• ven. Mar 29th, 2024

Installation of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS Desktop

Byyoucef youcef

Oct 13, 2021

1. Once you have obtained the Ubuntu 20.04 desktop image, create a bootable media using Rufus tool or create a bootable USB drive using LiveUSB Creator called Unetbootin.

2. Next, insert the bootable DVD or USB into the appropriate drive on your machine. Then start the computer and instruct the BIOS by pressing a special function key (F2, F8, F9 or F10, F11, F12) to boot-up from the inserted USB/CD drive.

Once the BIOS detects the bootable media, it boots from it. After a successful boot, the installer will check your disk (file system), press Ctrl+C to skip this process.

Checking Ubuntu Disk

3. When disk checking is complete or if you have canceled it, after a few seconds, you should see the Ubuntu 20.04 welcome page as shown in the following screenshot.

Select Install Ubuntu.

Select Install Ubuntu

4. Next, choose your keyboard layout and click Continue.

Select Keyboard Layout

5. After that, choose the apps you want to install based on the installation type (normal or minimal installation). Also, check the option to install updates during the installation process and where to install third-party software.

Choose Ubuntu Installation Type

6. Now choose the actual installation type. This is normally the most confusing part, especially for new Linux users. There are two scenarios we will consider here.

First is using an unpartitioned hard drive with no operating system installed. Then secondly, we will also consider how to install on an already partitioned hard drive (with an existing OS e.g Ubuntu 18.04).

Scenario 1: Using an Unpartitioned Harddrive (without an OS installed)

7. For this scenario, you need to set up partitions manually so choose Something else and click Continue.

Choose Ubuntu Installation Type

8. Now you need to partition your hard drive for the installation. Simply select/click on the unpartitioned storage device from the list of available storage devices. Then click New Partition Table.

Note that the installer will auto-select the device on which the boot-loader will be installed as shown in the following screenshot.

Create New Partition Table
9. Next, click Continue from the pop-up window to create an empty partition table on the device.
Create New Empty Partition Table

10. Now you should be able to see the free space created equivalent to the capacity of the hard drive. Double click on the free space to create a partition as described next.

Free Space for Ubuntu Installation

11. To create a root(/) partition (where the base system files will be installed), enter the size of the new partition out of the total free space. Then set the file system type to EXT4 and the mount point to / from the drop-down list.

Create Root Partition

12. Now the new partition should appear in the list of partition as shown in the next screenshot.

New Ubuntu Partition Table

13. Next, you need to create a swap partition/area. Double click on the current free space to create a new partition to be used as swap area. Then enter the swap partition size and set swap area as shown in the following screenshot.

Create Swap Partition

14. At this point, you should see two partitions created, the root partition and the swap partition. Next, click Install Now.

Ubuntu Partitions
15. You will be prompted to permit the installer to write the recent changes concerning partitioning to disk. Click Continue to proceed.
Write Changes to Disk

Scenario 2: Using an Already Partitioned Harddrive (with an existing OS installed)

16. For this scenario, you will use the existing partitions, choose Something else and click Continue.

Choose Installation Type
17. Then you should see your existing partitions for example, as shown in the following screenshot. Double click on the partition with the previous OS installation, Ubuntu 18.04 in our case.
Existing Ubuntu Partition Table
18. Next, edit the partition and set the file system size, file system type to Ext4, and then check the format option and set the mount point to root(/).
Edit Partition for Ubuntu Installation
19. Accept the changes in the hard drive partition table, in the next pop-up window by clicking Continue.
Accept Partition Changes
20. Now you should have a root and swap partition as shown in the following screenshot. Note that the swap partition will be auto-detected by the installer. So click Install Now to proceed.
Ubuntu Partition Table
21. Next, select your location and click Continue.
Select Current Location
22. Then provide your user details for system account creation. Enter your full name, computer name and username, and a strong, secure password as shown in the following screenshot. Then click Continue.
Create User
23. Now the actual base system installation will begin as shown in the following screenshot. Wait for it to finish.
Ubuntu Base System Installation

24. Once the system installation is complete, reboot your system by clicking Restart Now. Remember to remove the installation media, otherwise, the system will still boot from it.

Ubuntu Installation Complete
25. After the restart, click on your name from the interface below.
Select User Login
26. Then log into your new Ubuntu 20.04 installation by providing the correct password you entered during the user creation step.
Log into Ubuntu
27. After login, follow the on-screen instructions to connect to online accounts (or skip), set up Livepatch (or click Next), accept the option to send usage information to Canonical (or click Next), then one you see Ready to go, click Done to start using your system.
Connect to Online Accounts
Ubuntu LivePatch Setup
Help Improve Canonical
Ubuntu 20.04 Desktop
Congratulations! You have just installed Ubuntu 20.04 LTS on your computer. In our next article, we will show how to install the Ubuntu 20.04 LTS server. Drop your comments via the form below.