Installing Ubuntu LINUX from a flash drive - instructions. Installing Linux on a USB flash drive

It cannot be said that the popularity of Unix-like operating systems is quite high, but at the same time, more and more people are switching to Linux for one reason or another. Of course, the average user cannot perceive such an operating system from the point of view of the only possible one. It is usually installed along with Windows. At the same time, most people prefer Ubuntu, since this OS is less difficult to understand.

Why do you need Linux (Ubuntu)?

• It's interesting to try an operating system that is completely different from Windows.
• Ubuntu is a free OS, as are most programs for Linux.
• You can install this type of OS even on an old machine, since it is less demanding than Windows.
• The Linux world has a limited number of viruses, which means a high security threshold.
• Your Linux-based OS will not require disk defragmentation, and its speed will not decrease over time.
• OS updates and program installations can occur without rebooting.
• Shutting down the system and booting it up is much faster than Windows.
• An ideal environment for programmers.

In addition to the positive aspects, of course, there are also negative ones. In particular, if you like to game, then Linux is not your operating system, since not all games can function in this environment. It is also problematic to install programs such as Microsoft Office, 1C, etc. Although this cannot be called a problem, since Linux complements the capabilities of Windows, and does not replace them.

Installing Ubuntu 13.10 from a USB flash drive

1., that is, format it:

• Open My Computer and find your flash drive.
• Right-click on it to bring up the options menu, and select an item such as “Format”.
• Change the FAT file system to NTFS (FAT does not allow you to write files larger than 4 GB).
• Activate the “Start” button and wait for the process to complete.

2. Download the Ubuntu boot disk image (895 MB).

3. To do this, you need to download the program (4.15 MB).

4. We write the image to a USB drive:

• Select the “File” tab.
• Then “Open” and specify the path to the image file.
• Go to the “Bootboot” program menu item, where you need to stop at the line “Burn Hard Disk Image”.
• Activate the “Record” button.

5. Reboot the computer and go to the BIOS to mark the boot from the flash drive and not from the hard drive. The ability to enter the BIOS is different for everyone, for example, the F11 button.

6. When you start the installation, you will see a window where you will be asked to select the interface language and two options for working with Ubuntu. First, you can select “Launch Ubuntu,” which allows you to test the OS without installation. Secondly, you can immediately proceed to the direct installation, that is, click “Install Ubuntu”.

7. If everything is fine with your Internet, then in the next window, check the boxes “Download the update during installation” and “Install this third-party software”, and then click “Continue”.

8. Go to the section where you should select the installation type. If your system is “bare”, that is, there is only one hard drive and no other OS, then installing Ubuntu will require a minimum of actions and knowledge:

• Activate the “New partition table” button, and then “Continue”.
• A table will be created with the corresponding free space, which must be highlighted and clicked “+”.
• In the pop-up window, the parameters of the main disk are determined: its size, Ext4 file system, mount point “/”.
• If you already have any operating systems installed or have more than one hard drive, then do not forget to correctly select the “Device for installing the system bootloader” item. Otherwise, you will not be able to get into Ubuntu, since the system selection will not be available. You need to select the device that comes first when you boot. For example, you have 7 and 8. In this case, 7 takes the first position when loading, so the bootloader should be placed on the disk where it is installed.

10. Decide on the keyboard layout.

11. Fill out the field with your name, password and login method, and then click “Continue”.

12. The installation process starts.

13. After installation is complete, the system reboots and you can enjoy all the features of Ubuntu.

Owners of old laptops, in an attempt to “speed up” the device, express a desire to install Linux. The easiest way to do this is from a flash drive, especially if the gadget is not equipped with an optical drive. However, before you get started, you should learn more about this process.

Features of installing Linux from a flash drive

Linux and Windows user experiences may be similar in some situations. But their internal processes are very different. So the installation was not without its peculiarities:

• By running Linux from a flash drive, the user environment and main programs can be tested without necessarily installing it on the hard drive. Therefore, almost all distributions of this OS are called “Live-CD/DVD”.
• Installing Linux from a flash drive or disk can be done either as the only system on a PC or next to another OS.
• To record the distribution, you should use working USB drives, since low-quality media can overheat and turn off during installation.
• It is not recommended to install using a USB flash drive via USB hubs. Especially if, in addition to the storage with the installer, other equipment is connected to it. This can cause a lot of problems.

