KatiharWeb: How to install Ubuntu Linux on your Computer

Before you proceed further, I hope you’ve read the previous parts of this series of ours ‘Going Open Source’. We started with ‘Why you should use Linux systems’ and then told you some ‘basics and pre installation steps’ about Ubuntu Linux. In this post, we’ll go through the steps that are required to install Ubuntu Linux on your computer. Everything is very simple and I tried to explain these steps as much as I could. Installing Ubuntu Linux was a dim and distant job in the past, it was sometimes very difficult, but the developers now have it down to a fine art, so it should take only 30 minutes or so on a modern PC. But if you still have a confusion at any step, you can reach me in the comments at the end of the article and I’ll be happy to help you in any way.

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Overview

Before we proceed further, you need to download the latest Ubuntu Linux ISO Image file. ISO image files of the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Ubuntu 11.04, which you can burn to a blank CD-R/RW disc by following How to burn an ISO image on CD/DVD or better, you can write these images on your USB Flash Drive which is 40 to 60 % faster than a CD/DVD. If you are a novice user, just download the default version of Ubuntu Linux that comes with ‘Unity’ desktop environment (see other available desktops variants here). The installation program of Ubuntu is a little different from that of Windows. After you’ve booted from the DVD-ROM or USB Flash Drive, a menu will appear. You can choose the Install Ubuntu option, and the CD/DVD will continue booting to a graphical installer. Alternatively, you can choose the ‘Try Ubuntu without installing’ option. This allows you to run Ubuntu from the DVDROM or USB Flash Drive, in which you are actually trying it out without making any changes to your computer. Running Ubuntu Linux from a CD/DVD or a Flash Drive is often referred to as ‘Live mode’. This will be the exact duplication of Ubuntu Linux as you’d have installed it on your computer, just with some minor draw backs. Your performance won’t be the same as it won’t be running from the hard disk so there would be a little delay in data read/write and any changes made to the system (except in case of partition) will be forgotten once you reboot your system. This is where the persistent file comes in handy if you’re trying Ubuntu Linux live from a USB Flash Drive.

Step 1.

If you are installing Ubuntu Linux side by side with your Windows operating system then you should make sure that you perform this step. Scan the disk for errors….

To scan the disk, open Computer, right-click your Windows drive (usually C:\) and select Properties. In the window that appears, click the Tools tab and then click the Check Now button under the Error Checking heading.

Ensure that there’s a check alongside Automatically Fix File System Errors, and click the Start button. You will then be prompted to schedule the disk check the next time your computer restarts. Select to do so and reboot your computer, so the disk check can take place. (Scan disk will start right away, if its not a C:\ drive)

Make sure that Windows is shut down correctly. (Do not hibernate.)

Step 2.

Now when you’ll restart your system, you need to boot it from the CD/DVD OR the USB Flash Drive of Ubuntu Linux . If you don’t know how to write a USB Flash Drive with bootable Ubuntu Linux and then booting from it, then please refer to our previous article on ‘How to create a bootable USB Flash Drive of Ubuntu Linux’ because that is what we’ll be following in this article.

Step 3. Install Ubuntu

When you’ll boot your Ubuntu Linux from USB Flash Drive, you’ll be taken to the UnetBootIn menu. By default, it would be on ‘Default’, there are options like ‘Try Ubuntu Without Installing’ and ‘Install Ubuntu’ too.

Try Ubuntu without installing: This option lets you run Ubuntu “live” from the USB Flash Drive, so you can try out its features, albeit in a slightly limited state. If you’ve never seen Ubuntu up and running, choose this option and play around. To install Ubuntu Linux once you’ve booted into ‘Live Mode’, just double click on the ‘Install Ubuntu 11.04’ icon on the desktop.

Install Ubuntu: This will start Ubuntu’s installation routine. Choose this if you want to get straight on with installing Ubuntu on your PC now.

Step 3. Choose your language

Choose ‘Install Ubuntu’ and hit ‘Enter’. It will show you the booting screen of Ubuntu Linux 11.04.

Next it will boot you into the main screen of Installation procedure. It will automatically connect you to the internet (via LAN or WIFI) it will . Choose your Language, often ‘English’ and press ‘Forward’.

Step 4. Preparation

This next step will prepare you for the installation.

You have to have at least 4.7GB space available but as we discussed in our previous article, it’s better that you have at least 10GB space available.
You are plugged into a power source, if you are using a laptop. In case, you run out of battery during the installation process, you’ll have to start over again and you might loose some important data too if you are in the middle of partitioning your hard drive.
Connection to the internet is required if you check the option ‘Download Updates while installing’. In case you’re not connected to the internet, updates can always be downloaded when you are done with the installation.
Next up, do check the ‘Install Third Party Software’, this will allow you to play some proprietary media files like mp3s. Click ‘Forward’ in the end.

Step 5. Choosing and partitioning your hard disk

On the next screen, you’ll be given the option to Partition your hard disk. If you have no operating system installed on your machine, you’ll see a screen like the following. You can safely choose ‘Erase disk and Install Ubuntu’ If there is no data on your hard drive because choosing this option will erase your entire hard disk and will create partitions that are suitable for Ubuntu Linux. So be careful at this step.

but if you have a Windows operating system installed you’ll see a screen as below. It will detect your operating system be it ‘Windows XP Professional’, ‘Windows Vista’ or ‘Windows 7’.

