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Installing Linux Mint from a flash drive. Installing full Ubuntu on a USB drive

Dear friends, the topic of today's discussion is installing Ubuntu from a flash drive. Naturally, before the installation itself, you still need to obtain a number of necessary information that will help you complete the job efficiently and without problems. So, what will we learn today:

  • preparatory work;
  • how to create a bootable USB flash drive for further use;
  • actually, how to install Ubuntu from a flash drive.

As the name of the block implies, we are now considering the preparatory stage. First, we need the flash drive itself, onto which we will write the image a little later. It must have a volume of at least eight gigabytes, and must be in NFTS format. If the last words don’t mean anything to you, don’t worry: in any case, the format can be changed, so, in principle, there’s no need to focus too much on this point. If the drive is not new, be sure to format it, check for viruses using anti-virus programs, and only then proceed.

For Ubuntu installation from a flash drive to be successful, you also need to download the OS image. Otherwise, nothing will work. If you have ever reinstalled an operating system on a personal computer yourself before, you should know that it all starts with downloading the necessary system image. Fortunately, they are available for download on the website http://ubuntu.ru/get. Only after this stage will it be possible to move on to the next ones. Please note that downloading may take a long time depending on the speed of your Internet connection. That is, if it is high, then the download will go quickly and vice versa.

Creating a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive

Before you begin, you will need to install additional software on your computer. Therefore, the device must have an active internet connection. The program is called WinSetupFromUSB, and it is available for free download at http://www.winsetupfromusb.com/downloads/. Its installation is similar to the installation process of any other application for a computer or laptop. It is also worth noting that all further actions are considered using the example of the Windows operating system.

Operating system installation

Preparation

You can proceed to the last stage, which almost all users are afraid of: how to install Ubuntu from a flash drive. In fact, the worst is already behind us. It will be easier further, as you will see for yourself. To begin with, we recommend that you look in the instructions or on the website of the manufacturer of your device to see how the BIOS is called up on a PC. Most often this is one of the F or Delete keys. But to avoid getting into trouble, it is better to find out this information in advance.

Installation steps

Only after this we proceed to the next steps.

  1. We connect the flash drive prepared at the last stage to the computer and turn it off.
  2. Press the power button to turn it back on and quickly press the key to call up the BIOS menu.
  3. Here you will need to change the priority to booting from a flash drive. To do this, go to the Boot tab, then open the Boot Device Priority item and using the navigation keys indicated at the bottom of the page, put our drive in first place. If you do not know English, then use a translator. The BIOS menu is different on all computers, so there is no one general instruction for changing the boot priority.
  4. When you install the prepared drive in the first place, exit the menu with saving data. Wait while the PC downloads the data.
  5. If you have completed the previous steps correctly, you will see the installation welcome window. In the left block you can select the language, and on the right the installation type: this could be a simple launch of Ubuntu for testing (the system will not be installed, you can just get acquainted with it, for example) or, in fact, a full installation. Click on the second option.

  6. Set the required parameters in the next window and click “Continue”.
  7. Now you will need to select the installation type. As stated in the description, the system can be installed either next to an existing one or instead of it. If you need Windows, you can take the first option. If you only want Ubuntu, then choose the second type. Click “Continue”.

  8. In the next window, the user is asked to allocate disk space for the system and files. To do this, move the separator to set the necessary parameters. When you have distributed everything, click “Install now”, and in the dialog box that appears, click “Continue”, knowingly reading the information provided.

  9. After some time, you will see a window called “Who are you?” Write down all the data as you wish (name, password, etc.), then click “Continue”.

  10. Wait for the process to complete. After the computer restarts, the Ubuntu operating system interface will be presented. If you left Windows in the seventh step, then after the reboot you will have to select a system to start. And this will happen every time you turn on the PC.

Now you can customize the OS to suit your needs: install drivers, write programs, and so on. The OS may also warn you that it is necessary to download some files for it to work correctly. These steps are mandatory for the system to function properly.

Conclusion

Dear readers, we hope that the installation of Ubuntu from the USB flash drive was successful. Summarizing what was said earlier, we can highlight the main stages of our joint work:

  1. Preparing the flash drive for use.
  2. Create a bootable USB flash drive
  3. Reboot the computer with the drive set as the first boot priority in the BIOS.
  4. Installing the system in ten steps.

