Installation of Rocky Linux 9.4 onto a refurbished Dell OptiPlex 3050 with a blank SSD. The Dell is connected to the internet via wired ethernet.


# Initial Steps

Obtain a Rocky Linux 9 DVD or Boot ISO from [ Ссылка ] and install it into a USB flash drive.
Configure the BIOS of the computer you will be installing to so that the boot order selects the USB drive first.
Plugin the USB drive and start the computer.


# Installation

Once the computer boots to the USB, the text based GRUB menu is shown, select Install Rocky Linux 9.4 and press enter.

The Linux kernel and system initialization program will be loaded into memory and the installer will start up in a text mode, then it will switch to a graphical mode to when the installer is ready.

Select your language and continue to the installation summary dashboard.

#1. Setup Networking

Click the Network & Hostname menu item. Ensure that the network interface you want to install from is selected on the left, then click configure. Here we are verifying that we are connected via DHCP.
Enter in the hostname of the machine at the bottom left and click apply.

#2. Installation Source

In this installation we are choosing to obtain the latest Rocky 9 packages from the internet. Select the "On the network" installation source, and use "Closest Mirror" to automatically configure a internet installation.
All packages will be downloaded from the internet during the installation. Click done to return to the installation summary. The installer will then download package metadata from the selected mirror site.

#linux #rockylinux #sysadmin
#3 Software Selection

This installation is going to use the Server with GUI base environment, we are also installing Remote Management for Linux package group from the additional software list.

#4 Installation Destination

We are using an automatic Storage Configuration, the blank SSD is already selected as the installation destination by default. The automatic config will create a partitions for /boot, the root partition /, and a swap partition.

#5 User Settings

Select a secure root password and create a local user account. When creating the user account, selecting "Make this user administrator" will add it to the wheel group, allowing the execution of elevated commands via sudo.

#6 Begin Installation

All of the previous configuration is applied in this step which can take several minutes to a couple of hours depending on internet connection and computer and hard drive speed. The installer will first deploy the storage configuration, partitioning the hard drive and formatting each partition. Next packages will be downloaded into a local cache and installed. Several packages will have post installation configurations, followed by deployment of the system configurations that were selected from the Installation Summary.

# Complete Installation and Restart

Once the installation is complete the "Reboot System" button will become available. After clicking that the system will shutdown and restart. Once you see the BIOS screen for the computer again, you can remove the USB drive. The system will then boot into a much more minimal GRUB boot loader and quickly load the Linux kernel and start Rocky 9. The graphical boot screen will start then transition into the display manager and user picker. Select your local user and enter the password to start using Rocky Linux.

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