1. After downloading the last version of CentOS using above links or using official CentOS download page. Burn it to a DVD or create a bootable USB stick using LiveUSB Creator called Unetbootin.

    You can also try Rufus to create a bootable USB stick.


2. After you have created the installer bootable media, place your DVD/USB into your system appropriate drive, start the computer, select your bootable unit and the first CentOS 7 prompt should appear. At the prompt choose Install CentOS 7 and press [Enter] key.



3. The system will start loading media installer and a Welcome screen should appear. Select your Installation Process Language, that will assist you through the entire installation procedure and click on Continue.


4. Choose the installation language. I am using English with English United States here, so I just press Continue:

5. Next, we get the following screen:


6. I will start to customize the settings starting with LOCALIZATION in DATE & TIME Click on DATE & TIME. Select your time zone, in my case, I am selecting Europe as Region and Berlin as City. Press Done when finished.


7. Now we can add LANGUAGE SUPPORT if you don't want to use English. Click on "LANGUAGE SUPPORT" to open the dialog.

8. Next, we go to SOFTWARE > INSTALLATION SOURCE and select the installation media.

9. Next, we will proceed to SOFTWARE SELECTION, by default it comes with Minimal Install.

10. We move towards SYSTEM and select INSTALLATION DESTINATION.

11. Now it’s time to partition your hard-drive. Click on Installation Destination menu, select your disk and choose I will configure partitioning.

12. The next step is to set your system hostname and enable networking. Click on Network & Hostname label and type your system FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) on Hostname filed, then enable your Network interface, switching the top Ethernet button to ON.


If you have a functional DHCP server on you network then it will automatically configure all your network setting for enabled NIC, which should appear under your active interface.

13. I will use the hostname server1.example.com and customize the ethernet setup by pressing Configure.

14. The next screen will look like this, now we add the IPv4 Settings by selecting the same. If you have IPv6 then you add it in IPv6 Settings.


15. Next, you can setup the network to match your local network setup. In my case, I use a static IP so I will select Manual

16. Add the entries for Address, Netmask and Gateway as per your static IP environment. In my case I am using Address as 192.168.1.100, Netmask as 255.255.255.0, Gateway as 192.168.1.1 and DNS servers as 8.8.8.8  8.8.4.4 These values may vary according to your network environment. After that press Save.

17. IMPORTANT: If youdo not have an IPv6 internet connection, then set IPv6 from auto to ignore on the IPv6 tab, otherwise you won't be able to reach the internet from this server on IPv4 as CentOS seems to ignore the correct IPv4 setup then and uses IPv6 instead which fails.

18. Next, we have to turn the connection ON as shown in the screenshot below. Further press Done.

19. Now we are ready to start the installation process, you might want to crosscheck all the settings and then press Begin Installation.

20. The installation process will start now and you get a small blue progress bar in the next windows. Now we have to set the ROOT PASSWORD and add a new non-root user in the USER CREATION option. I will first go for the root password.

21. Enter a secure password of your choice and press Done

22. Next, we will go for USER CREATION.

23. Next, I will create a non-root user, as in my case I used the Full name  "Howtoforge" and Username "howtoforge", check the option Require the password to use this account and then press Done. Off-course you should use a username and password of your choice.

24. Press Done.Have patience and wait for the completion of the setup.

After completion of the installation, it will ask to reboot the server, just press Finish configuration.

25. The server reboots and will request your username and password afterwards.

26. Now we are ready to login with the user that we just created above or we can use the root credentials.