You do not need an optical drive to reinstall Fedora. A USB stick and Fedora’s official installer are all a modern Lenovo laptop needs — and as of July 2026, the latest stable release is Fedora Workstation 44, built on kernel 6.14 and GNOME 48.
This guide walks through wiping a Lenovo laptop completely and doing a clean install: back up first, build the installation USB (including the macOS-specific issues you are likely to hit), boot the Lenovo from it, erase the disk, and update the fresh system.
Before You Start: Back Up Everything
The steps below delete:
- The current Fedora (or Windows) installation
- Every personal file, photo, download, and setting on the internal drive
- Any recovery partitions on the selected disk
Copy anything important to an external drive, a different USB stick, or cloud storage — including browser passwords, SSH keys, and dotfiles in your home directory. Keep the laptop plugged into its charger for the whole process; a mid-install power loss can leave the disk in an unbootable state.
Step 1: Create the Fedora Installation USB
You’ll need a USB stick of at least 4 GB. Everything currently on it will be erased.
Option A: Fedora Media Writer (Linux, Windows, or macOS)
Fedora Media Writer is Fedora’s official tool for building bootable installation media, and it can download the correct image for you automatically.
On an existing Fedora machine:
sudo dnf install mediawriterOn Windows or macOS, download Fedora Media Writer from Fedora’s official Workstation download page instead. Then:
- Open Fedora Media Writer.
- Select Fedora Workstation and confirm it picked Fedora Workstation 44, x86_64 — Lenovo laptops with Intel or AMD processors need the
x86_64image, even if you’re writing the USB from an Apple Silicon Mac. - Select your USB stick carefully — double-check the size against your actual drive.
- Click Write (or Create Live USB) and wait for writing and verification to finish.
Fixing “FedoraMediaWriter is damaged and can’t be opened” on macOS
This is a known Gatekeeper/quarantine issue with the macOS build, not real file corruption — it happens even with a file downloaded straight from Fedora’s official site. The usual System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway override often does not appear for this particular error, because that button is meant for the “unidentified developer” warning, not the “damaged” one.
Instead, clear the quarantine attribute directly:
sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine "/Applications/FedoraMediaWriter.app"Enter your Mac password when prompted (Terminal won’t show characters as you type). Then try opening Fedora Media Writer again. This only removes quarantine from that one app — it does not disable Gatekeeper system-wide.
If the command reports the file doesn’t exist, run it with a trailing space and drag the app icon into Terminal instead of typing the path:
sudo xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine Also confirm you downloaded the matching build for your Mac’s architecture:
uname -m # arm64 -> Apple Silicon build; x86_64 -> Intel buildOption B: dd from Terminal (macOS fallback, no extra app)
If Fedora Media Writer still won’t cooperate, write the ISO directly.
Download the Fedora Workstation 44 Live ISO for x86_64 — this is the image the Lenovo will boot, so pick x86_64 regardless of what kind of Mac you’re using to create the USB.
Identify the USB drive:
diskutil listConfirm the disk number (e.g.
/dev/disk4) by matching its size to your actual USB stick — using the wrong disk number here can erase your Mac.Unmount it:
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk4Write the image (replace
disk4with your actual disk number, and drag the ISO from Finder into Terminal to auto-fill its path):sudo dd if=/Users/yourname/Downloads/Fedora-Workstation-Live-x86_64-44-1.1.iso of=/dev/rdisk4 bs=4mThe terminal will look frozen while it writes — press
Ctrl+Tto check progress. Don’t close the window or unplug the USB.When it finishes, flush and eject:
sync diskutil eject /dev/disk4
Step 2: Boot the Lenovo from USB
- Plug in the USB stick and shut the laptop down completely.
- Power it on while repeatedly pressing F12 (or Fn+F12 if function-key lock is enabled).
- From the one-time boot menu, select the entry that looks like UEFI: USB, USB HDD, or your USB drive’s manufacturer name.
If F12 doesn’t bring up a boot menu, some Lenovo models have a small Novo button or pinhole on the side — press it while the laptop is off to open a boot/recovery menu directly. Leave Secure Boot at its default setting; the official Fedora USB boots fine under standard UEFI without changes.
Step 3: Erase the Disk and Install Fedora
- From the boot menu, choose Start Fedora Workstation Live and wait for the desktop.
- Optionally test Wi-Fi, the keyboard, touchpad, and display before committing.
- Open Install Fedora, then select your language and keyboard layout.
- Select the laptop’s internal SSD/NVMe drive — identify it by size and model, and make sure you are not selecting the USB installer itself.
- Choose the option to use the entire disk (worded roughly as Use entire disk, Erase disk and install Fedora, or Reclaim all space, depending on installer version).
- Confirm that existing partitions and any other operating systems will be removed.
- Optionally enable disk encryption — if you do, store the passphrase somewhere safe; there is no recovery without it.
- Start the installation.
If the laptop has more than one internal drive, disconnect any external drives first and double-check which disk is selected before confirming — this step is not reversible.
Step 4: First Boot and Update
Select Restart and remove the USB stick as soon as the screen goes blank.
Complete Fedora’s initial account setup and connect to the internet.
Open a terminal and fully update the fresh install:
sudo dnf upgrade --refresh sudo rebootAfter the reboot, confirm the version:
cat /etc/fedora-release # Fedora Linux 44
A Note on “Erase Disk”
The installer’s erase/reclaim option removes partitions for normal reuse — plenty for reinstalling a machine you own — but it is not a forensic secure wipe. If the laptop is being sold, donated, or handed off, that distinction matters; for a personal clean install, it doesn’t.