Programs for installing Linux from a flash drive

There is a huge list of software for burning operating system distributions onto USB drives. But the most versatile and proven is Unetbootin, as it works on both Windows and Linux.

How to burn an image using Unetbootin:

1. Download the program from the link
2. Run it, specifying that the target will be a disk image.
   
   
3. By clicking the button with three dots, specify the distribution image.
   
   
4. Select the type “USB Device”.
   
   
5. Specify the carrier letter. If the media is connected in a single copy, the program detects it automatically.
   
   
6. Click "Ok". The data on the media will be lost.
   
   

Everything is ready to start installing Linux from a flash drive to a laptop. You can close the program.

How to install Linux from a flash drive

The variety of Linux distributions does not allow us to talk about all types of installers at once. However, the most common among users are Debian builds, which include Ubuntu, Fedora, Zorin OS, ALTLinux, etc. And their installers give a complete picture of the ways and how you can install Linux. First, you need to boot from a flash drive. You need to get into the BIOS.

BIOS setup

Attention! On most laptops, you can get into the BIOS by holding or constantly pressing the F2 key when turning on the device.

However, depending on the manufacturer and model, the keys and their combinations may vary.

• MSI laptops – Del key, F2.
• Dell – Del, F1, Insert or
• Acer – F1, F2, Delete, Ctrl+Alt+Escape.
• Packard Bell – Del, F2.
• Hewlett Packard – F2, F11, Del.

Some manufacturers also have a Boot Menu available, from which you can immediately select a device to boot, bypassing the BIOS settings. It is usually accessible by pressing the keys – F10, F11 or F12.

If the Boot Menu is missing, but you managed to get into the BIOS, then the setting for most laptop models looks like this:

Installing Linux using Fedora as an example

Attention! Manual marking for installing the operating system creates more favorable conditions for its further use.

1. After booting from the flash drive, the user will be greeted with the following window, in which you need to select the “Start Fedora-Workstation” item and press “Enter”.
   
   
2. The installer start page appears. The “Install to Hard Drive” button starts the installation.
   
   
3. Next you need to select your language and region.
   
   
4. Click on the Install Location button.
   
   
5. Select the hard drive on which Linux will be unpacked.
   
   
6. Set the device configuration to the “In your own way” mode and click “Finish”.
   
   
7. Next, change the partition scheme to “Standard partition”.
   
   
8. Click on the “+” button to begin partitioning the disk.
   
   

1. Click the “Done” button.
   
   
2. Then start the process by clicking on the “Start installation” button.
   
   
3. The unpacking process will begin.
   
   
4. When Fedora notifies you that the unpacking process is complete, click Exit.
   
   
5. Then, in the control menu, restart your PC and remove the USB drive.
   
   
   
   
6. The first time you launch Fedora, you'll be presented with a welcome screen, where the last screen will be to enter your username and password.
   
   
   
   
7. At the end of the setup, click on the “Get Started” button, and this completes the installation of Fedora from a flash drive.

Installation from a Zorin OS flash drive occurs through a standard installer for Debian-like builds and has minimal differences from this process in Linux Fedora. Namely:

Installation from a flash drive of ALTLinux and most other operating systems based on this kernel, such as Ubuntu, Elementary, Deepin and others, is the same, only the interfaces differ.

If Linux cannot be installed from a flash drive: common errors

Despite the apparent ease of installation, no one is immune from problems with it. If Linux cannot be installed from a flash drive, most likely:

1. The BIOS settings have disappeared or were not installed correctly. Check your settings and save them again. If the situation does not change, try replacing the battery on the laptop's motherboard; it is responsible for saving settings, date and time on the device.
2. If your computer has more than one hard drive after installing the Linux OS, go to the BIOS and select the hard drive to which the distribution package was unpacked as the first boot device.
3. Broken image or poor quality recording. This can usually be verified using MD5 sums, but not all distributions come with them. So the most reliable option would be to re-download the Linux image from the official website (without parallel downloads of anything), and then write it to a USB drive without any extraneous running processes.
4. Incorrectly marked hard drive. When the root partition is smaller than recommended in the system requirements of a particular build.
5. The bootloader was installed on the wrong disk.

