Fedora 44 Workstation Installation on the Framework Laptop 16

First, download the latest Fedora release from the Fedora website. We'll go through the steps in this Guide assuming you have a simple installation scenario of a fresh install on a blank drive.

Download balenaEtcher as a tool to create the USB installer from the ISO. balenaEtcher is available for MacOS. Install it.

If upgrading from Fedora 43, we recommend backing up your home directory and doing a clean installation. If you decide you prefer to upgrade from 43, make absolutely sure your 43 installation is fully up to date first. Should you wish to instead, the DNF System Plugin method remains an option.

Launch balenaEtcher. Insert your USB drive (8GB or larger). Click on "Flash from file" and select the Fedora iso that you downloaded. Click on "Select target" and choose your USB drive. Click "Flash" and wait a minute or two for it to complete.

Once the USB drive creation is complete, you can close balenaEtcher and eject the USB drive from your OS.

First, download the latest Fedora release from the Fedora website. We'll go through the steps in this Guide assuming you have a simple installation scenario of a fresh install on a blank drive.

New line.Download Rufus as a tool to create the USB installer from the ISO - select the top download option from the link provided. Rufus is available for Windows. Install it.

If upgrading from Fedora 43, we recommend backing up your home directory and doing a clean installation. If you decide you prefer to upgrade from 43, make absolutely sure your 43 installation is fully up to date first.

If you are removing Windows to install Linux, you may run into the "Device is Active" error. This will provide you with guidance to overcome this error.

Launch Rufus. Insert your USB drive (8GB or larger). Click on "Flash from file" and select the Fedora iso that you downloaded. Click on "SELECT" and choose your USB drive. Click "START" and wait a minute or two for it to complete.

First, download the latest Fedora Workstation release https://fedoraproject.org/workstation/ from the Fedora website. This Guide assumes a simple installation scenario of a fresh install on a blank drive.

Fedora: Media Writer is already installed on Workstation, so just launch it from the app menu.

Other distro, Flatpak installed: Run flatpak install flathub org.fedoraproject.MediaWriter, then launch it from the app menu or with flatpak run org.fedoraproject.MediaWriter.

Other distro, no Flatpak: Install Flatpak and add Flathub per https://flathub.org/setup

Insert an 8 GB+ USB key. Back up its contents first, since this erases the entire drive.

Open Fedora Media Writer, choose Select .iso file, and pick the Fedora 44 Workstation ISO you downloaded.

Select your USB drive from the device list, double-checking the name and size so you don't wipe the wrong disk.

Click Write, enter your password if prompted, wait for it to finish, then click Finish and safely eject the USB.

Before we begin the installation process with the Live USB, let's make sure you have your Linux Audio Compatibility set to Linux in the BIOS. Explanation as to what this does can be found here.

Power on the laptop, repeatedly tapping F2 in order to get into the BIOS. Note: If you're having trouble with this, try again, holding down the Fn key while rapidly tapping F2.

In BIOS mode, arrow key over to Setup Utility. Press the enter key. Arrow down to Advanced. Then arrow right, then arrow down to Linux Audio Compatibility. Press enter.

A new box for Linux Audio Compatibility will appear, arrow to Linux, then press enter. Now press F10 key to reboot.

Now we don't have an OS installed yet. So the reboot won't get us to a running operating system and we fully expect to see an error to this point. Simply press the power button to shutdown.

The next step is to install Fedora 44 at Step 4.

Fedora works with Secure Boot out of the box. Fedora Live USBs will boot regardless of whether or not it is disabled. Users who intend to dual-boot with Windows should not disable Secure Boot!

If a user has a reason to disable Secure Boot, such as specialized third party devices that require unsigned drivers:

Boot into BIOS by tapping F2 just before the Framework splash screen.

Arrow down to Administer Secure Boot. Press enter.

Arrow down to Enforce Secure Boot. Press enter, select Disabled, and press enter.

Press F10 to save and reboot. With Yes selected, press Enter.

To enable Secure Boot again, repeat the above steps but select Enable this time.

Boot to Fedora Live USB: Insert the USB drive into the powered-off machine, then power it on.

If an OS is already installed, immediately begin tapping F12 as soon as the power light comes on. Start tapping before the Framework logo appears.

