDE is preselected and is preferred by about 70% of openSUSE users and is also the focus of this guide. Under "Other" you can select Xfce, minimal graphical environment (IceWM) and even a text based installation which is useful for servers.

By default openSUSE will propose to create three new partitions / (root) for system files, /home/ for personal files of users and swap which is used as a supplement for RAM, similar to the page file in MS Windows. If you're performing a dual boot installation, be extra careful here. Note that Linux labels disks/partitions using the following scheme - sda1 is first partition on the first disk, sdb3 is the third partition on the second disk, and so forth. Partitions that will be formatted are written in red text.

Now it's time to create your user. Note that by default the root user (administrator) password will be the same as the password for the normal user. If you want the added security of a separate root password, consider unchecking that checkbox. You may also want to consider disabling autologin to prevent people from easily accessing your system and data.

Double check that everything is as desired - this is the point of no return!

Now the actual installation is performed.

After installation is performed, the system will restart and perform autoconfiguration. Afterwards your brand new openSUSE system will start. Congratulations, and have a lot of fun with openSUSE!

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When you're ready to install, insert the CD and (re)boot the computer.

The Live CD provides two different installation modes, you can install directly from the boot menu, or you can boot the system and install from the desktop while the system is running, by clicking on the install icon on the desktop. There is only a visual difference between the two modes of installation. It's recommended to try booting the live CD before installing to see if your hardware components are supported.

The licence agreement is only to inform you of your rights. It doesn't require your acceptance, since it doesn't limit your use. Check that language and keyboard layout are as desired.

Set the timezone here. If you have only GNU/Linux it's recommended to set the hardware clock to UTC, if you dual boot with MS Windows set it to local time.

By default openSUSE will propose to create three new partitions / (root) for system files, /home/ for personal files of users and swap which is used as a supplement for RAM, similar to the page file in MS Windows. If you're performing a dual boot installation, be extra careful here. Note that Linux labels disks/partitions using the following scheme - sda1 is first partition on the first disk, sdb3 is the third partition on the second disk, and so forth. Partitions that will be formatted are written in red text.

Now it's time to create your user. Note that by default the root user (administrator) password will be the same as the password for the normal user. If you want the added security of a separate root password, consider unchecking that checkbox. You may also want to consider disabling autologin to prevent people from easily accessing your system and data.

Double check that everything is as desired - this is the point of no return!

Now the actual installation is performed.

When all packages are installed, the system needs to reboot from the harddrive. You can either remove the CD during the reboot process or leave it in and select Boot from harddisk at the boot menu. After the reboot, the system will perform automatic configuration. Afterwards your brand new openSUSE system will start. Congratulations, and have a lot of fun with openSUSE!