Technotech Inside: 05/31/18

1. Overview

The Ubuntu desktop is easy to use, easy to install and includes everything you need to run your organization, school, home or enterprise. It's also open source, secure, accessible and free to download.

In this tutorial, we're going to install Ubuntu desktop onto your computer, using either your computer's DVD drive or a USB flash drive.

2. Requirements

You'll need to consider the following before starting the installation:

Connect your laptop to a power source.
Ensure you have at least 25GB of free storage space, or 5GB for a minimal installation.
Have access to either a DVD or a USB flash drive containing the version of Ubuntu you want to install.
Make sure you have a recent backup of your data. While it's unlikely that anything will go wrong, you can never be too prepared.

3. Boot from DVD

It's easy to install Ubuntu from a DVD. Here's what you need to do:
1. Put the Ubuntu DVD into your optical/DVD drive.
2. Restart your computer.
3. As soon as your computer boots you'll see the welcome window.

From here, you can select your language from a list on the left and choose between either installing Ubuntu directly, or trying the desktop first (if you like what you see, you can also install Ubuntu from this mode too).

Depending on your computer's configuration, you may instead see an alternative boot menu showing a large language selection pane. Use your mouse or cursor keys to select a language and you'll be presented with a simple menu.

Select the second option, ‘Install Ubuntu', and press return to launch the desktop installer automatically. Alternatively, select the first option, ‘Try Ubuntu without installing', to test Ubuntu (as before, you can also install Ubuntu from this mode too).

A few moments later, after the desktop has loaded, you'll see the welcome window. From here, you can select your language from a list on the left and choose between either installing Ubuntu directly, or trying the desktop first.

4. Boot from USB flash drive

Most computers will boot from USB automatically. Simply insert the USB flash drive and either power on your computer or restart it. You should see the same welcome window we saw in the previous ‘Install from DVD' step, prompting you to choose your language and either install or try the Ubuntu desktop.

If your computer doesn't automatically boot from USB, try holding F12 when your computer first starts. With most machines, this will allow you to select the USB device from a system-specific boot menu.

F12 is the most common key for bringing up your system's boot menu, but Escape, F2 and F10 are common alternatives. If you're unsure, look for a brief message when your system starts - this will often inform you of which key to press to bring up the boot menu.

5. Prepare to install Ubuntu

You will first be asked to select your keyboard layout. If the installer doesn't guess the default layout correctly, use the ‘Detect Keyboard Layout' button to run through a brief configuration procedure.

After selecting Continue you will be asked What apps would you like to install to start with? The two options are ‘Normal installation' and ‘Minimal installation'. The first is the equivalent to the old default bundle of utilities, applications, games and media players - a great launchpad for any Linux installation. The second takes considerably less storage space and allows you to install only what you need.

Beneath the installation-type question are two checkboxes; one to enable updates while installing and another to enable third-party software.

We advise enabling both `Download updates` and `Install third-party software`.

Stay connected to the internet so you can get the latest updates while you install Ubuntu.

If you are not connected to the internet, you will be asked to select a wireless network, if available. We advise you to connect during the installation so we can ensure your machine is up to date.

6. Allocate drive space

Use the checkboxes to choose whether you'd like to install Ubuntu alongside another operating system, delete your existing operating system and replace it with Ubuntu, or — if you're an advanced user — choose the 'Something else' option.

Options related to side-by-side installation or erasing a previous installation are only offered when pre-existing installations are detected.

7. Begin installation

After configuring storage, click on the ‘Install Now' button. A small pane will appear with an overview of the storage options you've chosen, with the chance to go back if the details are incorrect.

Click Continue to fix those changes in place and start the installation process.

8. Select your location

If you are connected to the internet, your location will be detected automatically. Check your location is correct and click 'Forward' to proceed.

If you're unsure of your time zone, type the name of a local town or city or use the map to select your location.

If you're having problems connecting to the Internet, use the menu in the top-right-hand corner to select a network.

9. Login details

Enter your name and the installer will automatically suggest a computer name and username. These can easily be changed if you prefer. The computer name is how your computer will appear on the network, while your username will be your login and account name.

Next, enter a strong password. The installer will let you know if it's too weak.

You can also choose to enable automatic login and home folder encryption. If your machine is portable, we recommend keeping automatic login disabled and enabling encryption. This should stop people accessing your personal files if the machine is lost or stolen.