We remind you that all actions are performed at your own peril and risk. Read all messages on your computer carefully to avoid unpleasant situations. Tell us in the comments: did you manage to install Ubuntu on your PC?

A bootable USB flash drive with Linux Mint may be needed to install the system on your computer or to get acquainted with it in Live mode. To begin with, you need to visit our website and then follow a simple sequence of actions that is described in this article.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive from Windows

If you have Windows 7, 8 or 10 installed on your computer, then you need to download a special program. Here you need to start from your final goals and where you will install the system. If you have new computers with UEFI, then you need to download the Rufus program. If you have older hardware, then the UNetbootin program will suffice. Let's look at the nuances of working with each program.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive with Linux Mint using Rufus

Connect the flash drive to your computer, delete all information from it and run the Rufus program. The following window will appear in front of you:

First, specify the path to the iso image on your hard drive, and then select the “GPT for computers with UEFI” partition scheme. You can leave the rest of the program settings as default and click on the “start” button. Wait until the image is written to the USB flash drive and close the program window.

Creating a bootable USB flash drive with Linux Mint using UNetbootin

UNetbootin is available for both Windows and Linux Mint. Connect the flash drive to the computer, delete all information from it and run the program. The following window will appear in front of you:

Specify the path to the Linux Mint image on your computer and select the media on which this image will be written. Click on the "ok" button and wait until the recording finishes.

As you can see, it’s very easy to write Linux Mint onto a flash drive, and in order to boot from it, you need to set the boot priority from removable media in the BIOS. The resulting installation flash drive will be able to run not only on your computer, but also on the computers of your friends, and you will be able to introduce them to our wonderful operating system. If you have any questions, ask them on our website.

This guide will allow you install Ubuntu on a USB flash drive and use it in Live mode. In addition, while in Live mode you will be able to install Ubuntu on your computer exactly the same as when booting from an optical disc.

This makes it easy install Ubuntu on netbooks, which do not have disk drives.

First, we need to download the Ubuntu disk image.

After that, install the application ““. For Windows this program can be downloaded. For Linux- you can do it there, but this application is also in the repository. It will look something like this:


As shown in the image, we need to select the “Diskimage” item and find in the dialog box Ubuntu image file. Among the disks (“Drive”), select the one you need. I don’t recommend changing the type from “USB Drive”!

By the way, formatting the flash drive is not required before this. The application will create its own files next to existing files and will work normally. If your file has the same name as the one being installed, a window for selecting an action will appear, which is certainly convenient.

So, installing ISO disk image was successful - you can reboot.

During downloading, select the device from which the download should be made (our flash drive). This can be done on many modern computers from the boot menu. It usually appears when you press Esc, Tab or F8 while booting.


If your computer does not have this feature, you can always go into the BIOS (usually using Del / F2 / F12 at boot) - there, configure the Boot -> Boot Device Priority menu to load Removable devices earlier.

After loading, an action selection window will appear. Select “Default” - the default action.


Long gone are the days when Linux was just a black screen with a blinking cursor symbol. Current Linux could be like this

The appearance (or environment) of Kde. Or like this

Xfce environment. Or maybe like this?

Mate. Or like this?

Environment Cinnamon.

All the pictures look completely different, but at the same time, these are options for designing the appearance. And although in all the pictures all the names are written in English, the Russian language (with a very high-quality translation) appears after a few clicks of the mouse, which we will talk about below.

If you decide to install Linux, we recommend trying the Mint version, which is based on Ubuntu, but unlike it, has a more polished interface. Anticipating the questions, let us immediately note that to try it you don’t need to immediately format your hard drive, erase all the necessary documents and find out how to access the Internet. Mint next to Windows is a fairly common occurrence, and the system developers took it into account. Everything can be done gradually, step by step. In order not to look for a blank, we will install from a flash drive. Installing Linux Mint from a flash drive is no more difficult than installing from a CD, except that instead of a 4 GB disc, we only need a 2 GB flash drive, since the distribution itself takes up ~ 1.5 GB.