Conclusion

Recently, Linux has ceased to be a product intended exclusively for computer professionals. Thanks to this, anyone who reads this article will be able to independently install Linux from a flash drive.

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's 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 also 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 one, 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 it, 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 set up 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 button “menu” - “Control center” - “Languages”.

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.

It often happens that when wanting to install an OS, a person is faced with the fact that his disk drive is broken or missing. This problem occurs especially often among laptop owners. But don’t be upset, because there is an alternative - installation from flash driveLinux. To do this, you don’t need much programming knowledge, because there are special programs that will “burn” a Linux image onto your flash drive just like a disk. All you have to do is start the installation process.

So, before how to installLinuxfrom a flash drive, you will need a flash drive with the image recorded on it. If you don't know how to do this, get all the information you need at .

Step 1 - preparationBIOSfor installation

As an example, consider installing the Linux Mint distribution. In order to installationLinuxMintfrom a flash drive started, you need to configure startup settings.

We insert the flash drive into the computer, turn it on and at the very beginning, when the screen is black and there is a lot of text, press the F2 button. Depending on the BIOS version and the computer, this may be another button - F10, Delete or Esc.

We find ourselves in the settings menu and now we need to find the “Boot” item. Again, it may be called differently in different BIOS versions, but use this word as a guide. After we have found the autorun menu, a list of priorities appears before our eyes. It contains: hard drive, floppy drive, removable hard drive, USB inputs, etc. Our task is to find a flash drive in this list and put it in 1st place as a priority.

This is done like this - point the arrows at the name (for example: “USB 40GB DEVICE”) and move it by pressing the F5 and F6 buttons until the flash drive is in 1st place.

Now the system will launch the flash drive first. Press F10 and confirm the exit by entering the Y (Yes) key and pressing the Enter button.

Reboot the computer.

Step 2 – Start the installation process

After your computer restarts, you will see the startup menu. It is often decorated with various images, so you will know exactly what it is. Press Enter.

If nothing has changed or something went wrong, restart your computer and review the menu list in detail. Perhaps the recorded image contains not only, but also various programs.

Step 3 – installation from a flash driveLinux

All the suffering is over! Already at the beginning of installation you are greeted by a friendly Russian-language interface. Start by selecting your language - select your desired language.

Next, you need to make sure that your computer has enough free hard drive memory, is plugged into a power source, and is connected to the Internet. You can immediately agree to have the latest updates automatically downloaded during installation.

Click “Forward”. We get to the hard drive selection menu. In it you can format and split sections, if desired. Specify the partition (disk) in which you want to install the operating system and click the “Install Now” button.

We get to the section change menu. Here you can increase the amount of memory, change the file system type, format the partition and specify the mount point. We use the “Ext4” file system and set the mount point “/”. If there is no valuable information on the hard drive, it is advisable to format the partition. Click “Install Now”.

Now we select the country and city of residence so that the system automatically sets the time and other indicators to suit your personal needs. We also indicate the keyboard layout. All you have to do is enter the desired name for your computer, username and password (optional). Click “Forward” and start the installation process.

After installation is complete, restart your computer, remove the USB flash drive and wait for the Linux operating system to start.

Congratulations! Installation completed successfully!

This guide walks you through the installation process of Ubuntu Linux step by step. Installing Ubuntu is very easy and quite fast. With the release of each new version of Ubuntu, developers try to simplify the system installation process as much as possible. In this guide, I will walk you through the complete Ubuntu installation process, with each step accompanied by a screenshot and description. As a rule, users have the greatest difficulties only with disk partitioning; everything else is no more difficult than installing some program. We will look at the process of installing Ubuntu on an empty hard drive, as well as installing Ubuntu next to Windows, that is, the case when you already have the Windows operating system installed and want to install Ubuntu next to it.

Before starting the installation, you must prepare the distribution kit - write it to a disk or USB drive (flash drive). You can install Ubuntu from a bootable USB flash drive (if the BIOS supports booting from a USB drive) or from a CD/DVD disk. All preparatory processes are described in the following articles:

1. Burning an iso image to disk - for installation from a CD/DVD.
   Writing an iso image to a USB drive (creating a bootable flash drive) - for installing Ubuntu from a flash drive.
2. — this item only needs to be completed if you already have Windows installed and want to install Ubuntu next to it.

