ArashOS

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ArashOS 2026.11.1

Released on 6 November 2026. The installer for 64-bit computers, to write to a USB stick and start the computer from.

Before you start: what doesn't work yet

  • The USB stick starts only with Secure Boot turned off in the computer’s startup (BIOS or UEFI) settings. Once ArashOS is installed, the welcome can turn it on with your own keys.
  • The installer can’t yet split a disk the way you choose: ArashOS takes the whole disk, the free space or the partition you choose.
  • The installer on this USB stick has been tried in virtual machines only. ArashOS runs every day on three computers: an Intel laptop, an NVIDIA laptop and a desktop with two NVIDIA cards and three screens. On other hardware it may not work. Back up your files first, and tell us what happens: hello@arashos.org.

What a computer needs

Processor
64-bit Intel or AMD (x86_64).
Startup
UEFI. Computers that can only start the old way (BIOS) can't run it.
Secure Boot
Off while you start from the USB stick. Once ArashOS is installed, the welcome can turn it back on with your own keys.
Disk space
33 GB, plus as much space as the computer has memory (RAM), so it can hibernate. With 16 GB of memory, a 64 GB disk or larger. The installer checks the space and says if it's too small.
USB stick
2 GB or larger. Writing the installer to it erases everything on it.
Internet
While installing, by cable or Wi-Fi: some packages are downloaded then.
Download ArashOS 2026.11.1

arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso, 1.4 GB, from the release on GitHub.

Check the download

Before you start a computer from the file, check that it arrived whole and that ArashOS made it. These steps use a terminal on Linux; on a computer that runs ArashOS, the last step is the only one you need. A checksum shows the file arrived whole; a signature shows ArashOS made it.

  1. Download the three small files

    Put them in the same folder as the installer file (the ISO): arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso.sha256, arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso.sig and arashos-release.asc.

  2. Check that it arrived whole

    sha256sum -c arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso.sha256

    It should say OK. The file's SHA-256 is:

    6d73909337b01ee4f73ac43d84b40f4b60a3558902ccbc8c7108101a049950af

    On Windows, Get-FileHash arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso in PowerShell shows it; on a Mac, shasum -a 256 arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso in Terminal.

  3. Check the key

    A matching checksum doesn't show who made the file: someone who swapped the ISO could swap its checksum too. The signature does, so first check the key it was made with:

    gpg --show-keys arashos-release.asc

    Its fingerprint must be:

    4430 60AB 26BE E9F9 FAB9 4C19 ED4D C618 1E2F 40E7

    The same one keys.openpgp.org gives for release@arashos.org. That's the check that counts. The ISO, its signature and the key are all on GitHub, so someone who took over the GitHub account could change all three. Only someone who receives mail at arashos.org could have put the key on keys.openpgp.org.

  4. Check the signature

    gpg --dearmor <arashos-release.asc >arashos-release.gpg
gpgv --keyring ./arashos-release.gpg arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso.sig arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso

    It should say Good signature from "ArashOS Release Key <release@arashos.org>". On a computer that already runs ArashOS, check it with the key that computer trusts instead:

    gpgv --keyring /usr/share/pacman/keyrings/arashos.gpg arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso.sig arashos-2026.11.1-x86_64.iso

If a check fails, don't start a computer from the file. Download it again, and if it still fails, write to hello@arashos.org.

Then install it

The install guide says how to write the file to a USB stick, start the computer from it, and what the installer asks.

Older releases

Every release and its notes are on the releases page.