Difficulty of choice

Having decided to try Linux, a user who is not accustomed to the wealth of choice will think: “What will this Linux look like for me, and which one is better?” If we choose Mint, the desktop of the main directions of development of the distribution is shown above. Everyone comes to a working environment that is convenient for themselves in the process of use. For initial testing, we recommend Cinnamon - 4 picture One of the reasons for this choice is the flexibility of the settings, another is that Cinnamon was originally planned specifically for Mint. Finally, we can say that the appearance will be very reminiscent of Windows. Whether this is a plus or a minus is up to the user to decide. Regardless of your choice, the installation of Linux Mint will proceed the same, the differences will be revealed after the final reboot.

Having decided on the appearance, go to the official Linux Mint website and in the Download section select the architecture (32 or 64) and shell version. The no codecs version comes without additional multimedia codecs, which means you still have to install them to watch videos, listen to music, etc. The OEM version is not intended for initial training. Click on the selected architecture. In the window that opens, we get brief information about the distribution, name, architecture, shell and several mirrors for downloading. Pay attention to the data in the edition line - our shell is selected. It is also worth noting that if you want to use torrents, there is such a link, but above the list of mirrors. Click on the selected link and wait for the distribution to download.

Preparing for installation. HDD

If we don't want to lose Windows files, we will need to allocate disk space for the new system. It is recommended to allocate approximately 15 GB. If you allocate less, problems may arise during the work process. In principle, you can skip this step altogether - the installer has a good program for working with disks, but for the first time we will go the standard way. Let's reduce one of the disks by 15 GB. Installing Linux Mint will require less, but as we said, it's better to have a spare. This can be done with any program, even built into Windows, but we use ADD - Acronis Disk Director.

The program works with disks in a graphical interface, clearly showing the sizes and recalculating the volumes on the fly. Please note that the work is not done on the C drive.

Any other, except the boot one, you can move as you like, making free space, before or after the data. If you make free space on drive C before the data, then next time Windows will stop loading. Having changed the section, move on to the next step

Preparing for installation. Flash drive

The official website of the distribution suggests installing Linux Mint on a flash drive using the Universal USB Installer program; let’s look at its settings. Insert the flash drive and launch the program.

In the main window of Universal USB Installer we need to configure 4 things.

Step 1 - if our Mint is not in the drop-down list, select Ubuntu.

Step 2 - specify the distribution file.

Step 3 - select the flash drive (look in “My Computer” to see which letter was assigned to it, and select it here. You don’t need to write anything else).

Step 4 - not required to fill out.

Live CD

Installing Linux Mint from a flash drive is no different from installing from a DVD, except for the speed. Therefore, after the download is complete, we will receive a Live system, which is quite functional, except that it has not yet been installed and (most likely) is in English. You can work in it, test, usually everything works right away, just slower. In this mode, no files on the hard drive are changed or deleted, but the files you created in this system will not be saved either. The system has a full set of software - you can go online (although this works if you didn’t log out directly from Windows before), read Word files, even watch a movie. It works, but is slower. But before proceeding with the installation, be sure to configure the Internet. You will need it to install some packages. There is an icon in the tray for this. Usually depicted as two forks connected to each other. Right-click on it - change the connection and then DSL (for most modern network connection options PPPoE, PPPtP, ADSL, etc)

Installation to disk

Click on the “Install Linux Mint” icon to begin the installation. The installation will prompt you to select a language (Russian is available), ask you about connecting to the Internet, state how much it may need, and if you have a laptop, it will tell you that you need to connect it to the network. The next stage will be We will talk about it a little lower. Otherwise, installing Linux Mint is not much different from installing Windows.

Formatting partitions for Linux

At this stage we need to go into detail, since there is no general concept of partitions, letters, disks in Linux. The easiest way to think of a file system is as a tree. Root, trunk, branches. Each new section in the system will become one of the branches. The home partition will become such a branch, the D drive will become such a branch, etc.

During installation, the wizard will offer three options: “Replace Windows (remove it)”, “Install side by side (not worth the risk)” and “Another option”. This is what we need. Use the arrows to select it and press “Enter.”