This guide walks you through the installation process of Ubuntu 12.04. Other versions of Ubuntu are installed in exactly the same way.
Updated: Ubuntu 18.04 installs similarly. Feel free to use this guide.

First of all, you download the Ubuntu distribution kit, then burn it to the desired media (flash drive or disk). If you want to install Ubuntu next to Windows, then you pre-allocate free disk space. Then you restart your computer, configure the BIOS, and boot from the disk (or flash drive). You can boot either into a LiveCD system (a system that works without installation on the computer directly from the disk) or you can start the installation process without loading the LiveCD system. Let's look at the entire installation process step by step.

If you are installing Ubuntu for the first time and do not have sufficient experience, then it is highly advisable to backup your important data (copy it to another medium). Naturally, this is true if you are not installing Ubuntu on a clean computer.

Starting the Ubuntu installation

Let's assume you have already inserted a flash drive or disk and turned on the computer. The installer should start downloading. The following window will appear in front of you (let's call it the splash screen).

The not-so-informative keyboard icon at the bottom of the splash screen means that if you press any key on the keyboard, then you will be taken to a menu.

If you do not click anything, then the download will continue and the following window will appear. On the left in the list you can select a language (this language will be used in the LiveCD system) - select Russian. Next you can click the button Try Ubuntu to boot into the LiveCD system and start the installation from there, or immediately press the button Install Ubuntu. I advise you to boot into the LiveCD system, so click the button Try Ubuntu.

If you press an arbitrary key while the splash screen is displayed, then the language selection menu will be displayed. Use the arrows to select Russian and press Enter.


A menu will appear in which we select the first item Run Ubuntu without installing it on your computer. Thus, we will boot into the LiveCD system, and from there we will launch the installation. If for some reason the LiveCD system does not start, then you can select the second option and begin the installation immediately.

When you boot into the LiveCD, you need to double-click on the icon on the desktop Install Ubuntu (Install Ubuntu).

Language selection and initial settings

The first thing we will have to do is select the language of the future system (Ubuntu will be installed in the same language). Choose Russian and press the button Continue.

On the next window, “Preparing to install Ubuntu,” you are asked to check two boxes: “Download updates during installation” and “Install this third-party software.” If you select the “Download updates during installation” option, then during installation all the latest updates will be automatically downloaded from the Internet and installed (as well as localization files). I note that in this case the installation will take longer. If you do not currently have an Internet connection, you can update the system after installation. The second option (check mark) means that you agree that some closed source components will be installed (for example MP3 codecs and FLASH). I advise you to check two boxes, then press the button Continue.

Disk partitioning

We have come to the stage that causes the most difficulties for beginners - this is the partitioning of the hard drive (hard drive). I will try to briefly describe some basic principles of hard drive partitioning.

Each hard drive can be divided into several parts, these parts are called partitions (or partitions). For example, if you use Windows, then you may have only one partition - your C drive, or, for example, the hard drive can be divided into two parts - into two drives C and D (into two partitions).

Ubuntu Linux must be installed on a separate hard drive partition. The Linux file system has a specific directory structure. The root of the file system is designated as “/” (slash), all user data is stored in the /home directory (if we draw an analogy with Windows, this is something like the My Documents folder), the bootloader is located in the /boot directory, and so on. And you can put /home on a separate hard drive partition, /boot on another, and the rest of the “/” filesystem (aka system partition) on a third. In the simplest case, you need to create just one partition on your hard drive for the root “/”. There is also a special type of hard disk partition that Linux uses - a swap partition. A swap partition is an area on the hard drive that Linux can use in cases where it is low on RAM or needs to dump the operating system (the computer goes into sleep mode - hibernate).

As I already wrote, in the simplest case you only need to create one section. However, it is better to create at least three partitions. The first is the root partition (with a volume somewhere between 30-50GB), the second is the /home partition (the volume is usually taken to the maximum) and the third is the swap partition (the volume is usually taken equal to the amount of RAM). In this guide, I create exactly three sections.

For reference: 1GB = 1024MB, not 1000MB. For simplicity, during installation, I consider that 1000MB is 1GB, so I indicate the sizes in multiples of 1000. The installer himself adjusts them a little.

There are three types of partitions: primary, logical and extended. An extended partition is simply a combination of several logical partitions.

