How to Install MX Linux

MX Linux blends a Debian Stable base with the lightweight init flexibility inherited from antiX, plus a curated set of homegrown MX Tools that spare you from hunting configuration files. It consistently ranks among the most downloaded distros on DistroWatch, and for good reason: installation is straightforward, hardware support is solid, and the resulting system is snappy even on older machines. This guide walks through a bare-metal install of MX Linux 23 ("Libretto"), the current release as of writing, which ships with Xfce as the default desktop. KDE and Fluxbox flavours follow the same installer flow.

What You Need Before Starting

• A 64-bit PC with at least 512 MB RAM (2 GB recommended for a comfortable Xfce session) and 10 GB free disk space.
• A USB drive of 4 GB or larger to hold the live image.
• The MX Linux ISO downloaded from mxlinux.org. Verify the SHA256 checksum published on the same page.
• A backup of any data on the target drive — the installer can resize or erase partitions.

Step 1: Write the ISO to USB

On Linux, use dd or the graphical MX Live USB Maker. From another MX or Debian-family machine you can also use the MX Boot Repair USB tool, but dd works universally.

First identify your USB device. Look for your drive size in the output — do not confuse it with your system disk.

lsblk

Write the image (replace sdX with your actual device, e.g. sdb):

sudo dd if=MX-23_x64.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

On Windows, use Rufus in DD Image mode. Balena Etcher also works. Do not use Rufus's default ISO mode — it breaks the MX live session.

Step 2: Boot the Live Environment

Plug the USB in, restart, and enter your firmware boot menu (commonly F11, F12, Del, or Esc — check your motherboard manual). Select the USB device. If the system only offers UEFI boot entries, choose the UEFI USB entry; MX Linux 23 supports both UEFI and legacy BIOS.

The GRUB menu offers several options. For most installs, choose MX-23 Default. Use Copy to RAM only on machines with plenty of RAM (4 GB+) or very slow USB drives — it copies the entire squashfs into memory for a faster live experience.

The live desktop loads in under a minute on typical hardware. You can poke around fully before committing to install.

Step 3: Launch the Installer

Double-click the Install MX Linux icon on the desktop, or find it under the application menu. The installer is a custom Qt-based tool (not Calamares) that MX developers maintain directly.

Disk Partitioning

The installer's disk page offers three modes:

• Use Entire Disk — wipes the drive and creates a root partition plus swap automatically. Easiest option for a dedicated machine.
• Use Free Space — installs alongside an existing OS without touching its partitions. Suitable for dual-boot setups.
• Custom Partitioning — opens GParted so you manage layout yourself. Use this if you want a separate /home partition or specific partition sizes.

For a typical single-boot install, Use Entire Disk is fine. If you choose custom, a workable layout for a 30 GB drive is: 512 MB EFI partition (fat32, flagged boot, esp), 20 GB / (ext4), 4 GB swap, and the remainder as /home (ext4).

The installer will ask whether to use systemd or SysV init. MX Linux is one of the few mainstream distros that ships both. For modern hardware and compatibility with most third-party software documentation, choose systemd. SysV is there for older or constrained hardware, or personal preference.

Bootloader

The installer installs GRUB automatically. On UEFI systems it writes to the EFI partition; on BIOS systems it writes to the MBR of the target disk. Accept the defaults unless you are managing a complex multi-boot environment.

Locale, Timezone, and Keyboard

Set these on their respective pages. MX ships fully localised for dozens of languages; the installer reads your live session locale as a default suggestion.

User Account

Create a regular user account and set a strong password. The root account is separate — set a root password too, or leave it blank to disable direct root login (sudo will still work via your user account).

The installer completes in roughly 5–10 minutes on a modern SSD. A status bar and log window show real-time progress.

Step 4: First Boot and Initial Updates

Remove the USB when prompted and reboot. GRUB presents MX Linux and any other detected operating systems.

After logging in, open a terminal and run a full system update. MX Linux uses APT and Debian Stable repositories, supplemented by the MX and antiX repos.

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade -y

Reboot if a new kernel was installed:

sudo reboot

Step 5: Explore MX Tools

MX Tools is the standout feature of the distro — a launcher of purpose-built graphical utilities that handle tasks you'd otherwise dig into config files or memorise commands for.

Open it from the application menu under System → MX Tools, or run:

mx-tools

Key tools to know straight away:

• MX Package Installer — installs popular software from curated, tested packages including Flatpaks and AHS (Advanced Hardware Support) packages, all in one interface.
• MX Updater — a graphical front-end to APT updates with repo management built in. Equivalent to running apt update && apt upgrade but with visual feedback and optional repo toggling.
• MX Tweak — panel layout, compositor, window manager tweaks, and init system switching without touching config files.
• MX Snapshot — creates a live ISO of your running installation. Invaluable for backups or cloning a configured system to another machine.
• MX Boot Repair — fixes a broken GRUB without a rescue USB in most cases.
• MX Codecs Installer — installs multimedia codecs (libavcodec, MP3, DVD support) in one click, keeping them separate from the base ISO for legal distribution reasons.

Step 6: Install Drivers and Codecs

Run MX Codecs Installer from MX Tools immediately after the first update to enable full multimedia playback.

For Nvidia GPUs, open MX Package Installer, switch to the AHS tab (Advanced Hardware Support), and select the appropriate proprietary driver package. The AHS repo ships a newer kernel and driver stack than Debian Stable backports — useful for recent hardware.

AMD and Intel graphics work out of the box via the kernel's open-source drivers. No additional packages needed for most use cases.

Verification

Confirm your running kernel and init system:

uname -r
ps -p 1 -o comm=

The second command prints systemd or init depending on your choice during install. Verify the Debian base and MX version:

cat /etc/mx-version
lsb_release -a

Check that APT repositories are healthy:

sudo apt update

Output should show no errors and list the MX, antiX, and Debian Stable repos.

Troubleshooting

System Won't Boot After Install (UEFI)

Enter your firmware settings and confirm the MX Linux UEFI boot entry exists and is first in the order. If it's missing, use MX Boot Repair from a live USB. Secure Boot is not supported — disable it in firmware if you see a "Verification failed" error.

No Network After First Boot

Run sudo nmtui to connect via the terminal. If the NetworkManager service isn't running, check with systemctl status NetworkManager and start it with sudo systemctl enable --now NetworkManager. On SysV systems use sudo service NetworkManager start.

Screen Resolution Wrong or External Monitor Not Detected

Right-click the desktop and open Display Settings, or use xrandr from a terminal. For Nvidia cards, install the proprietary driver via AHS as described above — the open-source nouveau driver has limitations with some GPU generations.

APT Shows Errors About Expired Keys

Refresh the MX Linux keyring package:

sudo apt install --reinstall mx-keyring