How to Install Gentoo Linux (2026 Edition) | Full Guide

Summary

Tony presents a UEFI-focused Gentoo Linux installation using the Gentoo Minimal Installation CD and the Gentoo Handbook as a guide. The walkthrough installs Gentoo with OpenRC, a binary kernel, GRUB, and a minimal graphical setup using dwm.

Installation process

Prepare the installation environment

• Download and boot the Gentoo Minimal Installation CD.
• Use the Gentoo Installation Handbook, checking it for current instructions if installing with a later release.
• Confirm internet access, for example by pinging gentoo.org. The video uses Ethernet and points viewers to iwctl instructions for Wi-Fi.
• The narrator notes that Ctrl+L clears the terminal and Ctrl+C interrupts a running command.

Partition and format the disk

• Use cfdisk on the example disk /dev/sda, selecting GPT for the UEFI system.
• Create three partitions:
  • 1 GB boot partition
  • 4 GB swap partition
  • Root partition using the remaining disk space
• Format the root partition as ext4 and the boot partition as FAT32, then initialize swap.
• Create a mount point under /mnt, mount the root partition there, and enable swap.

Download and unpack the Gentoo stage

• Check that the system date is correct before continuing.
• Use the text-mode links browser to download a Stage 3 OpenRC tarball from Gentoo’s mirrors.
• Extract it into the mounted root filesystem.

Set Portage build options

• Edit /etc/portage/make.conf.
• Set MAKEOPTS to control parallel compilation. The narrator follows the wiki’s guideline of choosing the lower of half the available RAM or the CPU thread count, using -j5 in his example.
• Set USE flags to disable features he does not plan to use: systemd, KDE, GNOME, and Bluetooth. USE flags determine which optional features packages are built with.

Install the base system

• Copy DNS configuration into the new system and mount the required virtual filesystems.
• Enter the new environment with chroot, load its profile, and mount the boot partition.
• Sync Portage and check the available profiles. The narrator keeps the profile already selected on his system, identified as profile 21; this is specific to his setup.
• Update the world set, including deep dependency and changed-USE-flag updates. The narrator notes that this can take a long time.
• Install Vim for editing configuration files.

Configure time and locale

• Set the system timezone; the example uses Los Angeles.
• Enable the en_US.UTF-8 locale, generate locales, select the system locale, and refresh the environment.

Install firmware and kernel

• Add the required license acceptance for the Linux firmware package, then install Linux firmware.
• Install sof-firmware for systems that need it for newer sound hardware.
• Rather than configuring a custom kernel, the narrator installs a binary Gentoo kernel. He points viewers interested in manual kernel configuration to the Gentoo wiki.
• Configure the install-kernel package with the needed dracut and GRUB support.

Configure mounts and networking

• Write /etc/fstab entries for the boot, swap, and root partitions. The example uses device names rather than UUIDs; the narrator says UUIDs are preferable if drive ordering may change.
• Set the hostname and add it to /etc/hosts.
• Identify the network interface, configure it for DHCP, and enable its network service at boot using OpenRC.

Create a user and install GRUB

• Set the root password, create a regular user, add that user to relevant groups, and set the user’s password.
• Install sudo and enable sudo access for the wheel group.
• Configure GRUB for UEFI, install GRUB and the EFI boot manager, then generate the GRUB configuration.
• Verify that GRUB detects both the initramfs and Linux kernel before unmounting the installation filesystems and rebooting.
• The video uses 1234 as an example password; that is not a secure password to use on a real installation.

Install a minimal graphical environment

• After booting into Gentoo, add package-specific USE flags for the Xorg setup and WPA supplicant/DBus support.
• Install Xorg, its utilities and video driver, X initialization tools, and a display/login component.
• Install dwm and the ST terminal, then create an .xinitrc file that launches dwm.
• Install DBus and NetworkManager, enable NetworkManager at startup, and reboot.
• Log in and run startx to launch the desktop. The narrator ends by opening a terminal and running Neofetch.

Speakers and sources featured

• Tony — Narrator and installation demonstrator.
• Gentoo Installation Handbook/Wiki — The reference guide Tony follows and recommends consulting.