For MBR partition table There can be only 4 primary partitions for each hard drive (including extended). There can only be one extended section. There can be as many logical ones as you like. Windows is usually already installed on the primary partition, but Linux partitions can be combined into one extended partition. To do this, during installation you just need to specify that the type of each partition will be logical, then Ubuntu will automatically place them in one extended partition.

For GPT partition table(GUID Partition Table) there is no concept of logical and extended partitions. On disks with a GPT table, only primary partitions are created. You can create 128 partitions on one GPT disk.

Hard drives in Linux are referred to as sda, sdb, sdc, etc. Each partition on the disk is named sda1, sda2, etc.

If the disk uses an MBR partition table, then the first four digits are used to designate primary partitions, and the rest are used for logical partitions. For example, you can partition the disk like this:
sda1 - primary partition with Windows
sda2 - extended partition:
- sda5 - logical partition /
- sda6 - logical partition /home
- sda7 - logical swap partition

Each hard drive partition can be formatted with a specific file system. Under Windows, Fat32 or NTFS file systems are usually used. There are several file systems for Linux, but at the time of writing this guide, the best one is Ext4, so I will format all Linux partitions in Ext4.

Below are two ways to install Ubuntu. The first method is to install Ubuntu on a blank hard drive when you have a completely empty or new hard drive. The second method is to install Ubuntu on a hard drive that already has Windows installed. In the second case, when you start the computer, a menu will appear (GRUB menu), in which you can choose which operating system to launch.

Installation on a new (clean) hard drive

Installing Ubuntu on an empty hard drive is one of the easiest, since you don't risk damaging important data or accidentally formatting existing partitions on the drive. If you have a new and empty hard drive that does not contain other operating systems, then the following window will appear in front of you. You can select the first item, then the installer will do everything automatically, but we will select the second item and partition the disk ourselves the way we want. So, select the “Other option” item and press the button Continue.

A window will appear with a list of disks and partitions. Since there are no partitions on the new hard drive, the list will simply show your hard drive /dev/sda. First of all, we need to create a partition table. Please note that your partition table may already have been created and you can skip this step. Click the button New partition table.

A warning will appear, click the button Continue.

A new partition table will be created and the disk layout window will look like the one shown in the screenshot below. Please note that you can now see the current disk volume (free space). Now we will create three partitions (root /, home and swap. To create a new partition, click on the inscription " free place" and press the button Add.

As I already wrote, we will create three sections. The first will be the root / partition of 30GB in size, the second home partition of 218GB and the swap partition of 2GB in size. When creating partitions, we will specify that all partitions must be logical. The installer will automatically create an Extended (extended) partition and place our three logical partitions in it.

So, the window for adding a new section has opened in front of us. I specified the partition type as Logical, the size in megabytes is 30000MB. The location of the section was indicated by Home. Ext4 file system and mount point / (root partition). After setting all the settings, press the button OK.

Now the window with a list of disk partitions will contain our root partition. At the same time, the amount of free space will decrease accordingly. Now let's create a home section. Click on an item in the list free place and then the button Add.

In the window for creating a new partition, again select the partition type Logical. I allocate maximum space for the size of the home partition, therefore, since I decided to leave 2GB for swap, then we define the size of the home partition as the current free space minus 2GB. In my case it is 218GB. We indicate the location Start, Ext4 file system, and mount point /home.

The home section will be added to the list of partitions. All that remains is to create a swap partition. Select an item from the list free place and press the button Add.

In the partition creation window, specify the type again Logical, size 2000MB (all remaining free space), location Start. In point Use as choose: swap partition. There is no need to specify the mount point.

As a result, we ended up with three partitions on the hard drive. Now we just have to select the device on which the bootloader will be installed (in the “Device for installing the system bootloader” list at the bottom of the window), in our case we select /dev/sda (the bootloader will be installed on our hard drive). In fact, the partitions have not yet been created or formatted; we have only compiled a list of actions for the installer. Please note that the checkmarks in the column Formatting should be opposite the root and home partitions. For the last time, check to see if you have entered everything correctly and click the button Install now.

Installation next to Windows

Quite often, users install Ubuntu side by side (in parallel) with Windows. In this case, when you boot your computer, you will be able to choose which system to start. We will assume that you have already allocated enough space on your hard drive to install Ubuntu. If you have not already done this, then follow the instructions described in the article “Preparing a disk in Windows before installing Ubuntu”.