The 15 GB received earlier must be divided into three parts. 8+2+5, respectively, system + swap + user files. Then, if you don’t need the middle section, you can delete it and attach the space to the user section. Double click on the free space, the window that appears is shown below. With the exception of the mount point and the size field, the remaining parameters are shown in the picture.

The type of the new partition may not be able to be changed - this does not matter. For the system in we set 8192 (this is MB), the mount point is “/”. We agree with the changes. Select the remaining free space - 2048 MB. Here we select the field where it says “EXT4”, change it to “swap partition”. No mount point is needed. Plus, select the remaining free space and repeat the steps as we did above for the system, with the exception of the mount point. Select “/home” from the list.

As a result, instead of free space, you will have 3 new partitions - “/”, “/home”, “swap”. The marking is complete. Click “Install Now”.

Booting a new system

After installing and removing the flash drive, the system will boot again. Linux Mint starts in English after installation. Let's make it Russian.

Click on the “menu” - “Control center” - “Languages” button.

In the new window, the Install/remove languages ​​button will allow us to add Russian.

Click “Add” and in the new window select “Russuan, Russia”, then at the bottom of the window “Install”.

The window has closed, and in the previous one there is a button “Install language packs”. Click and wait until it installs.

Now close all the windows one by one, making sure that “Russuan, Russia” is selected. We are overloading. If everything was done correctly, a window will appear on the screen prompting you to rename your home folders. The “menu” button is renamed in manual mode.

Further customization

The initial setup of Linux Mint after installation is widely described on the Internet. There are quite a lot of items, but here we will look at one - how to change the main menu that is unusual for us. The Cinnamon developers offer several variations of the main menu, even in Win7 form. Let's try to install it. Right-click on the bottom panel - select “add new applets” In the window that opens, do as in the figure below.

We put a checkmark to the right of the selected item, wait until it is installed and get a menu, as in Windows.

Drivers

Unlike other editions, Cinnamon almost immediately picks up all found equipment correctly. And if you are not going to play games, work with complex packages, you don’t have to bother with the issue of drivers. However, there are times when Wi-Fi, for example, is not found after installation. This is where installing Linux Mint drivers will help. We access it through the “Administration” menu. First, the system will search for possible drivers. After which a window will appear as in the screenshot below.

If there are drivers, they will appear in the list. All you have to do is select the one you need, then click “Activate” at the bottom of the window (not active on the screen). Wait for installation and reboot the system. After a reboot, the driver is usually activated without problems.

A few words in conclusion

There is a saying: “The devil is not as scary as he is painted.” The same can be said about Linux. Recently, Linux has become used by many people who previously had difficulty teaching how to use Windows. “Linuxoid”, as users of this system are called, knows one good rule - if you don’t know something, find a manual on the Internet. There are manuals for all occasions. Don't forget about this.

I will show how to install full-fledged Linux on a flash drive, not a live distribution, but a full-fledged OS with the ability to save changes made to it, using the example of the Linux Mint distribution.

1. Download the distribution ( http://www.linuxmint.com/download.php) and burn the OS image to DVD.

If it is not possible to burn the image to a disk, then you can write it to a flash drive, more on this in this article: How to make a USB flash drive with an installation distribution (Linux Live USB).

2. In BIOS, select boot from CD drive

3. After loading the OS, select Install Linux Mint, also insert the flash drive on which you are going to install the OS.

4. Specify the OS language, for example Russian.

5. "Check for free space and Internet connection", click "Continue"

6. In the next step, the Installer will ask you to disconnect the USB flash drive during OS installation; refuse by clicking “No”.

7. Installation type - "Other option"

8. My flash drive is detected as /dev/sdc1. Be sure to indicate "Device for installing the system bootloader:" Your flash drive, in my case it is /dev/sdc1 .

9. Then in the “List of media” double-click on the flash drive /dev/sdc1.

10. Specify the partition file system - Ext4 journaling file system.

11. Put a tick " Format partition".

12. Mount point /.

13. Click OK.

14. A message will appear that you have not specified any partition for swapping, click “Continue”.

Next, follow the standard installation instructions: name, password, regional standards... The installation process on a flash drive can take many times longer than installation on a hard drive due to its slowness; for me the process took about an hour.