Ubuntu Documentation

Quick Guide: Installing Ubuntu from a USB memory stick

This guide will help you install Ubuntu on your computer by using a USB memory stick. USB memory sticks are sometimes known as flash drives, memory pens or USB Mass Storage devices.

Installing from a memory stick is useful if you have a computer without a CD drive (such as a netbook), or prefer the convenience of a memory stick. Alternative methods are available.

It should take around 30 minutes to complete this process, plus the time it takes to download the 700MB installer file. Downloading from a torrent is by far the fastest way of getting it.

This guide will assume that you are running Windows

This guide will assume that you are running Windows. More comprehensive documentation which covers other operating systems is available at Installation/FromUSBStick.

What do I need to get started?

To install Ubuntu from a USB memory stick you need:

• A memory stick with a capacity of at least 2GB. It will be formatted (erased) during this process, so copy any files that you want to keep to another location. They will all be permanently deleted from the memory stick.
• A computer that can boot (start-up) from a USB memory stick. Many older computers can’t boot from USB – check the boot options in your BIOS (see Start the Ubuntu installer) to see if yours can.
• A computer with
  • at least 384MB of system memory (RAM) for Lubuntu Alternate 32-bit. Other flavours of Ubuntu need at least 1 GB RAM, standard Ubuntu and Kubuntu need 2 GB RAM to work well.
  • 6GB of available hard disk space and
  • a 700MHz or faster x86 processor for Lubuntu. Other flavours of Ubuntu need a more powerful processor, at least a Pentium 4 or similar processor (made around 2004 or later). Most Intel and AMD processors are x86 processors. 32-bit and 64-bit processors are supported.
• standard Ubuntu wants 3-d graphics processing which means at least a core 2 duo processor or similar processor and/or a decent graphics card.
• A working Internet connection.

  At least Windows recovery disks, and backup of all important personal data files.

Get a copy of the Ubuntu installer

You need a copy of the Ubuntu installer CD image (.iso) so that you can put it on a memory stick.

The version 16.04.1 LTS of standard Ubuntu or one of the community flavours (Kubuntu, Lubuntu . Xubuntu) is a good choice.

Choose your country (or one nearby) from the Download location drop-down list.

Click Begin download to download the .iso image file needed to install Ubuntu. This will be about 700MB in size.

You can choose other options, like a 64-bit CD image or a BitTorrent download, by clicking Alternative download options.

Put the installer on a memory stick

You need to download a program that can properly put the installer onto a memory stick. You can’t just copy the .iso file onto the memory stick.

Extract the iso file

Plug-in your USB memory stick.

Go to https://rufus.akeo.ie/ and download the Rufus USB installer. Put it on your Desktop or somewhere convenient.

Alternative: Clone the iso file with Win32 Disk Imager according to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Win32DiskImager/iso2usb

Start the Ubuntu installer

To start your computer from a memory stick, you might need to change the order of boot devices:

Figure 1 — The Ubuntu boot screen

1. Plug-in the memory stick and restart your computer.
   • BIOS mode: You should see a purple Ubuntu boot screen with white icons at the bottom (Figure 1).
   • UEFI mode: You should see a black screen with a GNU GRUB menu.
   • If your computer boots back into Windows, it is not yet set-up to boot from USB, so continue following these steps. Otherwise your computer has successfully booted from the memory stick. Skip to the Install Ubuntu section.

If your computer boots back into Windows, restart the computer again. As soon as the first text appears on the screen, press the button to enter your BIOS/system setup. There should be a message telling you how to do this. You normally need to press one of the following keys: F1, F2, Del, Esc, F10, F11, or F12.
A BIOS screen should appear. Find the option to change the Boot Order and change the first item in the boot order list to be USB Disk, or similar.

The USB Disk option may have a different name on your computer, for example: Removable Drive; USB-HDD; USB Mass Storage; or USB.

If there is no option to boot from USB Disk, your computer may not be able to boot from USB. See the http://www.pendrivelinux.com/testing-your-system-for-usb-boot-compatibility/ for a tool to test if your computer can boot from USB.

