Try it

Run it from a USB stick first. Nothing on the machine changes.

Two separate things, worth keeping separate. Trying means booting from a USB stick: colorburst runs off the stick, the internal disk is untouched, and pulling the stick out leaves the machine as it was. Installing comes later, if it suits you: it erases the disk you choose.

Two things to know first

Secure Boot. Most machines refuse to boot from a USB stick until you turn Secure Boot off in UEFI/BIOS. Nothing is broken; that is normal for any operating system that is not Windows. Press F2, F10 or Del as the machine powers on, find Security or Boot, set Secure Boot to Disabled, save. Turning it back on later is the same few steps.

The installer erases the disk — this applies only if you install. If the machine has more than one disk, the safe thing is to unplug the others first. If you are only trying from USB, nothing is erased.

Step 1: write the USB stick

You need a stick of 16 GB or more. Writing erases it.

• Download colorburst-<version>.zip from Releases.
• Write it to the stick. On Windows and macOS use balenaEtcher, which accepts the .zip directly. On Linux, unzip then dd. Copying the file onto the stick is not enough — it has to be written with a tool.

Step 2: boot from it

• Turn Secure Boot off, if you have not.
• Plug the stick in, power on, and choose to boot from it. Many machines have a boot-menu key at power-on (F12, Esc or F9); otherwise put the stick first in the Boot section of UEFI/BIOS.
• Wait for the welcome screen, create an account, and use it. Everything runs from the stick.

While you are trying it, check the things you actually need: Wi-Fi, sound, a printer if you use one. If something is missing, you have lost nothing — shut down and pull the stick out.

Step 3: install, if it suits you

• Back up the machine first. Installing erases the disk you choose, and there is no undo.
• If the machine has several disks, unplug the ones you are not installing to.
• Boot from the stick as before and choose to install on the welcome screen. It takes about ten minutes. Then pull the stick out and restart.

If something goes wrong at any step, please report it.