Install Ubuntu Linux from a USB stick

An excellent alternative to Ubuntu installation disk is a USB as a memory device (flash drive), an external hard drive or even memory cards such as SD, MMC, Memory Stick, etc.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/1333/img2gz.jpg

This tutorial is the most complete and well explained, it works for Ubuntu 7.10, 8.4 and 8.10 as well as Xubuntu, Edubuntu and Kubuntu as there are some but not well documented and with clear instructions, and that more is on the increase install Linux from USB memory because no wasted CD's or DVD's or many computers today have no floppy drive, CD / DVD as the popular Asus Eee, the Macbook Air and the Acer One.

For this tutorial, I'm assuming you're using Windows on your system by now.

Preparing the files and the USB memory

1. Before you have downloaded the image. ISO of Ubuntu (installation CD), which you can get from the site of Ubuntu.
2. Then we need to format the USB stick from Windows, go to My Computer (Computer), click the right mouse button on the USB drive and then click Format. When prompted, select FAT32 as the file system. Do not use NTFS as this will not work!!
3. If you have not installed 7-zip download and install it , it is extremely useful, and we will need.
4. Download Syslinux, which is a bootloader that we use to make the USB memory is self-bootable, just download the latest version and extract (unzip) the .zip to a folder on the desktop.
5. Open the command line (MS-DO S) for it, go to Start Menu, Run, type cmd and press OK.
6. Now from the command line type: cd Work/syslinux/win32 and press Enter.
7. And type this command to install the bootloader on the USB stick: syslinux -ma f: (where f: is the letter that corresponds to the USB memory)
8. Now you need to remove the image. ISO of Ubuntu, for that click with the right button on the file. ISO, and select 7-zip -> Extract to ubuntu-8.04 ...

The preparation is ready! Already have syslinux installed on your USB drive, and a folder called Ubuntu-8.04 ... on your Windows desktop. Now let's create a bootable USB stick with Ubuntu.

Putting all the elements

• Enter the Ubuntu-8.04 folder ... and select all files you have and copy them to USB memory.
• Now copy the isolinux folder and place it in your USB memory.
• Rename the file isolinux.cfg to syslinux.cfg
• When you finish all this, remove your USB drive and insert it into the computer where you will install Ubuntu and go! going to boot from USB memory.

You may need to configure your BIOS so you can boot from a USB memory, the steps to set vary according to each motherboard. But most modern computers let you select where to start when turned on, simply press F12 when the BIOS is loading.

Ubuntu 8.04.1 lower today, burn a disc and put it on my laptop (with Vista Home Premium 32-bit) .. try the option in the Windows install (because I never use Linux, because I know first), .. But what happened is that the program installs itself, do not ask me anything and reboots my machine and now I have two options to boot. Windows or Ubuntu from the Bio .... Between Ubuntu and I have no internet, Try System Administration, network and get a box with two options. Wired net and a graphic of a telephone (point to point) ... I am clueless .. What do I do?? How do I uninstall Ubuntu.?? or fix it? . Do not know if my hard disk partition or not? . Can you help me please?

Here is the procedure:
Step 1
On the root directory of your USB device, create a folder “install”
Copy the installer kernel and the initramdisk into this folder (Download source below.You need the files “vmlinux” and “initrd.gz”).
Download source for the installer kernel and initramdisk
You need to download the files “vmlinux” and “initrd.gz”.
Step 2
Note: You need to have the installer that fits the architecture of your Ubuntu version you want to install. In other words, you need a amd64 installer if you want to install an amd64 Ubuntu .iso image and the i386 installer for an i386 iso.
Step 3
From the installation iso image you downloaded, copy the folder “isolinux” to the root directory of your USB device (right-click on the .iso file, choose “extract here”). Rename “isolinux” into “syslinux”. Go inside the directroy “syslinux”. There, rename the file “isolinux.cfg” into “syslinux.cfg”.
Step 4
Make the stick bootable: Use fdisk to set the boot flag,
Install syslinux using the following command
sudo aptitude install syslinux
Now use syslinux to install a boot sector on your USB device
sudo syslinux /dev/sdbX
where sdbX is the device name and number of your USB device, check with “sudo mount”. A file called “ldlinux.sys” will be created in the root direcotry of the USB device.
Step 5
Copy the Ubuntu CD image in the root directory of your USB device (Contents of USB you can see as follows).If you are using i386 you need to copy the complete .iso image in to the root directory of your USB device.