Installing openEuler on a Desktop

So, you are willing to try the openEuler Linux distribution, an open source project backed by some of the biggest names in China with the aim to create a unified operating system, specially for developers. It should not be too unfamiliar to you if you have used Fedora, CentOS or any other distribution on the Red Hat side.

Let’s see how you can install it in this tutorial.

Download openEuler

First, you need to download the ISO of openEuler from the official website. On the official website, hover over Downloads and select a version of openEuler.

Note that it has ISOs for various types as well; Server, Edge Cloud, Cloud Computing and Embedded.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Click on openEuler version

There is no dedicated desktop version. If you are looking to install openEuler on a regular desktop, you install the server version and then install a desktop environment.

And that’s what we are going to do in this tutorial.

Download the standard ISO file using the download button. You can also click on View All and then select another Mirror Site column as shown below.

There is also an offline version that includes all the software packages but downloading a 21 GB ISO is not what I advise.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
View all button to view mirrors

Here, openEuler 24.03 LTS is used.

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It is recommended to download the respective “Integrity Check” SHASUM file as well for checking the integrity of the downloaded ISO file.

Install OpenEuler

Once you have downloaded and verified the ISO file, flash it to a USB drive.

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openEuler requires decent system resources. You can set it up with 4 GB and above, but 8 GB or higher is recommended for a better desktop experience.

When booted, select “Test this media & install openEuler” option.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Test Media and Boot

openEuler uses the Anaconda installer, the one used in Fedora. In the first step, select your language and click on continue.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Select Language (Click to enlarge)

Set the keyboard layout, timezone, and language to your requirements.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Keyboard layout, timezone and language settings.

Next, you can see that the Software Selection is Minimal Install. Click on the Software Selection button to get more options.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Click on Software Selection

Here, I have selected the Minimal Installation along with the Standard option.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Minimal Install (Click to enlarge)

As the next step, click on the Installation Destination button.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Click on Installation Destination

Since it is automatic partitioning, just press the Done button, unless you have some manual partition needed.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Click on Done button (Click to enlarge)

Click on the Network & Hostname button.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Network and Hostname button

Inside the settings, set a hostname.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Set a hostname
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If you are installing using the downloaded ISO file, then there is no need to turn on the network here. On the other hand, if you are using network installation, don’t forget to enable the network.

In the user create settings, create a local system user account. Click on the User Creation button.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Click on the User creation button

In the user creation window, enter all the credentials and click on Done.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Enter Credentials (Click to enlarge)
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Here, the Root account is disabled. You can enable it inside the Root Account settings and enter a password. But for local system usages, it is better to keep it disabled.

Once all the settings are completed in this stage, click on Begin Installation.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Click on “Begin Installation” (Click to enlarge)

This will start the installation. When the installation is finished, reboot the system.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Click on Reboot System

Don’t forget to remove the USB device. If you don’t remove the USB device and booted into the live environment again, shut down the system, remove the USB and then reboot.

Once you rebooted, you will end up in a command line interface, asking to log in. Enter the username and password you created during the installation step.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Command prompt login

Update the system

Since you are installing the system using the installation media, chances are there that, you have numerous package updates.

Since openEuler is based on CentOS, you can use the dnf command to manage packages, just like you do in Fedora.

sudo dnf update

It will take some time to finish the updates. Once updates are applied, reboot the system.

sudo reboot
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You will be asked to confirm both downloading the packages and importing the GPG key. Provide yes (y) to both questions.

Install a desktop environment

As said above, the default installation brings you to a command prompt set up. So, you need to install a graphical desktop to make it usable for personal purposes.

In this article, we will take a look at setting the UKUI and Xfce desktop.

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GNOME desktop is available with openEuler, but it requires a lot of typing. That presents trouble since you cannot copy and paste to the command prompt from the website.

Install UKUI desktop

UKUI is a neat desktop, that can be easily set up in openEuler. To install the desktop, use the command given below.

sudo dnf install ukui
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Installing UKUI will install ~700 packages, 1.5+ GB download, and 4.5+ GB disk space.

To log in to the graphical session in the login time, use the command:

sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

Once done, reboot the system using:

sudo reboot

You will be greeted with the UKUI login screen.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
UKUI login screen
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When I installed UKUI on GNOME Boxes virtual machine, it detected the display size as 5120×2160. I had to manually reduce it to 1920×1080 in UKUI Settings -> System -> Display.
Installing openEuler on a Desktop
UKUI Desktop (Click to enlarge)

Install Xfce Desktop

If you need something a bit more light on resource usage, go for the Xfce desktop. It is relatively easy to install Xfce in openEuler.

After updating the system, install all the necessary font libraries.

sudo dnf install dejavu-fonts liberation-fonts gnu-*-fonts google-*-fonts

Now, install the xorg group of packages.

sudo dnf install xorg-*

Install the Xfce desktop, window manager.

sudo dnf install xfwm4 xfdesktop xfce4-* xfce4-*-plugin *fonts

With Xfce, you can use the LightDM display manager.

sudo dnf install lightdm lightdm-gtk

Now, enable the LightDM display manager to start at login time.

sudo systemctl enable lightdm

To get a GUI login at login time, use the command:

sudo systemctl set-default graphical.target

Now, reboot the system.

sudo reboot

That’s it. You will be greeted to the LightDM login screen.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
LightDM login screen

Enter the credentials to log in to the Xfce session.

Installing openEuler on a Desktop
Xfce Desktop

Now you are ready to enjoy the openEuler system.

Conclusion

So, you just learned to install the openEuler distribution with a graphical desktop environment. Now you are ready to test the CentOS-istic distribution and explore it further. Next, we shall see a few tricks on setting things up post installation.

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