We’ll let’s start from where we left i.e. the download part. After the download gets over either burn the CD or you may use your Pen Drive to boot.

To boot using Pen Drive you have to use a freeware called unetbootin which may be downloaded from here. After running this software select the option “Diskimage ISO” & just give the location of the image file you downloaded.

Assuming that you successfully boot into using your CD or Pen Drive you will be welcomed at the language selection screen like this.

Let me tell you that Ubuntu installation is really very simple until you don’t mess it up.

BASIC SETUP

After this point Ubuntu provides a selection option to its users which include Live Mode or directly Install.

Direct Installation is just same as installation from Live Environment so it immaterial whether you choose former or latter. (Just to let users see how Ubuntu looks like we went ahead with “Try Ubuntu without Any Change to Your Computer”).

After a minor loading you’ll be presented with the desktop.

To Install Ubuntu click on Install Icon on the desktop Select the language from the language menu and then click Forward

Then select your time zone and click Forward

Now select your keyboard layout (you may type in test box in order to test it)

PARTITIONING THE DISK

Now we head to the Partitioning of the hard disk to install Ubuntu. Keep in mind that this is the most important thing in our installation. You’ll be needing 3 partitions to install Linux.

One is the root partition which is denoted by ‘/    ‘, second is the Home partition which is denoted by ‘/home’ and third is the Swap partition.

Files of the Operating System are stored in the root partition, files of the users (Documents, Pictures, Music) are stored in the home partition and the Swap partition in Linux is equivalent to the Virtual Memory in Windows. If your RAM is less, then Linux uses the Swap partition as RAM.

The file system of Linux partitions should be either ext3 or ext4.

Select the option ‘Specify partitions manually (advanced)’. Now we may consider following important cases with our Hard Disk

1. New Disk
2. Install in disk having Windows (Dual Boot)(2 or more partitions)
3. Install in disk having Windows (Dual Boot)(Single Partition)

So lets start:

We will be creating 3 Linux partitions in 12 GB of space (you may change as per your needs)

Root or system = 5 GB (ext3/4) (increase size incase no home partition is there)

Home or user = 4GB (ext3/4) (recommended but may be skipped)

Swap = 3GB (swap)(varies according to RAM)

CASE 1

• Right click and format the disk
• Then create a primary partition using right clicking or pressing Ctrl+N
• Although you can create upto 4 primary partitions but its sufficient to have 1
• Remember that to install Ubuntu u have to either use an ext3 or ext4 partition.
• The mount point of one partition should be ‘/     ‘ and the mount point of second should be ‘/home’
• Now you may create rest of your partitions likewise (refer the screenshots)
• Last requisite is to create a swap partition that is used as a swap for Linux (same as Virtual Memory in Windows).
• Just Review the changes you have made & click Apply to commit all changes (If you made any mistake you may change it before committing)

CASE 2

For those in Case 2.

• Just Format the drive into an ext3/4 partition if you don’t want to keep your Windows data.
• Else if you want to dual boot, then you’ll have to resize the partition & create two partitions from the free space (unpartition space which you’ll get after resizing). Mount poof botht the partitions should be ‘/    ‘ and ‘/home’ respectively.
• And don’t forget to create swap partition.
• Note: In these screenshots, I already had one ~38GB ext3 partitoin from my old Linux installation. I chose to delete it and create two 18GB partitions + 1.5GB swap.

CASE 3 (Ideal for people using Laptops)

• Generally laptops these days just have a single partition
• If that is the case then you just have to shrink/resize the partition to get some unpartitioned space and createnew partitions out of it.
• Once the partition is resized or shrunk, create a new partition from the free space. (REFER 1)

ALERT: Check whether you’ve made 1 root partition and 1 swap partition.

Just go ahead, click ‘Forward’ and then enter your details with a password (it’s a must).

You may choose to log on automatically incase you are alone user else don’t

(At this stage if you have another operating system installed you’ll be asked to import settings).

Wow! it’s all done? Just review a bit (not necessarily required) and click INSTALL.

Wait for a while till installation finish and then restart….!!!