From Windows or macOS

What carries over, what changes, and what doesn’t come with you.

Will it run on your computer?

You have	Pulsar?
A Windows PC with Intel or AMD graphics	Yes. The standard download.
A Windows PC with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX card	Yes. The NVIDIA download (`nvidia-open`: RTX 20, GTX 16 and newer). Older GeForce cards: use the standard download.
A Mac with Apple silicon (M1 and later)	No. Pulsar is x86_64 only.
An Intel Mac, 2018 to 2020	No. The T2 chip’s keyboard, trackpad and audio need drivers Fedora’s kernel lacks.
An older Intel Mac	Maybe. Untested. Broadcom Wi-Fi needs a driver the image lacks; keep a wired connection handy.

Which graphics? Windows: Task Manager → Performance lists each GPU.

Before you start

Back up everything you want to keep to an external drive or a cloud. The installer erases only what you tell it to.

BitLocker (Windows). Save the recovery key (Microsoft account or Control Panel) before changing firmware settings: a boot-order or Secure Boot change can make Windows ask for it. The first command below (PowerShell, admin) prints Protection On if it’s enabled.
FileVault (Mac). Only macOS can read your files. Copy them off first.
Licenses and passwords. Deactivate anything that counts devices (Adobe, Office, some games). Export or sync your browser’s passwords.

Make the USB stick

A USB stick of 8 GB or more (it will be erased) and the ISO from Get Pulsar.

From Windows or macOS: Fedora Media Writer

Install Fedora Media Writer from fedoraproject.org, choose Select .iso file, pick the Pulsar ISO and the stick, and write.

Rufus, balenaEtcher and friends

They work. In Rufus, pick DD mode. Ventoy works with the current ISO; read the warning about old downloads first.

To verify the download, see Install.

Start from the stick

A PC: restart with the stick in and tap the boot menu key (usually F12, F11, F8 or Esc). Pick the USB entry.
An Intel Mac: hold Option at startup and pick EFI Boot.

Leave Secure Boot on. The NVIDIA image needs its key enrolled once after installing: steps.

The installer asks which disk and layout and changes nothing until you confirm. On a laptop, turn on disk encryption at the disk step.

The installer sets UTC. Settings → System → Date & Time: turn on automatic time zone, or pick yours.

Keeping Windows

Keep Windows on the same disk and choose at power-on:

Make room. Disk Management → right-click C: → Shrink Volume. 100 GB or more for games. Leave it unallocated.
Turn off Fast Startup (Control Panel → Power Options → Choose what the power buttons do), or the Windows drive stays locked.
Have the BitLocker key from Before you start.
In the installer, pick the free space. Leave the Windows partitions alone.

If Windows isn’t in Pulsar’s boot menu, the PC’s boot menu lists Windows Boot Manager. Files can open the Windows drive if Windows was shut down fully.

Clock off by your time zone after switching? Windows keeps the hardware clock in local time. Make Pulsar do the same:

Where things moved

Windows	macOS	Pulsar
Start menu	Spotlight, Launchpad	Press Super and type. Super+A shows every app.
Taskbar	Dock	The dash, in the overview. Right-click an app there to pin it.
Settings, Control Panel	System Settings	Settings, in the app grid, or Super and type what you want.
Microsoft Store, a .exe	App Store, a .dmg	GNOME Software, or flatpak install. Both install Flatpaks.
Windows Update	Software Update	Downloads in the background; a notification offers a restart. Never restarts on its own.
File Explorer	Finder	Files. Your folders are under /home/you, called ~ for short.
Task Manager	Activity Monitor	System Monitor, in the app grid.
Terminal, PowerShell	Terminal	Ptyxis. Themed along with everything else.
System Restore	Time Machine (the system half)	Rollback: the previous build is in the boot menu. Your files are yours to back up.

Window buttons are at the top right. To move them left: GNOME Tweaks → Windows → Titlebar Buttons → Placement. Tap-to-click and two-finger scrolling are on.