At the Boot Option Menu, use arrow keys to select your USB drive (shown as "EFI USB Device (USB Disk)" or similar) and press Enter. On the black GRUB menu, confirm "Try or Install Ubuntu" is highlighted and press Enter.

If Windows is currently installed, trying to boot a Linux Live USB can result in the "Device is Active" error. This will provide guidance to overcome this error.

Next select Start Fedora Workstation-Live 44. Hit the enter key.

The installer will start automatically after some time. How long depends on the speed of the USB drive.

Select the keyboard language you'd like to use. On the next screen, click on the Installation Destination button to choose the disk. Note that you can install Fedora onto a USB drive or a Storage Expansion Card as an alternative to installing it onto your internal drive.

If there is an OS already installed on the target drive, you'll need to follow the guided steps in the installer to resize partitions or delete the existing partitions. This is out of scope of this guide, but Fedora has very detailed documentation: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/qui...

Important for non-US keyboard users! Please open this link in a new tab and read carefully.

Click Finish Installation and then reboot into your new Fedora install!

The installer will close the window, but not reboot. You can click on the power icon in the top right, click Power Off / Log Out, and click Restart.

Click on preferred language, again for your preferred keyboard. This begins the process of completing the initial setup of your Fedora installation.

Connect to Wi-Fi or Skip. If you wish not to connect to wireless just yet, you can skip this and return to connecting to Wi-Fi later on.

Choose your Privacy settings. Here you can decide if you would like to allow Location Services using Mozilla Location Service or not.

Click on Enable Third-Party Repositories. Unless you have a specific reason for not doing so, it's recommended that these repositories are enabled for access to additional drivers and applications.

Setup your user account. And then your user password.

To configure the touchpad to meet your needs:

Go to Settings>Mouse and Touchpad.

Select the Touchpad tile/button at the top of displayed window.

There you can control Touchpad while typing behavior, pointer speed, secondary click options, tap to click, scrolling method, and scroll direction.

Let's setup fingerprint login. Click on Activities shown as ---- in the upper left corner, search for user.

Choose Fingerprint Login. Then select Scan new fingerprint. Select your desired fingerprint. Carefully tap your finger tip on the sensor (power button). You may need to try a few attempts as everyone's prints are different.

Once it's successful, you will see the word Complete.

If you're experiencing issues getting your fingerprint reader working, please follow our help guide to get your reader working for you on Fedora.

Your Framework Laptop 16 with the NVIDIA dGPU module can operate in two primary graphics modes you will want to explore. You can switch between them in your laptop's BIOS settings.

To access this section of your BIOS: Tap F2 when you boot and see your Framework Splash screen (Framework logo). Arrow over to Setup utility. Click enter. Down arrow to Advanced on the left side. Right arrow to NVIDIA Mux. Enter key. Make your selection, press enter. Press F10 and press enter again to save changes and reboot.

The third option, Advanced Optimus, behaves like NVIDIA Hybrid Mode on Linux. So we will forgo it for this guide.

NVIDIA Hybrid Mode (Traditional Optimus): This is the default mode.

Display Path: The integrated AMD GPU (iGPU) is always connected to the display. When the NVIDIA GPU (dGPU) is used for a demanding task, it renders the frames and copies them to the iGPU to be shown on the screen.

Switching: Applications run on the power-saving iGPU by default. Steam uses dGPU this automatically for games.

Performance: Small but measurable latency and FPS penalty compared to direct dGPU output because every frame must traverse the iGPU.

Your Framework Laptop 16 with the NVIDIA dGPU module can operate in two primary graphics modes you will want to explore. You can switch between them in your laptop's BIOS settings.

To access this section of your BIOS: Tap F2 when you boot and see your Framework Splash screen (Framework logo). Arrow over to Setup utility. Click enter. Down arrow to Advanced on the left side. Right arrow to NVIDIA Mux. Enter key. Make your selection, press enter. Press F10 and press enter again to save changes and reboot.

The third option, Advanced Optimus, behaves like NVIDIA Hybrid Mode on Linux. So we will forgo it for this guide.

NVIDIA GPU-Only (Discrete Mode)

Display Path The dGPU drives the panel 100% of the time. The iGPU is fully disabled.

Switching: No switching possible without reboot — you must go back into BIOS or flip the MUX manually to return to Hybrid mode.

Performance: Maximum performance and lowest latency, because there is no iGPU in the pipeline.