Installing without an OS?

[TotalN0ob]

HI,
I'm new here, and want to install Ubuntu onto my Sony Viao laptop that a virus wiped out. It screwed up Windows, and I got the computer without a system disc, and wanted to install Ubuntu on there, but I don't have a current OS on the Laptop.

Is there a way to install it? I have searched, but i guess I posses noob searching skills.

[sikander3786]

Welcome to the Forums :-)

You don't need to have an OS on the laptop to install another OS.

Download latest release of Ubuntu here.

http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

It would list 2 releases there. 10.10 is the newest but regular release. It would be supported for the next 18 months. The other is 10.04. It is a Long Term Support Release and will be supported for the next 3 years for the desktop. Download whichever you want.

Once downloaded, I would recommend to check the MD5SUM to make sure the image is correct so that you don't run into troubles later.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM#MD5SUM%20on%20Windows

If ok, you can burn that image to disc. (Burn at the lowest possible speed)

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

Or you can use a USB drive also to perform the installation for you. (if your Bios supports boot from USB)

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net

Some pointers on how the install process would look like.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GraphicalInstall

As you mentioned you are going to install Ubuntu cleanly on your system, selecting the "Use entire drive" from installer's partitioning page would do all the partitioning stuff automatically and you don't need to worry about anything else.

Open for further queries :-)

[matt_symes]

Hi

+1 sikander3786. A comprehensive reply.

Kind regards

[73ckn797]

If you will be keeping a lot of personal documents on the computer, it would be wise to create a separate partition. The installer will give you the option to make several partitions and then designate one of the as "/home". That partition would have all of your documents and preferences for installed programs. If the system ever needed reinstalling you can keep the /home partition and not lose personal data.