After you have changed the boot order, save your changes and restart the computer. It should now start from the memory stick.

Install Ubuntu

If you have successfully booted from your memory stick, you should now be looking at a menu with purple background in BIOS mode or black background in UEFI mode. To start the Ubuntu installer:

In BIOS mode: Wait a few seconds and Ubuntu will start loading. Otherwise, you can press a key and a boot menu with more options will appear.

Press the F5 key to access universal access options like the screen reader and magnifier.

After a few second or a minute or two (depending on your hardware), an Install window will appear. Select your language from the list to the left of the screen and select

Try Ubuntu or

Install Ubuntu

Figure 2 — The partitioning screen

When you get to the Partitioning screen (Figure 2, full size), choose one of the following options to determine how to put Ubuntu on your hard disk:

If you want to keep Windows installed and choose whether to start Windows or Ubuntu each time you start the computer, choose Install Ubuntu alongside Windows. This is called a dual-boot setup. Use the slider in the next window to choose how to share disk space between Windows and Ubuntu (Ubuntu should have at least 8 GB of space. It works better with 16 GB or more, which should be possible in a not too old computer).

If you want to remove Windows and replace it with Ubuntu, choose Erase disk and install Ubuntu. All of the files on the disk will be deleted before Ubuntu is put on it, so make sure you have backup copies of anything you wanted to keep.

For more complicated disk layouts, choose Something Else. You can manually add, modify and delete disk partitions using this option.

Figure 3 — Partitioning warning message

When you click Forward, you may receive a message saying that the changes will be applied (Figure 3). This normally happens if you resized a partition. If you click Continue, your hard disk will be changed permanently and you won’t be able to go back. Make sure you’re happy with any changes that you made.
Follow the rest of the instructions to choose a username and password and migrate files and settings from Windows.

Click Install. The installation will begin, and should take 10-20 minutes to complete. When it is finished, choose to restart the computer and then remove your memory stick. Ubuntu should start to load.

What next?

You should now be able to log in to Ubuntu and start using it. Here are some tips to help you get started:

Click the Applications menu at the top of the screen to start a program.
Click the Network Manager icon (near to the speaker icon) at the top right of the screen to connect to the Internet.

Use the System menu to change settings.

You can find help by clicking System -> Help and Support.

What if things go wrong?

I can’t boot from USB even though I have USB Disk (or similar) as the first option in my boot list

Sometimes the memory stick will not be recognized when you boot. Leave it plugged in for 30 seconds or so, then restart with it left plugged-in. Or, unplug the memory stick, restart the computer and then plug it in as soon as anything appears on the screen (i.e. as early in the boot process as possible).

Also, some BIOS options could interfere with USB booting. Go into the BIOS and try enabling or disabling options like Fast Boot, USB keyboard support and USB 2.0 support. Finally, make sure you haven’t selected a USB-FDD or USB-ZIP boot option. These will not work.

Is it safer to resize my partition in Windows?

Some people experience problems when booting into Windows, after they have resized the Windows partition using the Ubuntu installer. See HowtoResizeWindowsPartitions for a guide on an alternative method of resizing a Windows partition which is less likely to cause problems.

References and further help

Installation/FromUSBStickQuick (последним исправлял пользователь ister-kokos 2017-02-04 14:16:21)

The material on this wiki is available under a free license, see Copyright / License for details
You can contribute to this wiki, see Wiki Guide for details

Установка полноценной Ubuntu на USB-накопитель

Содержание

Очень часто у людей возникает желание или необходимость поставить Ubuntu на USB-накопитель и получить возможность пользоваться своей ОС на любом компьютере (лишь бы была возможность загрузится с USB).

В этой статье описывается процесс установки Ubuntu на USB-накопители.

Подготовка к установке

Скачайте образ системы отсюда. Если не планируете запускать систему на машинах с более 4 Гб оперативной памяти предпочтительней выбирать 32-х разрядную.

Запись образа

После того, как образ загрузился, его надо записать на CD или USB-накопитель.

