Creating a Custom Image

OEMs or organizations deploying elementary OS may wish to create a custom install image to include hardware drivers, specific corporate configuration, or internal apps. To do so, we recommend starting with an official elementary OS ISO and use software like Clonezilla to create an image from a custom install.

1. Install elementary OS on representative hardware using an official ISO. After rebooting the device, create a temporary user account.

2. Customize the install as needed, e.g. by installing any required .deb files or Flatpaks as system apps. Note that any changes within the user account itself will not be persisted; to change anything in the ~/ folder, you'll need to modify /etc/skel/ in the installation, as these files are copied to new user accounts upon user creation. Changes to other system files will be persisted.

3. Delete the temporary user account. Open a TTY terminal e.g. with CtrlAltF2, log into your temporary user account, then delete the user account with userdel -fr $(whoami). Reboot with sudo reboot.

   At this point, you have a custom image installed with no user accounts. Initial Setup will guide the end user to create a new user account.

4. Create an image of this install, e.g. with Clonezilla.