Howto: Install Ubuntu without a CD

[tuxcantfly]

Hi, I had made a post and someone reffered me to unetbootin, so I checked out the site. But before I go ahead and do this I need to make sure on a few things.

My problem is this, I am running Fiesty Fawn on my laptop, and want to do a fresh install of Gutsy Gibbon, I have to use restricted drivers, ndiswrapper, and WICD for my laptop. WIFI is the only conection I have, no broadband connections.

So my question is this, If I install Gutsy over Fiesty using unetbootin (no extra partitions) Will it effect my WIFI?

If so, I'd suggest doing an HD-Media install, rather than a netboot one; simply go to http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/dis...ages/hd-media/ and download the files "vmlinuz" and "initrd.gz", specify those as the kernel (vmlinuz) and initrd (initrd.gz) when installing in "Manual" mode with UNetbootin (use the newer Generic version, not the Ubuntu-specific one), and download the 7.10 alternate (not desktop/liveCD) iso to the root directory of your partition. Then reboot, hopefully the installer will begin and will detect the iso file, and you should be able to install Ubuntu that way.

Beforehand, of course, remember to save the required drivers to a USB drive or so, so that you can install them after the installation to get internet access.

[kknull]

hi,
I cannot install unetbootin: I have winxp and I have only an E: drive (because there is an ext3 partition before the ntfs one).
How can I resolve?

Thanks.

[tuxcantfly]

hi,
I cannot install unetbootin: I have winxp and I have only an E: drive (because there is an ext3 partition before the ntfs one).
How can I resolve?

Thanks.

Which version are you using? If it's not the newer, Generic version, use that one (download at http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/un...ows-latest.php )

[cokhavim]

ERROR MESSAGE

"Unable to install initramfs-tools

An error was returned while trying to install the initramfs-tools package onto the target system.

Check /var/log/syslog or see virtual console 4 for details."

Ouch, that's one sticky situation, seems like a package (initramfs-tools, used to generate the initrd to boot Ubuntu) got corrupted while downloading and the rest of the installation went downhill from there. When you reboot the machine, you'll probably get the GRUB Error 17 or Error 15 message, since the kernel and initrd haven't been properly installed hasn't yet been installed to the partition and GRUB hasn't been installed, though you can get around this by booting off either a floppy or USB key, if you can boot from either.

.

How do I access /var/log/syslog or virtual console 4 when running the installer? I'm having the same issue as this person who posted, but I don't know how to see the log, and I don't want to exit the installer for fear of not being able to boot again (CD player doesn't work).

Also, using the installer, I was able to change mirrors and download the packages again, but the same error message appears about initramfs-tools.

Another thing: I have a separate /boot partition that I did not format during these installation attempts. Is that what's affecting the initramfs-tools? I dont' think it is because the previous poster (hhuuhhu) did a clean install using the whole disk. I dont' want to format the /boot partition just yet unless I know for sure that it really is the problem.

What should I do? why is the installer hiccupping at initramfs-tools?

Thanks.

[cokhavim]

Ok, I found out how to access the console and copied the syslog to a usb disk. I took the plunge and decided to abort the installation and found to my relief that grub still worked and did not erase the installer (I guess that makes sense since I didn't format the /boot partition). So I started up the installer again, and got the same error about initramfs.

Here's the relevant section from syslog:

Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: 
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: Setting up ubuntu-minimal (1.79) ...
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: Processing triggers for libc6 ...
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: ldconfig deferred processing now taking place
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: Processing triggers for initramfs-tools ...
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: update-initramfs: Generating /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: Cannot find /lib/modules/2.6.22-14-generic
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: update-initramfs: failed for /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
Apr  3 18:25:24 debootstrap: dpkg: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
Apr  3 18:25:25 debootstrap: Setting up initramfs-tools (0.85eubuntu20) ...
Apr  3 18:25:25 debootstrap: update-initramfs: deferring update (trigger activated)
Apr  3 18:25:25 debootstrap:

What's going on?

[johnraff]

In order to understand a bit better what can be done with UNetbootin, I'm interested in knowing a bit more about how it works. ... On reboot, the kernel and initrd images are loaded into RAM but none of the partitions on the hard drive are mounted. This way, the installer can blow away the partition containing the kernel and initrd images while its running (since they are loaded into memory and the partitions aren't mounted). Is this correct?

Yes, pretty much correct

How much RAM is needed to do this?

(I've got this old box with 16MB that I'd like to try installing DSL on.)

[Doctor Device]

I have a thinkpad X24 with a damaged CD drive (I can run small live CDs like Puppy and DSL, but installing a full distribution is impossible. last time I tried, it took over 2 hours to get to the partitioner, on a regular ubuntu liveCD). right now I am running Debian Etch 4.0, because it could install over the internet. I stumbled across unetbootin earlier, saw that it supported the distribution I want (Mint), but I have run into a problem.

I installed libqt4 and it's dependencies, tried running unetbootin, no luck.

I installed everything in the repository that referenced libqt4, tried running it again, and I get the following error in the terminal.

Qt: Session management error: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

./Downloads/unetbootin-linux-191: symbol lookup error:
./Downloads/unetbootin-linux-191: undefined symbol: _ZN9QListData7detach2Ev

the "authentication failed" bit confuses me, because I'm logged in with the root password in the terminal.

in a word: HELP! (bear in mind that I've never been good with command lines, so use small words and lots of diagrams please. )

[vferrusola]

Fresh installation of ubuntu 7.10 .
Install QT4.
Install unetbootin-linux-191 and i have this error:
Qt: Session management error: Authentication Rejected, reason : None of the authentication protocols specified are supported and host-based authentication failed

./Downloads/unetbootin-linux-191: symbol lookup error:
./Downloads/unetbootin-linux-191: undefined symbol: _ZN9QListData7detach2Ev

I like to install GOS from an ISO file.

May be a problem with the libQT's version?

Any know how to repair this error?

Thanks

[madjr]

Hello,

i would like to try unetbootin

but i need to install Ubuntu hardy on 5 different computers that do not have CD-rom.

it says that it downloads the iso.

does it have to download the same iso 5 times (1 for every install ) ?

or i can specify where the iso is and avoid re-downloading?

i don't have much experience with filesystem and partitions, so a step by step guide would be really appreciated.

thank you very much

[tuxcantfly]

Hello,

i would like to try unetbootin

but i need to install Ubuntu hardy on 5 different computers that do not have CD-rom.

it says that it downloads the iso.

does it have to download the same iso 5 times (1 for every install ) ?

or i can specify where the iso is and avoid re-downloading?

i don't have much experience with filesystem and partitions, so a step by step guide would be really appreciated.

thank you very much

No, you do not have to re-download the ISO file every time; use the version at http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ and pre-download the iso file (the desktop one) the standard way (from the Ubuntu website), then just specify the iso file when you start UNetbootin (see screenshot on homepage). Either that, or simply install to a USB drive, and you can install from the USB drive to each of the computers. As for the installation, see the Ubuntu homepage itself (same process).

@vferrusola: I haven't been able to reproduce that error. What desktop environment are you using (I'm on GNOME here). Also what architecture is this (i386 or amd64; the binary is for i386 and you'll need the compatibility libraries if on amd64)? Also, what command are you using to invoke sudo (sudo, gksudo, kdesu)? Also, what qt version is this (I'm using the version from backports, 4.3.2-0ubuntu3.2)? And do you have all the packages installed (libqt4-gui and libqt4-core)?