New Computer and the OS

Okay, so I am building a computer and the case does not have a DVD drive. So I am looking for ways to install an OS, which has led me here.

I know I can install the OS onto a flash drive then plug it into a USB plug. I wish the FAQs would clarify further, so here I am. Will it work on a hard drive that has never had an OS?

To expand on some details I guess:
No, I have never built a computer before, this is my first.
No, I have never installed an OS before.
I bought my laptop with the OS (Windows 7, upgraded to Windows 10) on it.
My case does not have a DVD drive.
My case does have two USB ports.
I have an ITX motherboard and Intel CPU. (Does that matter? From browsing a bit on the forums it seems that does matter.)
The hard drive is new and does not have an OS on it.

I want to know if the USB option is still ... well, an option in my case.

Thanks for anyone who provides an answer.

I am by no means an expert, but if you check out the help on the Zorin page, you should be fine. I have installed Linux and Windows on many hard drives. It's very easy. Just be careful to follow the instructions. I have never used a USB drive, always use DVDs, since I always have some laying around. You just boot the system with the DVD or USB in place, go into the computer's boot menu (F8 on my computer), choose to boot from the DVD/USB, and follow the instructions. Installing on a clean drive is super easy, as there is nothing else on it to worry about. Just accept all the defaults and you should be fine.

Your biggest issue really will be if your motherboard's BIOS supports booting from USB - newer models should state in the BIOS in the Boot Priority part of the BIOS if this is the case. Other elements that can prevent booting from devices other than the Hard Drive are (and I am talking at the BIOS level - accessed via, usually, the DELete key):

1. Virus Protection enabled in BIOS (experienced this for the first time last week on an old rig with XP on it - ASUS AMD Processor board.

2. Windows 8 upwards compatible motherboards with:

Fast Boot enabled

UEFI enabled BIOS instead of Legacy

3. ACPI enabled in BIOS

Your next issue is going to be how to get the best mutliboot USB software on your USB which is IMHO the best - MultiSystem -

get if from my posting here:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8933&hilit=+MultiSystem#p43425 - also note the link to tutorial video - the only downside is you need a GNU/Linux OS present for it to work - to get around this you should be able to use some VM (Virtual Machine) Software to install to your Windows 10 machine which will run from within Windows (but you never get a true representation of how GNU/Linux will run inside of Windows - unless things have improved!
Format the USB to FAT32 then use MultiSystem to create a Mutli-Boot USB (Minimum 8 Gb for this to work I would say) and add the iso that way.

Hope this helps!

Other people have had good experience using 'Rufus' which I have yet to try:

https://rufus.akeo.ie/