На USB носитель образ проще всего записать при помощи UNetbootin. Эта программа существует под большинство популярных ОС (Windows, Linux, Mac) и достаточно проста в обращении. Все что потребуется – указать путь к скачанному образу и выбрать диск, на который будет записан образ.

Загрузка

Перед тем как загрузится, убедитесь, что в BIOS первым загрузочным устройством выбран USB или CD-ROM, в зависимости от того, с чего вы производите загрузку. В BIOS можно попасть нажав клавишу Del для стационарных компьютеров и F2 или F12 для ноутбуков. О том, как выбрать устройство для загрузки смотрите в интернете или читайте инструкцию к вашему компьютеру.

Если все правильно сделано, вы увидите перед собой загруженную с Live CD систему.

Подготовка USB-накопителя

Запустите программу GParted.

Выберите устройство, на которое вы собираетесь установить Ubuntu.

Отформатируйте его в файловую систему Ext2 или Ext4. Так-же можно разделить USB-диск на 2 раздела для того, чтоб его можно было использовать по прямому назначению (перенос файлов с одного компьютера на другой). Для этого первый раздел раздел отформатируйте в FAT32 (для того, чтобы раздел был виден в Windows), вторым разделом выберите файловую систему Ext2 или Ext4 под Ubuntu. На второй раздел желательно выделить минимум 6 Гб, чтобы можно было не переживать за нехватку места для установки дополнительных программ.

Установка

Дальнейшая установка Ubuntu ничем не отличается от установки на жесткий диск.

Выберите на рабочем столе Install Ubuntu и выполните установку по скриншотам:

Ubuntu Documentation

Outline

The general procedure to install Ubuntu (or Ubuntu flavour, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, . ) from a USB flash drive is:

Get the correct Ubuntu installation file, ‘the iso file’, via this link or Ubuntu flavour via this link. Download the iso file into your running computer (for example into the directory Downloads in the internal drive, not into the USB flash drive that you want to make into a USB boot drive).

Check with md5sum (or another checksum tool) that the download was good.

Put Ubuntu onto your USB flash drive alias ‘stick’ alias ‘pendrive’ alias ‘thumb’. Tools for this purpose are described in this help page.

Configure your computer to boot from USB flash drive and boot from it.

Try Ubuntu (Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, . ) before installing it.

Install Ubuntu to your internal drive (hard disk drive or solid state drive or external drive).

See also: Installation/FromUSBStickQuick for beginners starting from Windows.

Introduction

Ubuntu can be installed from a USB flash drive. This may be necessary for most new portable computers without DVD drives and is handy for others because a USB flash drive is so convenient. Also, you can configure Ubuntu on the USB flash drive to save changes you make, unlike a read-only CD/DVD disk.

Booting from a USB flash drive created with usb-creator alias Startup Disk Creator and mkusb will behave just as if you had booted from the install CD. It will show the language selection and then the install menu, from which you can install Ubuntu onto the computer’s hard drive or launch the LiveCD environment. Other utilities, e.g. UNetbootin, may create slightly different boot drives or if on UEFI might not work at all with Debian iso files due to a bug

Note: This article uses the term «USB flash drive» alongside USB stick, USB drive, USB device, USB pendrive and thumb drive.

Prerequisites

To create a USB installation device, you will need:

a 4 GB USB flash device/drive/stick. If the iso file is smaller than 2 GB, it is possible to use a 2 GB USB device, at least with some of the methods. Files on this USB device will be erased, so backup the files you want to keep before making the device bootable. Some of the tools require that this USB device is properly formatted and mounted while other tools will overwrite whatever is on the target device. Please follow the instructions for each tool.

an Ubuntu flavour ISO file downloaded from an official web page, ubuntu.com/download or http://releases.ubuntu.com, stored in your running computer (for example in the directory Downloads in the internal drive, not in the USB flash drive that you want to make into a USB boot drive).

Check with md5sum (or another checksum tool) that the download was good. In Linux there is the tool ‘md5sum’. In Windows you can do it with Rufus: click on the circle with a tick mark (more about Rufus here.)

