The Ubuntu Installation Guide

I hope my guide makes installing Ubuntu an enjoyable, simple experience. By the end of the guide you should have a dual boot Windows / Ubuntu machine that happily plays music, video, and acts as a perfectly usable home office computer with Openoffice 3.0. For the really adventurous you could even run Windows XP inside Virtualbox, which is linked to later on in the guide.  The Ubuntu OS is unique and seriously cool, so, enjoy the trip.

1) Download the Ubuntu ISO from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download and save to your desktop
2) Burn the ISO image to a blank CD using Roxio CD creator or similar:

3) Run the CD from “My Computer” – the CD should ask permission to run at which point you’ll see this option screen:

Install Ubuntu with Wubi

4) If you’d like to instal Ubuntu using Wubi , select “install inside Windows” and follow the instructions. Installing with WUBI is ideal for a first taste of Ubuntu as you can remove from add/remove programs in Windows later on. This install process is really easy but you don’t get the same performance as if Ubuntu had a separate partition running on its EXT3 file system. The following screens are all based on the Wubi installer process, so you can follow the rest of the instructions below.

If you’d like to install Ubuntu separately to Windows, then skip to point 7) below.

Here’s what you see next:

If you’ve got the space on your hard drive, go for 30gb or more for the installation size.

5) Now configure your installation using the simple settings options. You can specify the location of the Ubuntu installation on your Windows partition, the size of the Ubuntu installation, the Ubuntu flavour (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc), your preferred language, and a username and password for the Ubuntu system.

When you click install, you’ll see this screen:

As soon as the files have finished downloading, you’ll see this:

6) That’s it! Click reboot now, and select “Ubuntu” on the startup screen. You now have a fully functional dual boot Windows / Ubuntu machine.

Install Ubuntu on a single (EXT3) partition (separately to Windows)

7) Click “Demo and full installation” and your computer will restart and boot into Ubuntu.

It’s worth saying at this point that you’re about to install Ubuntu on an entirely separate drive partition. That means, you need to make sure you have enough space on your computers hard drive to accomodate the new setup. Keir Thomas found that a partition less than 4gb would lead Ubuntu to crash during install in his first look at Ubuntu 9.04 over at Lifehacker.

Here’s a guide on how to resize or shrink your Windows Vista partition. Follow those instructions before you reboot into the live version of Ubuntu and you’ll have a really easy time during the following steps. Maybe you’d like to install from a USB? Let’s have a quick look at the process of installing from a USB before we continue:

Here’s how to install Ubuntu on a USB drive from Windows Vista:

8) Format your USB stick with a FAT32 partition from Windows. You can get to the format dialogue by opening My Computer and right mouse clicking the removable drive icon. Click “Format” and follow the settings in the image below. You need a minimum 2gb USB stick.

9) Download UnetBooting . UNetbootin allows for the installation of various Linux/Ubuntu distributions to a partition or USB drive, so it’s no different from a standard install, only it doesn’t need a CD. The coolest thing about the application is that it’s a “portable” app. You don’t need to install it into Windows meaning UNetbootin will run on your Windows PC without “admin” privileges.

The new version of Ubuntu isn’t in the Distribution list supplied with UNetbootin yet, so use the downloaded Ubuntu ISO from earlier on. Add the ISO using the “Diskimage”, make sure your USB drive is selected below and click OK.

The ISO transfers to the USB pretty quickly, so soon after you click OK you’ll see this screen:

10) That’s it – when the installation process is complete, restart your computer and make sure it’s set up to boot from USB. On my HP Laptop, pressing F9 on the boot screen shows a boot order menu. Selecting “USB Hard Drive” follows a black screen, an Ubuntu logo, and finally, your new Ubuntu desktop appears.

Completing your Ubuntu installation, step by step

Installing Ubuntu is so easy that it requires very little effort past this point. If you’ve managed to repartition your hard drive and restart your computer you’ll sail through the next few steps:

11) Click “install” on the live desktop (top left)

12) Choose your language in the welcome screen

13) Choose your location

14) Choose your keyboard layout

15) Set up your disk partition. This is probably the most “technical” part of the installation. When I shrunk my Windows Vista drive volume , I never formatted the new partition, which means the “use the largest continuous free space” option works nicely:

16) Choose your username and password:

17) Migrate your Windows documents and settings

 18) You’re now ready to install your new Ubuntu installation

19) When the installation has finished, restart your computer (you’ll be instructed to remove your cd rom or USB drive). You’re now ready to begin using Ubuntu!

Useful tips and resources for Ubuntu    (^_^)