You can choose ‘Install Ubuntu alongside Microsoft Windows (whatever your version is), this will calculate the free space and will install Ubuntu alongside your current operating system and you don’t have to worry about the partitioning your hard disk.
Second option, ‘Replace Microsoft Windows with Ubuntu’ will of course, delete your Windows Installation.
Third option is a little bit advanced, it allows you to repartition or resize your hard disk and we’ll cover that in another article.

Choose the first option and click ‘Forward’, it will calculate the space and will come up with best configuration possible. In my case, I had a 40GB hard drive with Windows XP Professional installed on it. It detected my Windows operating system and size of the hard disk and showed me the best configuration. Now it will automatically resize the Windows partition to 21.8GB and then make another 21.2GB partition for Ubuntu Linux. This process is seamless and you don’t have to do anything here. (The installer will take as much space as Ubuntu needs, without shrinking the existing partition too much.)

In case you want to give your Windows partition more space, you can drag the divider to the right side and it will allocate that space to the Windows partition. If you think there is not enough space on your hard disk, you can reboot your computer, go into Windows and remove some files, see our previous article on how to free up some space. You can also resize your Windows Partition inside Windows if you are using Windows 7 or Windows Vista. Keep in mind that at this stage, it is not committing any changes to the hard disk. This is just an visual overview. Once you are done with the changes, click on ‘Install Now’ button. This will ask you to confirm your changes, click ‘Continue’ to move forward or ‘Go Back’ to make the changes again.

Warning: Once you click on ‘Continue’, it will commit the changes, partition your hard disk and you’ll not be able to undo that.So double check your changes and then click on ‘Continue’.

Step 6. Keyboard Layout and Location

Now that the installation is underway, Ubuntu will next ask you to choose your time zone and then keyboard layout. (They’ll be in separate screens but I’ve put ‘em in one step to save space and time.) If your PC is already connected to the Internet, Ubuntu may already have detected your location correctly. You can select your time zone manually by clicking your location on the world map that’s displayed or by selecting the nearest city from the dropdown lists at the base of the page.

Similarly, your keyboard layout should correspond to your language and locale settings, and will be automatically selected, so you can just click the Forward button.

Step 7. Setting up a user

Next you’ll be prompted to say who you are and choose the name you want to use to log in. In answer to the question Your Name? you can enter the name by which you’ll be formally identified on

the system to anyone who uses it. Next is your computer’s name by which it would be identified on the network. Give it something understandable so that you’ll be able to identify it, if you are accessing it from another computer in a network. Next, you’ll be asked for the name you want to use to log in. This username needs to be unique; users on the same computer cannot have the same username. Also, it must follow these rules:
• The username should be one word without any spaces in it.

• You can choose any username consisting of uppercase and lowercase letters and numbers, but not symbols or punctuation.

• The username cannot begin with an uppercase letter, although you can use uppercase in the rest of the name.

Next choose a good password, a combination of Upper and Lower case letters with numbers. For example, ‘W3bsc0p1A’. This password is ‘Good’ and easy to remember. You can also use special characters in your password too, to make it stronger. You can also choose to encrypt your ‘Home Folder’, in that case it won’t be accessible from outside without giving a password.

Step 8. Import documents and settings from Windows Operating System

The next step is to migrate accounts by importing documents and settings of existing user accounts from your Windows partition to Ubuntu. (This screen won’t come if you’re installing Ubuntu on a fresh hard disk or have chosen to overwrite your Windows partition.) This is certainly a handy feature to be offered by the installer but then again, there is no point in importing if you have a large amount of data, such as music and video, stored on your Windows partition. You would be merely duplicating large amounts of data on the same disk, which makes no sense given as your Windows partition will be accessible from your new Ubuntu system.

Click ‘Forward’ after every step and by the time you are done with these screens, your installation procedure should be finished. All this time it was busy ‘Resizing your partitions’, ‘Copying files’, ‘Updating your system’ (if you were connected to internet), ‘Configuring Hardware’ and ‘Installing System’. At the end, it will install GRUB, the boot loader on your hard disk, that will allow you to choose between ‘Windows and Ubuntu Linux’ to boot from. Ubuntu Linux in the meanwhile will be showing you some introductory screens.

Once the installation is complete, it will show you a dialog box asking you to restart your computer. Remove any installation media (in this case we had a USB Flash Drive) and click on ‘Restart’.

Step 9. Bootloader Screen

Upon the reboot you’ll be greeted with the GRUB screen. This is a bootloader which detectes all the operating systems in your hard disk and displays them accordingly and as you can see there are options for ‘Ubuntu Linux’ and ‘Windows XP Professional’. Choose the first default option ‘Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.38-8-generic’ to start Ubuntu Linux. (2.6.38-8 is the version of Linux kernel)

Step 10. Login Screen

You’ll be presented with a login screen, just click on the username that you created during the installation procedure, enter the password, and click on ‘Login’

By following the steps in this article, you should now have Ubuntu installed on your computer.

KatiharWeb

Monday, April 2, 2012

How to install Ubuntu Linux on your Computer