From USB stick to first game.

Check the PC against this list, and download the ISO.

An AMD Radeon graphics card

VaporOS streams with AMD GPUs on the amdgpu driver. NVIDIA and Intel graphics aren't supported yet.

An x86-64-v3 processor

Intel Core 4th gen (Haswell), AMD Ryzen (Zen), or newer. Some Pentium and Celeron chips lack the needed instructions (AVX2).

UEFI, with Secure Boot off

The kernel isn't signed for Secure Boot. Legacy BIOS boot isn't supported.

A drive of at least 24.5 GiB

About 26.3 GB; 32 GB or larger is recommended. VaporOS takes the whole drive. Steam libraries on other drives can stay and be used.

A network cable

Setup happens over your home network, and Wake-on-LAN needs a wired connection.

A USB stick, and a screen if you have one

Everything on the stick is erased when you write the ISO. A monitor or TV helps with the firmware settings and shows the setup code; with none connected, the installer skips the code. You don't need it afterwards.

The ISO is a disk image, not a file to copy. Write it to the stick with one of these:

• balenaEtcher (Windows, Mac, Linux): pick the ISO, pick the stick, Flash.
• Rufus (Windows): pick the ISO and the stick. If Rufus asks how to write the image, choose DD Image mode.
• dd on Linux or macOS. Double-check the device name: dd overwrites whatever you point it at.

# Find the USB stick, e.g. /dev/sdb
lsblk
sudo dd if=vaporos-<version>.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=sync

# Find the USB stick, e.g. /dev/disk4
diskutil list
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
sudo dd if=vaporos-<version>.iso of=/dev/rdiskN bs=4m

Already use Ventoy? Then the ISO is a file to copy after all: put it on the Ventoy stick and pick it from the menu. That works in normal mode on exFAT (Ventoy's default), FAT32 or NTFS.

Open the PC's firmware setup (usually Del or F2 right after power on) and check three things:

• Boot mode: UEFI. Turn off CSM or legacy boot if it's on. The installer only boots in UEFI mode.
• Secure Boot: off. The VaporOS kernel isn't signed for Secure Boot.
• Wake-on-LAN: on. Often called Power On By PCI-E or Resume by LAN; turn off ErP, EuP or deep sleep if the firmware has them. VaporOS powers off when nobody plays, and Moonlight wakes it this way.

Plug in a network cable. A connected monitor or TV shows the address and the setup code; you can unplug it afterwards. With no monitor, the installer doesn't ask for a code, so anyone on your network could open it: install that way only on a network you trust.

Start the PC from the USB stick (the one-time boot menu is often F11, F12 or F8). After a moment the screen says Ready to install and shows:

• the address http://vaporos-setup.local, and the PC's IP address;
• a setup code;
• a QR code that opens the installer with the code filled in.

If the screen says Waiting for the network, plug in the network cable. No monitor? Open http://vaporos-setup.local on your phone.

Scan the QR code, or open the address in a browser on the same network. The installer walks you through it:

1. 1 of 6

   Setup code

   Enter the code from the screen. Scanning the QR code fills it in for you. It keeps other people on your network from installing over your PC. With no monitor connected, the installer skips this step.

2. 2 of 6

   Drive

   Pick the drive to install on. The USB stick you started from isn't listed. If the drive already has VaporOS, you can repair it: games, settings and paired devices stay, and the PC keeps its name and time zone.

3. 3 of 6

   Name

   Choose the name on your network (vapor by default, so the address is vapor.local) and an admin password of at least 8 characters. On a repair the name stays and the password is optional: leave it empty to keep the current one.

4. 4 of 6

   Games

   Pick your time zone, and tick any Steam libraries found on other drives to keep playing those games. VaporOS adds the ticked libraries to Steam for you. A repair keeps the time zone.

5. 5 of 6

   Install

   Check the summary. If the drive will be erased, type ERASE to confirm. The install takes a few minutes; keep the USB stick in.

6. 6 of 6

   Restart

   Remove the USB stick and press Restart now. VaporOS starts in about a minute, and the page moves on by itself.

Open http://vapor.local (or the name you chose, plus .local) and sign in with your admin password. Home shows whether VaporOS is Ready to stream and what it's doing, with Pair, Stay awake 1 h and Power under Controls. The other tabs are Devices, Screen and System.

If .local names don't work on your network, use the IP address from the welcome screen instead, or find it in your router's list of devices.

See it in the live demo

Moonlight is the free app that plays your games from the PC. Get it for your device:

• iPhone, iPad, Apple TVApp Store
• Android, Google TVGoogle Play
• Windows, Mac, Linuxmoonlight-stream.org

1. 1Open Moonlight on the same network. It usually finds the PC by itself; tap it. If it doesn't, tap + (Add PC) and enter the PC's address.
2. 2Moonlight shows a 4-digit PIN. On the VaporOS page, tap Enter PIN (on Home or under Devices) and type the PIN: it pairs as soon as you enter the last digit. A connected monitor also says when a device wants to pair.
3. 3Pick Steam, or one of your games, in Moonlight and play. The virtual display switches to that device's resolution, frame rate and HDR.

See it in the live demo

VaporOS checks for new versions and, by default, downloads and prepares them in the background. A prepared update starts on the next restart; you can also restart right away from System › Updates. Turn off Download updates automatically to decide yourself.

Each update is written to the copy of the system you aren't running. If the new version doesn't start cleanly, the PC returns to the previous version by itself, and System › Updates lists the version that didn't start. To go back by hand, choose Go back and restart. VaporOS then holds back the version you left: it won't install it again by itself, only a newer one.

If the PC has a wired network adapter that can wake it (Wake-on-LAN), the installer turns on idle power-off: after 15 minutes of nobody playing, VaporOS powers off, but never while it streams, runs a game, downloads or updates. Without one it stays on. Change this under System › Power, or keep it awake for 1 or 4 hours with Stay awake.

To turn it back on, select the PC in Moonlight and choose Wake. Wake-on-LAN needs a wired connection, and may need to be enabled in the PC's firmware. Any Wake-on-LAN app works too, with the MAC address and the broadcast address on the Wake it card under System › Power.