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InstallationFromLinux
Live CD
The Live CD is also known as the "Desktop Installer". It is the default Ubuntu installation CD.
The ISO you downloaded has the name "desktop" in its name, these are the instructions to use.
If your ISO has "alternate" in its name, you are using an alternate installation CD and should see
the next section.

UNetbootin is a utility that can do much of the following automatically.

If you already have a working linux system, installing without external media is easy. You need
to create a new partition, copy the CD contents over to it, boot from the new partition, and
proceed as if you were installing from a CD. Note that you can't use what will be the root
partition for the CD contents, as the installer is stubborn on formatting it (it will fail).

The benefits of installing without external media are that it can save you time if you are already
familiar with the process, and you get a very usable system upon booting into the installer
because it is running from a hard drive rather than a CD.

Step 1. Use gparted to create a new primary partition and format it to ext3. You need slightly
more than 700MB of free space on it. 750MB should be sufficient. Let's say the name of the
partition is /dev/sda1. If your new ubuntu install is going to coexist with your old system,
you might find it convenient to create space for your new system as well at this point using
gparted.

Step 2. Copy CD contents over to the new partition using the command

mkdir /tmp/install_cd
mkdir /tmp/installer

sudo mount disk-image.iso -o loop /tmp/install_cd

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /tmp/installer

sudo rsync -a /tmp/install_cd/ /tmp/installer

sudo umount /tmp/install_cd

sudo umount /tmp/installer

Replace the name of the iso to whatever you downloaded and /dev/sda1 with whatever
your new partition is.

Step 3. Edit your grub configuration file (typically /etc/grub.conf or

/boot/grub/menu.lst) to boot from the new partition by adding the lines

title installer
root (hd0,0)
kernel /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper root=/dev/ram
ramdisk_size=1048576 rw
initrd /casper/initrd.gz

The first line after the title tells grub which partition contains the installer. hd0 stands for "first
hard disk," and the 0 following it standards for first partition. You will need to change this if
your installer partition is different from /dev/sda1. sdaN becomes (hd0, N-1), sdbN
becomes (hd1,N-1) and so on. As you can see, grub starts counting from 0, which can be
confusing.

If you are trying to use Hard Disk installation with Ubuntu 9.10 chances are initrd.gz is renamed
as initrd.lz now. So rename accordingly in menu.lst.

With Grub2, the bootloader in new installations of 9.10, the procedure is a little different. You
should edit the file /etc/grub.d/40_custom and add the lines

menuentry "installer" {
insmod ext2
set root=(hd0,1)
linux /casper/vmlinuz boot=casper root=/dev/ram1
ramdisk_size=1048576 rw
initrd /casper/initrd.lz
}

Having done that run update-grub to rebuild the grub configuration. Note that Grub 2
counts drives from 0, but partitions from 1, so /dev/sda1 becomes (hd0,1).

Step 4. Reboot, and choose "installer" from the grub boot menu, and continue as if you were
installing from CD.

Note: if you unpacked the livecd on the same disk where you want to install Ubuntu, chances
are you'll run into LP#288675, and be unable to select a partition. The workaround by Nick
Spencer ("sudo umount -l -r -f /dev/sda3 or sudo umount -l -r -f /cdrom (where sda3 was the
device mounted as cdrom)") is a rather terrible hack, but usable as a workaround.

Note2: Instead of using 'workaround', an alternative is to modify the file /etc/mtab by erasing the
line that specifies the partition where the cdrom is mounted. This way the kernel thinks thats the
/cdrom is not mounted and will not show the advice when installing ubuntu. I think this
procedure is less dangerous than the one in the previus note.

Alternate CD
As of December 29th 2007, the instructions above do not apply to the alternate CD provided for
Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). Significant changes are required. Procedure 1 below has been
used successfully with Gutsy (Ubuntu 7.10) and Procedure 2 with Hardy (Ubuntu 8.04).

Before going any further please note that the alternate CD contains documentation which can
help with fixing problems or adapting solutions to your own situation. The documentation is
located in doc/install/manual/ on the alternate CD. Please refer to that documentation
as needed.

Note that Procedure 2 is potentially less disruptive because it does not call for a new partition.

For a simpler installation method which generally does not require repartitioning, and downloads
the packages at install time rather than requiring an ISO, see
Installation/NetbootInstallFromInternet.

Procedure 1
I used the following procedure for Gutsy. It can also be used for Hardy.

Step 1. Use gparted to create a new primary partition and format it to ext3. You need slightly
more than 700MB of free space on it. 750MB should be sufficient. Let's say the name of the
partition is /dev/sda1. If your new ubuntu install is going to coexist with your old system,
you might find it convenient to create space for your new system as well at this point using
gparted.

Step 2. Copy your alternate ISO to the root of the partition you created in step 1. You need to
copy the ISO itself rather than the contents of the ISO.

Step 3. Grab the initrd.gz and vmlinuz files found in the following subdirectory of a Ubuntu
mirror:
 dists/gutsy/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/

For example in the UK the files may be found at

http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/gutsy/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/

Put these files in your newly created partition. They can be in the root of the partition or in a
subdirectory.

Step 4. Edit your grub configuration file (typically /etc/grub.conf or

/boot/grub/menu.lst) to boot from the new partition by adding the lines:

title installer
root (hd0,0)
kernel /install/vmlinuz root=/dev/ram ramdisk_size=1048576 rw
initrd /install/initrd.gz

If you use LILO, see the official documentation on the alternate CD for how to configure LILO.
Or you can adapt the lines above for LILO if you know Grub and LILO well.

