Pop!_OS is a Linux operating system installed from a bootable USB image. Starting that USB opens a live environment where the user can test hardware or install to a selected drive. An installed system can also keep a recovery partition containing another copy of the installation environment. The live session starts separately from the installed desktop, while the recovery partition stores an installation environment for repair and reinstall work.
Clean Install and Custom choose different disk work
Clean Install erases the selected target and creates a new Pop!_OS installation. The drive selector is therefore a destructive choice rather than a destination-folder preference. Data on the selected disk needs a separate backup before that path begins.
Custom opens GParted for manual partition work. This is the path for a shared-drive Windows arrangement or another nonstandard layout. GParted exposes disks and partitions directly, so selecting free space differs from selecting an existing Windows partition that the user intends to retain.
Try Demo Mode leaves the target drive uninstalled. Changes made during that live session do not create the installed account or persistent desktop.
Refresh preserves home data but removes installed apps
Refresh Install reinstalls the operating system while preserving account information and data under the home directory. Applications installed outside that home directory are removed. A preserved user folder therefore does not mean that every desktop program returns after the refresh.
Refresh uses the operating-system image stored in Recovery. It is not a release upgrade. If Recovery contains an older image, Refresh reinstalls that release rather than advancing the system to a newer one. Updating the recovery partition and upgrading the running system are separate operations.
An encrypted disk can hide the Refresh option until the installer unlocks the existing installation. Entering the disk passphrase exposes the eligible system; it does not start the refresh by itself.
The documented installation path also requires Secure Boot to be disabled. A machine with discrete NVIDIA graphics that uses the generic installation image needs the separate driver installation afterward.
Recovery has its own network state
The recovery environment starts independently from the installed desktop. It does not automatically inherit a remembered Wi-Fi password merely because Pop!_OS connected to that network during ordinary use. Recovery work that needs downloads may require the network credentials again.
The same environment can support a clean reinstall, which erases the selected system, or a refresh that preserves the documented home data. The visible choice matters because both paths begin from a similar installation interface but write different results.
Windows on the same drive changes the encryption plan
A separate-drive Windows dual boot can keep the operating systems on independent disks. A shared-drive arrangement needs manual partitioning and does not support the standard Pop!_OS full-disk encryption setup.
