Downloading & Installing LightBurn¶

Downloading LightBurn¶

The first step is to go to lightburnsoftware.com

At the top, click "Download and Trial" (or click here)

You'll see links for the current release of LightBurn. Download the version that matches your computer.

Windows 64-bit - nearly all modern computers are 64 bit
Windows 32-bit - some older systems might need this
Mac OSX
Linux 64-bit

When you've completed the download, you should see the file in your "Downloads" folder. On Windows and Mac you can just double-click the downloaded file.

Minimum computer system requirements¶

LightBurn will run on Windows 7.0 or later (32 or 64 bit), MacOS 10.11 or later, or 64 bit Linux (Ubuntu 20.04 or Fedora 36, anything else may not work as intended). Ubuntu users unable to upgrade beyond Ubuntu 18.04 should download version 1.2.01 instead of the current version.

LightBurn does not require a powerful computer for most work, though if your designs contain a lot of images, more memory is helpful. As with most things, a faster computer will make it easier to work with large images or complex vector graphics.

Choose your operating system:

Windows
MacOS
Linux

Windows Installation¶

Launch the installer by double-clicking it. Windows may ask if you trust us first.

Click Next, then click 'Install'. The installation will proceed. When it completes, you'll see this:

If you have never installed LightBurn before, you might need to check the 'Install FTDI driver' button - this is mostly used by DSP controllers, like Ruida and TopWisdom, and it only needs to be done once. If you update the software later, you do not need to repeat this step.

That's it! Locate the LightBurn icon to launch the program

MacOS Installation¶

Installing LightBurn on Mac is accomplished the same way as most Mac software. After downloading the DMG file, open the file (typically by double-clicking) and drag LightBurn into your Applications folder. As long as you have version 1.2.00 or later, LightBurn should be ready to use. If you're using an older version, please see the information below for an additional step you'll need to take.

Versions before 1.2.00 were not notarized to be recognized by your computer as coming from a trusted developer. If you installed an older version, you'll need to follow the steps below to allow your computer to run the software:

macOS Notarization Bypass Guide (fixing the 'unable to check it for malicious software' warning)

To Install the LightBurn application:

Double-click the LightBurn.dmg file to mount the disk image.
Drag the LightBurn application into your applications folder
Eject the LightBurn disk image, or drag it to the trash bin

When launching LightBurn for the first time:

Open a Finder window
Browse to the 'Applications' folder
Hold the Control key and click the LightBurn icon, or right-click or / two-finger tap the icon
Choose 'Open' from the menu
When MacOS asks if it should open the program, say yes, and it will be listed as an exception in your launcher. From then on you can just launch the application normally.

Video Walkthrough¶

Linux Installation¶

Info

In step 1 below, $USER doesn't need to be replaced with your username. It's a standard system variable, and if entered exactly as shown below will automatically refer to the logged-in user's username.

Open a terminal and run the following command:
sudo adduser $USER dialout && sudo adduser $USER tty
IMPORTANT! Log out and log back in (this refreshes the permissions we just added)
Download the Linux 64-bit version, either the .run file or the .7z file and follow the appropriate steps below:

`.run` installer¶

Open your terminal and cd to the directory you downloaded the file to.
Run bash ./LightBurn-Linux64-v*.run
It will now automatically install and create a program listing in your desktop environment.

`.7z` installer¶

Extract the folder wherever you want Lightburn to exist
Right click AppRun > Properties > Permissions > 'Allow executing file as program'
Double click AppRun inside your Lightburn folder