Dummy headlines

After a major remake of this help page the following headlines are kept here because they may be linked to from other web sites. Several other headlines further down in the page are also kept for this reason.

Notes about speed

Notes about size

Notes about bootability

The flash hardware

There is a detailed description at the sub-page /pre

Creating a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive from Windows

There are various methods available for Windows to create a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive.

NEVER try to use one of your hard disk drives or partitions in this process unless you really know what you are doing, as data will get erased.

Rufus

Rufus is the tool in Windows that is recommended officially by Ubuntu. A tutorial is available from here.

balenaEtcher

Pendrivelinux’s Universal USB Installer

UNetbootin

Win32 Disk Imager

There is a detailed description at /fromWindows including Rufus, balena Etcher, Universal USB Installer, Unetbootin and Win32 Disk Imager.

Creating a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive from Ubuntu

Install and run Startup Disk Creator alias usb-creator

The Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator is dedicated to creating USB boot drives for Ubuntu and Ubuntu family flavours (Kubuntu, Lubuntu . Xubuntu).

Use another tool (e.g. ‘UNetbootin’ or ‘mkusb’), if you want to create a USB boot drive with another Linux distro (alias Linux operating system).

You can find usb-creator-gtk by typing «Startup Disk Creator» (Ubuntu Desktop) or usb-creator-kde in K-Menu—>Applications—>System—>Startup Disk Creator (Kubuntu). If it is not there, then you can install it using the Ubuntu Software Center.

• Insert and mount the USB drive. Inserting the USB drive should auto-mount it.
• Start the Startup Disk Creator
• In the top pane of the Startup Disk Creator, pick the .iso file that you downloaded.
• If the .iso file isn’t listed, click «Other» to locate and select the .iso file that you downloaded.
• In the bottom pane of the Startup Disk Creator, pick the target device, the USB flash drive. If more than one choice, please check carefully, until you are sure that you will be writing to the correct device.
• After checking that you are pointing to the correct target device, the USB flash drive, you can start the action.

You must enter a password because this is a risky operation. Use the password of the current user ID (the same as for login and running tasks with 'sudo'. Password is not required when installing from a ‘live’ system (booted from a DVD disk or another USB flash drive).

The Startup Disk Creator clones the iso file, which means that you need neither erase nor format the target drive. It will be completely overwritten anyway by the cloning process. The Startup Disk Creator looks like this in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS:

Notes

NEVER try to use one of your hard disk drives or SSDs or partitions in this process unless you really know what you are doing, as data will get erased.

There are bugs that affect the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator, when you run it in old Ubuntu versions in BIOS mode and try to create USB boot drives with other versions. In the Ubuntu Startup Disk Creator version 0.3.2 in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, these bugs are no longer a problem, so you can install any version of the Ubuntu flavours from 16.04 LTS and newer versions.

UNetbootin

Download UNetbootin

UNetbootin works in and with most Linux distros.

It is an extracting tool (not a cloning tool).

It can make a persistence file up to 4GB in size to save data and defaults.

mkusb — dd image of iso file to USB device safely

If you want to clone from a general image file to a drive, you can use mkusb. It lets you clone to any drive that is not busy, also an internal drive, and there are very obvious warnings to prevent mistakes.

mkusb can also

• run in Debian and many linux distros that are similar to Ubuntu and Debian,
• clone from iso files of most Linux distros to create USB boot drives,
• create persistent live drives of the Ubuntu family and Debian, using all available drive space for persistence and/or data storage,
• restore a USB boot drive to a standard storage device.

There is a detailed description at /fromUbuntu including the Startup Disk Creator, UNetbootin and mkusb.

Creating a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive from Mac OSX

There is a good wiki page about booting with UEFI, and a good tutorial thread, UEFI Installing — Tips.

Test if running in UEFI mode

You may want to test if your Ubuntu flavour is running in [U]EFI mode. An installed system and a live system too is using the directory /sys/firmware/efi, so you can run the following command line,

The following command line is more robust and also easier to understand, so you may prefer it (if you copy & paste and are not bothered by typing a long command line),