Ubuntu

Ubuntu Installation Help Needed

Asked by Peter

Hello, I'm completely lost and can't find any documentation on my problem. I have downloaded ubuntu-7.04-desktop-1386.iso and want to install it on another (currently) Windows computer, and cannot even get to step 1. I have put the .iso file on a blank CD but Windows will not run it. How do I make an "install CD" as described in the documentation. Do I need the file on a (Windows) bootable CD? Do I (somehow) run the file from Windows after booting from the hard drive? Should I format the hard drive prior to installation (I would like a clean installation)? If formatting, what format do I need? I was hoping this was going to be a lot simpler than my (failed) attempt at installing Red Hat, ten years ago...

TIA,

Peter

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Artem Popov (artfwo) said : 		#1

Hi, Peter!

I suppose, that you actually created a CD with a single file - "ubuntu-7.04-desktop-1386.iso" in it. This is the wrong thing to do.

These documents will help you burn the Ubuntu CD in the proper way:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM (how to check downloaded image)
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto (how to burn the disc)

Hope this help :)

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Peter (pireland) said : 		#2

Thanks very much, as that is a great start! I wonder why I couldn't find those instructions anywhere? :-)

I am stuck at step 1 at the moment, having downloaded and successfully installed ISORecorder, because I have no desktop icon or Start menu selection to start the program... I have verified the XP Pro Sp2 version and have re-downloaded, uninstalled and then reinstalled the program, but with the same result. I have checked the folder and it contains no program executable file, so I'm stuck until I hear back from the program developer, I guess. You've sure got to be determined with this, don't you? LOL!

Anyway, I still have some unanswered questions about drive preparation, prior to installation, that I would appreciate a couple of pointers on, if anyone has a moment.

Thanks,

Peter

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Peter (pireland) said : 		#3

OK... Progress! For anyone who is bumping into the same roadblocks, the answers to using ISORecorder can be found at http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/howto.htm. Apparently, you have to right click on the .iso file and select "Copy Image File To CD" from the popup menu (there are no desktop icons or start menu selections for the program).

As for the hard drive, I suspect I may want to reformat that (NTFS) before the install for a clean installation(?).

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Shkodran Gerguri (s-gerguri) said : 		#4

Peter, you need free _unformatted_ space for Ubuntu to install on - you can't install it on a Windows partition with free space on it (these are two different things, my apologies if you already know these things). Since this is your first linux attempt, I assume all the space on your disk belongs to the NTFS filesystem. So what you need to do is ensure that you have at least say 10-15 GB of free, unformatted (i.e. with no partition/filesystem on it) space. As you don't, do not worry, the Ubuntu installer can resize your NTFS partition to free some space. However, keep in mind that you can't get more free space than what was present on your NTFS partition.

So let's say you have an 80GB disk, NTFS formatted with only one partition. Let's say you have some 30 GB of free disk space on that partition (i.e. Windows tell you that you have 30 GB of free space on disk). After you boot up the Ubuntu Live CD and start the installer, you can resize the partition say to 60 GB (given it was 80 GB large before and you used up 50 GB of it) - this is safe as it will still keep some free space for Windows - and get 20 GB of free space. You can then use it to create partitions for linux. The installer should do this for you automatically.

However, back up everything important on your Windows partition. Though not very likely, something might go wrong during the resize process, so make sure that you don't lose any important files in case Windows become unbootable.

I never needed to resize an NTFS partition, so this is not exactly my experience I'm trying to communicate to you, so please back up, be careful and remember you're doing this at your own risk - this advice is by no means 100 % correct, you might bump into some errors along the way.

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Manuel Kirstetter (mkirstetter) said : 		#5

Hi Peter,

You don't need any drive or filesystem preparation if you want a clean installation (using entire disk for Ubuntu), at the installation you'll choose "use entire disk" (it will partitioning, formating and installing automatically). But I repeat, this is only if you want ONLY Ubuntu on the computer, this will ERASE ALL DATA on hard drive!

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Shkodran Gerguri (s-gerguri) said : 		#6

Peter, you also mentioned reformatting the whole NTFS, i.e. doing a clean install of Windows. This might be better, as you can dedicate even more space to Ubuntu, but it really depends on how much you intend to use Ubuntu and how much space you need for Windows. Also, you're losing your data this way (as you undoubtedly know), so again, the universal rule: back up everything important. :)

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Peter (pireland) said : 		#7

Thanks everyone for your assistance! This is a surplus (removeable) hard drive that I am installing to and I do not need to retain Windows on it. I will therefore select "use entire disk" during install and cross my fingers...:-)

Again, many thanks!

Peter