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Rocky Linux ISOs and Images

For a given Rocky Linux release, ISOs and images are generated and provided to the community, providing different means of installing Rocky Linux, whether that be a full DVD iso image, a boot iso, live desktop images, or even cloud images.

It is important to note that the images provided and what they provide may differ between major releases (such as provided packages, installable/installed groups, and so on).

About ISO Images

Version boot minimal dvd Architectures
Rocky Linux 8 Yes Yes Yes x86_64, aarch64
Rocky Linux 9 Yes Yes Yes x86_64, aarch64, ppc64le, s390x

Every Rocky Linux release gets a set of ISO's. These ISO's are made by the tooling used to make and finalize the distribution. For a given Rocky Linux release, they will live in an isos directory at the root of a Rocky Linux release.

There are three formats for the ISO's. See the notes below.

Notes about: Multiple ISO images, what is what?

There are multiple templated formats for each ISO you may see.

Format Type Context
Rocky-X.Y-ARCH-TYPE ISO File Day of release ISO
Rocky-X.Y-DATE-ARCH-TYPE ISO File Rebuilt ISO
Rocky-ARCH-TYPE Symlink Symlink to the latest ISO
  • X is the major version
  • Y is the minor version
  • ARCH is the architecture
  • DATE will be the date the ISO was built (if applicable)
  • TYPE will be the type of ISO (boot, dvd, minimal)

The first format is the most common and is the day-of-release ISO.

The second format is in the case of rebuilt ISO's, typically in the case of addressing a bug or providing updated images (in the case of a newer kernel, a new secure boot shim, and so on).

The third format is a symlink to the "latest" ISO. Currently, this is not advertised on the main site but may be in the future. This unversioned image is for these cases:

  • A pre-determined download location for users/mirrors/service providers who want an always available and deterministic download location, which can be easier to script
  • osinfo database / libvirt use where if a user selects Rocky Linux X, it should be aware of and be able to download from that location. This should be fully supported in Rocky Linux 8.7 and 9.1, and future Fedora versions.

Notes about: What does each ISO do?

Each ISO that is provided has a specific purpose.

  • The boot image, or also known as the "net install" media, is used to perform Rocky Linux installations over the internet.

  • The minimal image is typically used to install a minimal Rocky Linux environment without downloading the entire DVD image or using the boot ISO to do so.

    • The equivalent dnf group/environment would be Minimal Install
    • The equivalent dnf group/environment for a kickstart would be @^minimal-environment - This can also be used with dnf install as @minimal-environment

  • The dvd image, or also known as the "everything" or "BaseOS" media, contains everything needed to do a custom installation of Rocky Linux without needing an internet connection.

Notes about: Writing the ISO's

There are many ways to write ISO's to a USB. See the below lists for what to and what not to use.

The following are listed as do not use as they are known for breaking isohybrid images or causing other inconsistencies:

  • rufus
  • unetbootin
  • multibootusb
  • universal usb installer

Warning

Rufus can only work for Rocky Linux images if you use "dd mode". Do not use ISO mode as it will result in a broken installer. It is recommended by Release Engineering that you use a writer from the recommended section on this page.

About Cloud Images

Every Rocky Linux release gets a set of cloud images that can be consumed into their cloud infrastructure as they see fit. They will live in an images directory at the root of a Rocky Linux release.

Version Generic Cloud EC2
Rocky Linux 8 Yes (x86_64, aarch64) Yes (x86_64, aarch64)
Rocky Linux 9 Yes (x86_64, aarch64, others*) Yes (x86_64, aarch64)

There are two formats for the images:

Format Type Context
Rocky-X-CLOUD{-TYPE}-X.Y-DATE-ARCH.FORMAT Image File Any given cloud image
Rocky-X-CLOUD{-TYPE}.latest.ARCH.FORMAT Symlink Symlink to the latest image
Rocky-X-CLOUD.latest.ARCH.FORMAT Symlink Symlink to the latest primary image
  • X is the major version
  • Y is the minor version
  • ARCH is the architecture
  • DATE will be the date of when the image was produced (YYYYMMDD.X, X starts at 0)
  • CLOUD will the type of cloud image (e.g., GenericCloud)
  • TYPE will be the type of image such as Base or LVM, if applicable
  • FORMAT will be raw or qcow2

The first format will always exist. Cloud images will appear in this format in majority of cases and there may be more than one at any given time. Updates can occur for newer kernels or to address issues in previous versions. This means the date will change frequently.

The second format is a symlink to the latest cloud image of that variant and type, if applicable.

The third format is symlinked to the latest available image. This allows users/mirrors/service providers to have an always available and deterministic download location that can be scripted if they wish to always pull the latest available. This is typically the "Base" variant.

About Live Images

Every Rocky Linux release provides a set of live images that a user can download, boot, use, and optionally install to their systems. The live images are desktop oriented images that are primarily for desktop use cases and try to closely match similarly to what Fedora provides for their releases.

Version GNOME / Workstation KDE XFCE Architectures
Rocky Linux 8 Yes No* Yes x86_64
Rocky Linux 9 Yes Yes Yes x86_64, aarch64

* This image is not available either due to image/package issues or issues with the desktop environment in that version of Rocky Linux.

Notes about: Missing architectures

There are plans to potentially provide ppc64le live images, as there are some POWER workstations out in the wild.

Notes about: Kickstarts

The kickstarts that help generate these live images can be found at https://git.resf.org/sig_core/kickstarts and the mirror at https://github.com/rocky-linux/kickstarts.

About Pi Images (maintained by SIG/AltArch)

The raspberry pi images are exactly what's labeled on the tin, images for the means of installing to an sd card to run Rocky Linux on a raspberry pi. These images are supported by SIG/AltArch community members.

These are provided in the SIG directories.

The git repository that contains the kickstart and other data related to the creation of these images are located at https://git.resf.org/sig_altarch/RockyRpi.

For general quickstart information, checkout the readme for the images.

Version README (direct)
Rocky Linux 8 for Raspberry Pi README
Rocky Linux 9 for Raspberry Pi README