There is no C:\. Your files are in your home folder; the system is a read-only image, so updates can’t touch your documents and can be undone. Where things go.

Installing apps

Apps are Flatpaks from Flathub. Install them in GNOME Software, or in the terminal:

Firefox is built in. The first boot with a network installs a starting set (text editor, calculator, image, PDF, video and music viewers, Steam, Heroic, Discord, OBS Studio and more). Removed apps stay removed.

Apps you might be looking for

All on Flathub; search the name in Software.

You used	Here
Office documents	LibreOffice, ONLYOFFICE
Photoshop, Paint	GIMP, Krita, Pinta
Illustrator	Inkscape
Lightroom	darktable
Premiere, iMovie	Kdenlive
Outlook, Mail	Thunderbird
VLC, a video you double-clicked	Showtime (installed), VLC
Chrome, Brave	The same apps
Spotify, Slack, Zoom, Signal	The same apps
A password manager	Bitwarden

That one Windows program

Bottles (installed) runs many Windows programs through Wine. Utilities and older software often work; suites with activation (Microsoft Office, Adobe Creative Cloud) mostly don’t, so use their web versions. Mac-only apps can’t run.

Updates

The system updates as one image. It downloads in the background on AC power, and a notification (Pulsar 44.x is ready, with a Restart button) says when it’s ready. It takes over at your next restart; nothing restarts on its own.

The second line in pulsar status is the previous build: if an update misbehaves, pick it in the boot menu. Rollback covers the system, not your files. Updates and rollback.

Keyboard shortcuts

Super is the Windows key (Cmd on a Mac keyboard). Tap it and type to find any app, file or setting.

Keys	Does
Super	The overview: windows, workspaces and search Windows: Win · Mac: Cmd+Space
Super+A	Every app Windows: Win, then All apps · Mac: Launchpad
Alt+Tab	Switch apps. Alt+` switches windows of one app Windows: Alt+Tab · Mac: Cmd+Tab
Super+←/→	Snap a window to half the screen Windows: Win+←/→ · Mac: drag it to the edge
Super+↑/↓	Maximize, and back Windows: Win+↑/↓ · Mac: the green button
Super+H	Minimize Windows: Win+↓ · Mac: Cmd+M
Super+PgUp/PgDn	Switch workspace Windows: Win+Ctrl+←/→ · Mac: Ctrl+←/→
Super+V	Notifications and the calendar Windows: Win+N · Mac: click the clock
Print	Screenshot or screen recording Windows: Win+Shift+S · Mac: Cmd+Shift+5
Super+L	Lock the screen Windows: Win+L · Mac: Ctrl+Cmd+Q
Ctrl+Q	Quit an app. Alt+F4 closes a window here too Windows: Alt+F4 · Mac: Cmd+Q
Super+T	Pulsar’s theme picker, if that shortcut was free

From a Mac: copy and paste are Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. In the terminal, Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V (Ctrl+C stops the running command).

Games

Steam is installed; most Windows games run through Proton. Heroic covers Epic, GOG and Amazon. Gaming.

Anti-cheat: games whose anti-cheat blocks Linux won’t run (currently Valorant, League of Legends, Fortnite, recent Call of Duty). Easy Anti-Cheat and BattlEye games work only if the developer enabled Proton support. Check ProtonDB before wiping anything, or keep Windows.

What won’t work here

Microsoft Office and Adobe apps as desktop programs. Their web versions work in the browser.
Games with Linux-hostile anti-cheat, above.
Apple’s services. No Linux clients for iCloud Drive, iMessage or AirDrop. iCloud’s website works.
Windows-only hardware tools (RGB, fan, peripheral apps). The hardware usually works.
Apple silicon Macs, at all.

For anything else, search GNOME Software first.

When you’re stuck

Open the terminal (Super, type terminal) and run:

Each check prints ok, warn or FAIL; warnings say what to do. To ask for help, share pulsar report --text (personal details removed). Troubleshooting.

Written with help from AI and reviewed by a person before publishing. Spotted a mistake? Let us know.