Description

How to reinstall the operating system varies depending on the distribution. This tip covers Fedora, Ubuntu, and Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

Applicable Systems

Only Lenovo systems preloaded with Linux

Operating Systems

• Fedora
• Ubuntu 20
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux 8 (64-bit)

Solution

Fedora

Lenovo uses Fedora Workstation edition as our preloaded image. The only modification is documents in the /opt/lenovo directory.

To reinstall Fedora:

1. Go to: https://getfedora.org/ and download the Fedora Workstation installer.
2. Put the installer on a USB stick (instructions are on the Fedora site as to how to do this).
3. Put the USB stick in the computer, power on, and press F12 to launch the boot menu.
4. Select the USB stick and then follow the instructions.
5. Documents are on the Lenovo support site.

Ubuntu

If the Ubuntu system was not purchased from Lenovo, then try the latest version from https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop.

If you have a preloaded Ubuntu system, then hopefully you created a recovery USB stick when prompted during the initial bootup. If you did not, then the preload image provides a rescue partition that allows you to return your system to a factory default condition.

1. Make sure to back up any data you do not want to lose.
2. Boot to the GRUB menu boot. To do this hit ESC immediately after the To interrupt normal startup press Enter message disappears.
3. Select the recovery option.
4. Follow instructions from the installer.

If you erased the recovery partition and do not have a recovery USB stick, contact Lenovo support for assistance.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux

1. Get the installer from Red Hat (https://access.redhat.com/downloads).
2. Users will need a Red Hat account.
3. We have a copr repository (https://copr.fedorainfracloud.org/coprs/lenovo/updates/) that we use for hosting fixes for RHEL that aren’t in the default distro yet. For hardware related issues (for example audio) check this to see if there are updated packages that will solve the issue.

SUSE, Debian, and Others

Check out our forums (https://forums.lenovo.com/linux).

Related Articles

• Linux for Personal Systems
• How to install Applications - Linux
• How to do software updates - Linux
• How to collect debug information - Linux
• Introduction to the GNOME desktop - Linux
• How to configure networking - Linux
• Lenovo Diagnostic Solutions: Downloads
• Linux Certification - What does it mean