The first line after the title tells grub which partition contains the installer. hd0 stands for "first
hard disk," and the 0 following it standards for first partition. You will need to change this if
your installer partition is different from /dev/sda1. sdaN becomes (hd0, N-1), sdbN
becomes (hd1,N-1) and so on. As you can see, grub starts counting from 0, which can be
confusing. The paths for the kernel and the initrd were set to start with /install/ in my
setup but you could put those files in the root of the install partition and have them be
/vmlinuz and /initrd.gz if you so wish.

As specified in the above, the installer will run without a preseed file. The preseed tells the
installer what kind of system you are trying to install and it automatically selects some options
for you during installation. For instance, using the ubuntu.seed file tells the installer that
you want to install a full "desktop" system, with Gnome and everything. If you do not select a
preseed file, it is unclear what the installer thinks. In my (LouisDominiqueDubeau) experience,
it installs some sort of cli or server form of Ubuntu. This is not disastrous but it may not be what
you want. In Hardy in particular, running the installer without a seed results in LILO installed as
the boot loader rather than Grub. Ugly... So it is better to select a seed. Adding the parameter
file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed to the kernel line above should take care of
the problem. If installing Kubuntu, select kubuntu.seed instead. Adapt to other situations as
needed.

Step 5. Reboot, and choose "installer" from the grub boot menu, and continue as normal.

Procedure 2
In this procedure you do not create a new partition to hold the installer. This procedure was used
for Hardy. It may be adaptable for Gutsy.

Step 1. Copy your alternate ISO to the root of any partition that the installer can mount. You
need to copy the ISO itself rather than the contents of the ISO. The important part here is that
you must find a partition that the installer can mount, as it will search during the install
procedure. If you use the traditional partitioning system used by DOS since ages immemorial,
then any filesystem supported by Ubuntu should work. In particular ext2/ext3/ntfs/fat/vfat
should all work. If you use LVM, things are trickier. As of April 26th 2008, the installer is
unable to find an ISO stored on a partition managed in LVM. The installer can install Ubuntu in
an LVM partition but in the stage at which it looks for the ISO it has not yet loaded the LVM
modules so it cannot find the ISO if it is on an LVM partition. An enterprising person should be
able to work around that problem but by default the installer won't find the ISO if it is on an
LVM partition. If you have Windows installed, then the Windows partition, which normally is
not managed by LVM (because I don't think Windows supports LVM), can hold the ISO.

Step 2. Grab the initrd.gz and vmlinuz files found in the following subdirectory of a Ubuntu
mirror:
 dists/hardy/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/

For example in the UK the files may be found at

http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dists/hardy/main/installer-i386/current/images/hd-media/

You will want to put these files in your normal /boot/ directory. It may be a good idea to
create a subdirectory like newinstall, hardy-install, or something similar.

Step 3. Read the information at step 4 of procedure 1 above and then come back here: the
information there will tell you what hd0,0 means and will inform you about seeds, etc. Edit your
grub configuration file (typically /etc/grub.conf or /boot/grub/menu.lst) to
boot from the new partition by adding the lines:

title installer
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/newinstall/vmlinuz
initrd /boot/newinstall/initrd.gz

If you want a preseed file, change the kernel line to:

kernel (hd0,0)/newinstall/vmlinuz file=/cdrom/preseed/ubuntu.seed

Note that some users report working installs with grub without seeds and/or seeds not working
with this method. Adapt as needed to your situation.

Step 4. Reboot, and choose "installer" from the grub boot menu, and continue the installation as
normal.

Alternate CD Alternate Method

I have a machine without a CD-ROM drive but with a network connection, and I struggled with
these instructions for many days. Finally, I stumbled upon some straightforward solutions which
appear to work for me.

1. Obtain Alternate CD. (This method may work for other CDs, I have not tried)

2. Mount at a temporary location, as described previously.

3. Copy vmlinuz and initrd.gz from mounted installation media to normal location on current
linux root (the one to be replaced)

4. Unmount CDROM image.

5. Copy image as is to selected partition (i.e. cat "image" > /dev/hdXX

6. Configure grub or LILO as above

7. Reboot.

8. When choosing CDROM drive, choose manually, do not install a driver, for the device enter
the partition to which you copied the image.

9. Continue installation as normal.

So far so good! I'll let you know if it breaks later :P

Without CD
You can install Ubuntu directly from Ubuntu using debootstrap. Debootstrap installs some
essential packages in a directory for use with chroot. Note that the essential packages does not in
itself make the system bootable. It just installs what you need to chroot to that directory and use
apt-get to install other packages witch makes ubuntu usable.
First check that you have debootstrap installed:

sudo apt-get install debootstrap

(Note: if you want to install a newer release than your current system, you normally need to
install the backported debootstrap version, see: UbuntuBackports)

1. Partition your filesystem (as explaned above)

2. Mount that new partition

sudo mkdir /mnt/installer

sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt/installer

3. Create the new install

sudo debootstrap hardy /mnt/installer

4. Copy files to the new install

sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/installer/etc/resolv.conf

sudo cp /etc/apt/sources.list /mnt/installer/etc/apt/ # If you want to
keep your repositories

5. Chroot to your new install

sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/installer/dev

sudo chroot /mnt/installer

6. Upgrade the new install

apt-get update
apt-get upgrade

7. Install Grub and Linux

apt-get install grub linux-image

grub-install /dev/sda

It is now safe to reboot

8. Install ubuntu-desktop

apt-get install ubuntu-desktop ubuntu-standard

9. Reboot and keep those fingers crossed.

Installation/FromLinux (last edited 2010-02-15 20:55:30 by https://login.launchpad.net/+id/4GLnhXC @

84.79.13.124[84.79.13.124]:Carles Barbera)

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