Install Nubo OS

Try Nubo OS first from a USB stick: a live session runs the whole desktop and writes nothing to your disk. The installer is Ubuntu’s installer, branded Nubo OS. The desktop image is early access on request; server images are downloadable now. Installing can erase data, so back up first.

How do I try it without installing?

1. Write the installer to a USB stick.
2. Shut down, plug it in and press your computer’s boot menu key (often F12, F10, F2, Esc or Del) while the logo shows.
3. Choose the UEFI entry for the stick, then the option to try Nubo OS without installing.
4. Look around. Open the overview with the Nubo logo at the top left and Nubo Search with Super+Space.

The live session already has the Nubo packages. Settings and files are lost on restart. Secure Boot works, so you do not need to turn it off.

How do I install it on a PC?

1. Back up everything you want to keep.
2. Boot the USB stick as above and start the installer.
3. Choose language, keyboard and, if asked, a network. A network is helpful but optional: the installer gets packages through Nubo Cumulus and falls back to the packages on the stick.
4. Choose where to install. Erasing the disk loses everything on it. To keep another system, choose the option to install alongside it.
5. Create your account, choose a time zone and start. The installer asks an Ubuntu geolocation service for a time zone guess; set it by hand if you prefer.
6. After the last screen, the installer adds the Nubo packages. Restart when asked and remove the stick.
7. On first boot with a network, Firefox, LocalSend, Newelle, Collabora Office, Shortwave, Spotify (x86 only) and VLC are installed from Flathub. Without a network the step retries on the next boot.

To check, open Settings, then About: the system reads “Nubo OS 1”. In a terminal, dpkg -l nubo-desktop shows ii when installed.

Can I run it in a virtual machine?

Yes. Use a UEFI virtual machine with a virtual disk. If the screen flickers, see the known issues page.

How do I get a server image?

Server images come in eight files: four editions (Server, Virtualization, Containers, Edge) for two processor types (amd64, arm64). They are published at:

https://archive.nubosuite.tech/iso/<version>/nubo-os-<edition>-<version>-<arch>.iso
https://archive.nubosuite.tech/iso/<version>/nubo-os-<edition>-<version>-<arch>.iso.sha256

The edition in the file name is server, virt, containers or edge. Which version is current is shown on the download page; when this page was written it listed a beta numbered 0.8.0-beta11. Check the SHA-256 value after you download:

sha256sum nubo-os-server-<version>-amd64.iso
# compare with the .sha256 file

On macOS use shasum -a 256; in Windows PowerShell use Get-FileHash.

Can I add Nubo to an existing Ubuntu 26.04?

Yes. The nubo-desktop packages can be installed from the Nubo archive at archive.nubosuite.tech, whose signing key fingerprint is EE1A 4B74 9E23 2015 01F2 0336 0F74 01D7 AF7D 2593.

What else is not ready?

Cloud and VM images (qcow2, vhd, vmdk) and a Raspberry Pi image have build scripts but are not offered on the download page yet.