In my case, I have Windows installed on my laptop, which is located on a 42GB partition and I have allocated 105GB of free space for Ubuntu, plus there is a hidden 1.5GB partition where Windows recovery files are stored (since the laptop was purchased with the system pre-installed).

So, the installer will automatically detect that you already have Windows installed and offer you several options for installing Ubuntu. Namely: automatic installation next to Windows, complete replacement of Windows with Ubuntu and manual installation (manual partitioning of the disk to suit your needs).

If you select the second option, then all data on the disk will be deleted and as a result one Ubuntu will be installed.

If you select the first item, then Ubuntu itself will automatically install itself in the free space that you allocated to it (for me it is a 105GB partition). In this case, the disk will be divided into only two partitions: root / and swap. This is what my disk looked like after this installation:

I advise you to use manual disk partitioning, so select the third item labeled “ Another variant"and press the button Continue.

A window will open showing the structure of your hard drive (or drives, if you have several). It clearly shows disk partitions, their sizes, file systems and occupied space. In the screenshot below you can just see the ~1.5GB partition (recovery partition for Windows), about 40GB is used for Windows and more than 100GB of free space that we left for installing Ubuntu. Click on the line " free place" and press the button Add.

The window for creating a new partition will open. First of all, we will create a root partition “/”. Selecting the partition type Logical, I installed the volume ~18GB, location " Start", Ext4 file system and mount point "/".

After adding the root partition, the disk structure will look like this. Click on the line again free place"and press the button Add.

Now we will create a home partition. I allocated all the available space for it minus 2 gigabytes, which will go to the swap partition. The settings are as follows: partition type “Logical”, size ~93GB, location “start”, file system Ext4 and mount point /home.

After adding the /home partition, we get the following disk structure. We have just 2GB left for the swap partition. Click on the line " free place" and then the button Add.

All we have to do is create a swap partition. Select the partition type Logical, set the size equal to the remaining 2GB, location Start and in the “Use as” field set the item “ swap partition", you do not need to select a mount point (the field will be locked).

As a result, we get the following hard disk structure. And the last thing we should check is the bottom option “Device for installing the system boot loader”. In the drop-down list you must indicate your hard drive (I have /dev/sda, on which we did all the partitioning), the GRUB system boot loader will be installed on it.

Additional settings

The system installation process will begin. At the same time, you will be prompted to perform some custom settings. On the first screen you must select the city (country) you are in:

Next, select the keyboard layout and press the button Continue. I have selected from two lists Russian.

Next, you must create a primary user.
In field " your name» enter your full name.
In field " Computer name» specify the name of the computer, for example - my-home-pc.
In field " Enter your username»Indicate your username (in small Latin letters). It is advisable to choose a username that is not very long and simple, and this is what your home directory will be called later (in my case it is /home/yuriy).
Below you must enter your password and password confirmation. Please note that you will then enter this password when logging into the system, as well as during any administrative system settings (for example, when updating or installing programs).
Press the button Continue.

You may then be asked to select a picture for your user (avatar). Since my laptop has a built-in web camera, the installer suggested that I take a photo of myself (button “ Take a photo»).

Next, the installer offers to import accounts from other operating systems. For some reason, it didn’t offer to import data from Windows 7, but usually you can import some user data (for example, bookmarks from Windows), but I’ve never done this. So we just press the button Continue.

Copying files

Now the further installation process will begin and you will be able to view some presentation of the system (slideshow). The installation will take a few minutes.

Restarting the computer

Finally, when the installation is complete, a message will appear asking you to restart your computer. Since I started the installation from a LiveCD system, I am also prompted Continue acquaintance with LiveCD system. Press the button Reboot. Most likely, you will also be asked to remove the flash drive (if the installation was from USB) or remove the disk (or the CD-ROM will open automatically), otherwise when you reboot, you will start autoloading from the CD/flash drive again.

First start

After the computer restarts, the login window will appear in front of you. You must enter the password (which you provided when installing Ubuntu) and press Enter.

The Ubuntu desktop will boot. At this point, the Ubuntu installation can be considered complete. After installation, as a rule, a window will immediately pop up asking you to additionally install the system localization files, as well as perform a system update (if this was not done during the installation phase).