Introduction

A friendly guide for setting up Linux on ASUS laptops

By Denis Benato October 25, 2025

Intro

So you have decided to try out Linux in your ASUS laptop... That's great! However there are a few things to do before you can enjoy your linux installation.

Disclaimer

This guide does not cover the choices of running Windows and Linux, or only Linux on your device, and their respective partitioning requirements.

Preparations

Backup Propietary eSupport Drivers Folder

Stock installations of Windows on ASUS laptops include propietary drivers that cannot be sourced directly from the ASUS website or the MyASUS utility. Before removing the Windows partition or recovery partition these drivers should be backed up. If you ever decide to dual boot or run Windows in a VM, you will need a copy of the drivers for your specific model.

When present, the folder can be found in C:\eSupport: make sure to backup this folder up before performing any destructive operations on your Windows partition!

Creating a win-to-go installation

Certain laptops have one or more firmware for internal devices that must be updated using windows: it is very important you keep windows in a bootable state on a (preferably fast SSD or nvme) external disk!

Use your windows installation to run rufus and create a win-to-go installation of windows.

Once done start that windows installation and ensure it says it has a valid license (license should be applied from the ACPI just by booting up the installation) and install the official ASUS Armoury Crate as well as any other driver that is available via the ASUS website for your model.

WARNING The windows installation might be required if you ask for help to troubleshoot certain issues, so be sure to keep it safe and update it as well as armoury crate from time to time!

Disable VMD

Intel laptops have a feature called VMD that is not supported by linux and should be disabled (on the UEFI setup screen) to avoid problems.

AMD laptops can have a RAID mode that should also be disabled: use a software RAID instead if you need such feature.

Disable fastboot

The fastboot feature is known to cause random issues for linux, especially related to wifi cards and it is heavily suggested to disable said feature (you can find it on the UEFI setup screen).

Disable Secure Boot

IMPORTANT FOR DUAL BOOT USERS!!! DISABLE WINDOWS BITLOCKER BEFORE DOING THIS! OR YOUR DATA WILL BE GONE FOREVER!

To make sure Nvidia drivers and the necessary support modules work without issues, Secure Boot must be disabled in the UEFI.

  1. Press DEL repeatedly during boot to enter UEFI setup screen
  2. Press F7 for advanced mode
  3. Security → Secure Boot Control → Disable
  4. Save and exit

This move won't brick your laptop, the only risk here is your data in Windows if you didn't disable Bitlocker before doing this.

Use the Laptop Screen

Due to display signal routing on Asus ROG laptops, and the setup process dealing with multiple graphics devices, having external screens connected during setup may result in unpredictable behavior. Please install your OS with all external displays disconnected.

Disable nouveau

You might encounter the issue about nouveau crashing the installation: this can be solved by adding a boot parameter modprobe.blacklist=nouveau to the kernel cmdline before booting the installation media. To edit the installation media boot entry just press e on it and then put the blacklist parameter at the end off all parameters. Example:

Blacklist nouveau

The same parameter can be used to boot the installed system, but it is not needed after installing official nvidia drivers.

Switch to Hybrid mode on Windows

If you have a 2022 or newer model, please put it into Hybrid mode in advance on Windows. Otherwise, it may cause some unexpected bugs/issues.

Legal Matters

ASUS and ROG Trademark is either a US registered trademark or trademark of ASUSTeK Computer Inc. in the United States and/or other countries.

Reference to any ASUS products, services, processes, or other information and/or use of ASUS Trademarks does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship, or recommendation thereof by ASUS.

The use of ROG and ASUS trademarks within this website and associated tools and libraries is only to provide a recognisable identifier to users to enable them to associate that these tools will work with ASUS ROG laptops.

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