If you enable home folder encryption and you forget your password, you won't be able to retrieve any personal data stored in your home folder.

10. Background installation

The installer will now complete in the background while the installation window teaches you a little about how awesome Ubuntu is. Depending on the speed of your machine and network connection, installation should only take a few minutes.

11. Installation complete

After everything has been installed and configured, a small window will appear asking you to restart your machine. Click on Restart Now and remove either the DVD or USB flash drive when prompted. If you initiated the installation while testing the desktop, you also get the option to continue testing.

Congratulations! You have successfully installed the world's most popular Linux operating system!

It's now time to start enjoying Ubuntu!

How to install Ubuntu

by S@JEEL JUTT

Facebook.com

Beginning the Installation Process

When installing on a physical computer insert your Windows 7 DVD media into your DVD drive and reboot your computer. If you’re asked to press a key to boot from DVD or CD, press any key. A black window will appear momentarily while the DVD content is read.

Note: These screenshots are taken from a Windows 7 Ultimate installation performed on a virtual machine running on VMware Workstation. I will be using an.ISO file mounted on the VMs CD/DVD drive.

Next, a Starting Windows screen will appear.

Note: If the Windows installation page doesn’t appear and you’re not asked to press a key to start from DVD or CD, you might have to specify that your computer uses its DVD or CD drive as the startup device.

The Installation Process

Like in Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and unlike previous versions of Windows, Windows 7 does not have a noticeable text phase of the setup process, and it will boot directly into the Graphical User Interface (GUI) mode.

After a few moments you will see the first prompt:

Click “Next” unless you want to change some regional settings for the installation process.

Click on the “Install now” button.

Next, accept the license terms and click on “Next”.

Next, unless you’re upgrading an existing Windows installation, press the Custom (Advanced) installation type button. Note that in this case, the Upgrade button is disabled because this specific installation if performed on a new computer without any previous operating system on it.

The next phase is to pick the installation partition. Since this computer has a new hard disk that hasn’t been formatted before, you will only have the option to create a new partition on it.

If you don’t want to specify a specific partition to install Windows on, or create partitions on your hard disk, click Next to begin the installation. If you already have another existing partition with enough free space and want to install the Windows 7 on that partition to create a multiboot configuration, select the partition you want to use, and then click Next to begin the installation. If you want to create, extend, delete, or format a partition, click Drive options (advanced), click the option you want, and then follow the instructions.

Since I don’t need to perform any additional task I will just click on the “Next” button. The installation process will then create a partition on all the available disk space, and format it.

The setup process will now begin to copy files from the installation DVD media to the hard disk.

The process could take a while depending on the type of hardware your computer uses. In my VM test sample, I’ve used for this demo, the entire process finished before I could finish writing the previous 3 paragraphs, so it could be pretty quick.

The computer will reboot, and the next thing you’ll see is the prompt to set the user’s and computer’s name. By default, the computer’s name will be username-PC, where username is the username you’ve entered.

Click on “Next”.

Enter the user’s password. Remember this password, as it will be the ONLY user on the system, and unless you create an additional user or enable the built-in administrator account, if you forget this password you’ll need to crack it to gain access to the system. The best option would be to choose a complex password made of at least 7 characters or more (something like Pssw0rd or MYpa$$w0rd). You must also enter a password hint.

Click on “Next”.

Next, type in your product key. If you do not have the product key at hand you can still click “Next”, and proceed with the installation. You will be asked to enter the product key after Windows is installed.

Choose what sort of protection your computer gets. The recommended settings are best for someone that doesn’t plan to hide their computer behind a corporate firewall (and even then, in some cases, this would be the best option). If you plan to install a 3rd-party firewall later you can opt to be prompted later. Note that this setting will also have effect on how the computer uses the Microsoft Windows Update (Automatic Updates) features.

Choose your time zone and location and click on “Next”.

Select your network location type. This setting can be changed later, but do note that choosing a profile will have effect on the Windows Firewall and sharing settings. Click on “Next”.

Windows will finalize the settings and your desktop will appear.

This concludes the Windows 7 installation.

I hope that you were able to install Windows 10 successfully on your PC. If you face any problems, let me know about them in the comments below.

HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS 7