Ubuntu is a Linux distribution that is of significant interest to many users. It, like any other operating system, has various installation methods, and recently the most popular has become the way to create a bootable Ubuntu flash drive.
About the operating system
Ubuntu is one of the few Linux distributions (based on Debian) to win a relatively large number of fans. Whereby? This is largely due to the pleasant design of the system and its interface, which is original and has something in common with its more well-known competitors in the face of Windows and Mac OS. Also, this system supports most popular programs and utilities, so users are comfortable using it, and getting comfortable with Ubuntu OS is not difficult.
It can be downloaded for free on the official website of the project.
An interesting fact: Ubuntu OS, as part of a conceptual commercial project, was installed on Meizu MX4 smartphones and some other models of corporation phones, which were then demonstrated at global techno-exhibitions and went on free sale in some countries.
Flash Drive Benefits
This method of recording a system has many advantages over traditional methods, such as writing to discs.
In particular, a Ubuntu bootable USB flash drive is cheaper, because more often than not one drive can undergo only one recording, and a flash drive can do several. Flash cards also have a wider range of memory choices: they are released with a capacity of 256 GB or less, and more.
True, you need to consider that, before recording the image to a flash drive, it must be formatted. This can be done using standard Windows tools using the FAT32 file system.
Rufus
You can use several different programs to create a Ubuntu bootable USB flash drive on Windows. One of the most popular is Rufus. It does not require installation, runs portable, and is also easy to learn. It is easy to find on the Internet.
First you need to connect the flash drive itself to the computer and only then run the program. A window will open, at the very top, in the "Device" section, you need to select the flash drive to which recording will be performed.
The following items should be noted in the formatting options: quick formatting, create a boot disk (in the sliding curtain, select the "ISO image") and create an extended label and device icon.
Near the inscription "ISO-image" there is an icon with a disk. By clicking on it, you will need to select the very image of Ubuntu that you need to burn to a flash drive.
Then it remains to click on “Start” and wait for the image to be recorded on the flash drive. After that, you can restart the computer and start installing the image on the system.
Unetbootin
Another program with which you can create a bootable Ubuntu flash drive is Unetbootin. It works with the following versions of Windows: 7.8 and 10 - but its main advantage is accessibility. Unetbootin is completely free and you can download it from the official site unetbootin.imtqy.com.
Installing it is also not required. It runs portable.
As soon as the program opens, the user will need to perform only four simple steps.
Firstly, you need to select the "Disk Image" option, indicating "ISO-image" in the drop-down curtain.
Secondly, by pressing the ellipsis key, you must select the path to the previously downloaded image.
Thirdly, in the "Type" section, you need to select "USB-drive", and in the "Media" section you must specify the letter under which the flash drive is recorded in the system.
The fourth action is to click the OK button.
Creating a bootable Ubuntu flash drive with this program may not take a lot of time.
Creating a Ubuntu bootable flash drive on Ubuntu OS itself
Interestingly, the very possibility of creating bootable media is already provided in the Ubuntu operating system itself.
You just need to find the standard application “Create boot disk”, which in the original is called Startup Disk Creator and open it.
In the window that appears, you will need to specify the path to the image being recorded and the path to the medium on which the image will be recorded.
Next, you just have to click on the “Create Bootable Disk” button and wait until the process of writing the bootable Ubuntu flash drive is completed.
This is much more convenient than on Windows.
LinuxLive USB Creator
Another program to create a bootable Ubuntu flash drive is LinuxLive USB Creator. True, unlike all the utilities described above, it must be downloaded and installed, and only then can it be used.
After loading the program into the system and launching it, a window of five blocks will open, each of which is called “ITEM * number *”.
In paragraph 1, you need to select the media on which you want to record. If he did not appear in the drop-down curtain, then you can click on the "update" button to the right of the curtain (two blue arrows).
In paragraph 2, you must click on the image above the inscription "ISO / IMG / ZIP". Then a window will open in which you must specify the path to the downloaded system image.
In paragraph 3, it is not recommended to press anything, it is better to skip it.
In paragraph 4, you must definitely check the box next to the point where it is proposed to format the flash drive. The remaining items are not so important, so choosing them or not is everyone’s business.
In Step 5, you need to click on the lightning bolt to start creating a bootable Ubuntu USB flash drive.
Xboot
Xboot is another program for creating images of operating systems on media. It is important to note that Xboot is one of the most convenient programs for creating a bootable Ubuntu flash drive from under Windows, because it can be used to write not only the operating system itself, but also additional programs, including antivirus, to the media in advance.
Like most of the previous utilities, Xboot does not need to be installed, just download and run it by first inserting the formatted media into the USB connector. The program itself will automatically detect the flash drive.
If the OS image is downloaded in advance, then you need to select it in the program window that opens by clicking on the “File” button, then “Open”, where you will need to specify the path to it.
A window called “Identify the ISO file” will open. In it you need to select "Add using Grub4dos ISO image Emulation" in the drop-down curtain, and then click on the button "Add this file".
If the Ubuntu image has not been downloaded before, then the program will do it itself. Only for this you need to open the “File” section, and select “Download” in it.
The "Open Download Webpage" window will open, in which you need to select the Linux --- Ubuntu distribution and click on the "Open Download Webpage" button.
Once all the preparatory work is completed, you can begin to create a bootable flash drive. To do this, click "Create USB" in the main program window.
In the "Select USB Drive" section that opens, it is better not to change anything, leaving everything as it is, and continue by clicking the "OK" button.
Ubuntu LiveCD
Many users have never encountered Ubuntu OS and its functions, so someone is better off using a trial version of the operating system that does not need to be installed in the computer’s memory.
Moreover, for this it’s enough to just tweak the BIOS a bit and, of course, have the Ubuntu OS media on hand. How to create it - was described above in several ways.
The computer BIOS needs to be configured so that the system boots from removable media. To do this, you need to get into BIOS. In motherboards of different manufacturers, this is done in different ways.
In BIOS, you need to get to the menu (scrolling with the left and right arrows on the keyboard), where the subsection “Boot device priority” is located. You need to select it (up and down arrows) and press Enter. In place of “1st device” you need to put the one on which the image is installed (CD-ROM or USB-flash drive).
Next, to save the changes and exit the BIOS, press F10.
Then you need to restart the computer with the media inserted. First, the Ubuntu OS startup screen will appear on the screen, then you will be prompted to select the language. Next, a menu appears in which you need to select "Run Ubuntu without installation." The first time the launch will take a long time (on average, the waiting time is two or three minutes, depending on the power of the personal computer and the memory class that controls the speed of the flash drive), since the system is not yet stored in the memory, but then the desktop will appear Ubuntu, and subsequent launches will be much faster.
As soon as the user decides to turn off the portable version of Ubuntu OS, he needs to remember to change the BIOS settings back so that the system does not boot from removable media, but from the computer’s memory.
Conclusion
Thanks to this article, it became clear how to create bootable Ubuntu OS images for a standard USB flash drive. And you can do this in several ways that are comfortable for all users, not only on Windows, but also on Ubuntu itself. Also in this article, you can learn how to run a portable version of Ubuntu that does not require installation on the root system of a personal computer.
It is worth noting that the above programs are not the only ones that can be used to create images of various operating systems, not only Ubuntu. And even on Windows itself, there are built-in tools for this.
Nevertheless, the utilities described earlier are among the most popular and most convenient for users, so they rightfully deserve mention in this article.