How to install Ubuntu Linux from USB Stick on Windows 7

Ok, Got tired of windows ? You are in the right place ! We will see how to install Ubuntu on your computer by using a USB memory stick and a bit of your patience.

Let us get started !

What do we need:

 1-   A memory stick with a capacity of at least 2GB. It will be formatted (erased) during this process, so copy any files that you want to keep to another location. They will all be permanently deleted from the memory stick. 2-  A computer that can boot (start-up) from a USB memory stick. Many older computers can't boot from USB – check the boot options in your BIOS (see Start the Ubuntu installer) to see if yours can.  3-  A computer with at least 384MB of system memory (RAM), 6GB of available hard disk space and a 700MHz or faster x86 processor. Most Intel and AMD processors are x86 processors. 32-bit and 64-bit processors are supported. A working Internet connection.

Get a Copy of an Ubuntu ISO

1- Go to www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download. 2- Choose your country (or one nearby) from the Download location drop-down list. 3- Click Begin download to download the .iso image file needed to install Ubuntu.

Transfer the ISO to the USB drive.

1- Plug-in your USB memory stick. Go to www.pendriveLinux.com/downloads/Universal-USB-Installer and download the Universal-USB-Installer.exe file. Put it on your Desktop or somewhere convenient. 2- Double-click the file to run it. Click I agree and you will be taken to the Setup Your Selections screen. Under Step 1, choose the version of Ubuntu you have downloaded, and uncheck Download the ISO. Under Step 2, click Browse and select and open the .iso file you downloaded. Under Step 3, select your memory stick from the list (make sure you choose the right one). Check the box next to the list to say that you want to format the drive. Click Create to put the installer onto your memory stick. The whole process should only take a few minutes. All of the files on the memory stick will be erased. 3- When it has finished, close the Universal USB Installer window and safely remove/eject and unplug your memory stick. This is necessary to make sure all of the files were put on the memory stick properly.

Initiate the Ubuntu installer

1- To start your computer from a memory stick, you might need to change the order of boot devices: 2- Plug-in the memory stick and restart your computer. If your computer boots back into Windows, it is not yet set-up to boot from USB, so continue following these steps. 3- Restart the computer again. As soon as the first text appears on the screen, press the button to enter your BIOS/system setup. There should be a message telling you how to do this. You normally need to press one of the following keys, F10, F11, or F12 (there might be another key for your machine) 4- A BIOS screen should appear. Find the option to change the Boot Order and change the first item in the boot order list to be USB Disk, or similar.  The USB Disk option may have a different name on your computer, for example: Removable Drive; USB-HDD; USB Mass Storage; or USB. 5- After you have changed the boot order, save your changes and restart the computer. It should now start from the memory stick.

Install Ubuntu OS

If you have successfully booted from your memory stick, you should now be looking at the purple Ubuntu boot menu. To start the Ubuntu installer: 1- Wait a few seconds and Ubuntu will start loading. Otherwise, you can press a key and a boot menu with more options will appear. Press the F5 key to access universal access options like the screen reader and magnifier. 2- After a minute or two, an Install window will appear. Select your language from the list to the left of the screen and click Install Ubuntu .Follow the instructions on the screen to select your country, timezone and keyboard layout.   3- When you get to the Prepare disk space screen, choose one of the following options to determine how to put Ubuntu on your hard disk: A - If you want to keep Windows installed and choose whether to start Windows or Ubuntu each time you start the computer, choose Install them side by side. This is called a dual-boot setup. Use the slider on the colored bar at the bottom of the screen to choose how to share disk space between Windows and Ubuntu (Ubuntu should have at least 4 GB of space).

B - If you want to remove Windows and replace it with Ubuntu, choose Erase and use the entire disk. All of the files on the disk will be deleted before ubuntu is put on it, so make sure you have backup copies of anything you wanted to keep.

C - For more complicated disk layouts, choose Specify partitions manually. You can manually add, modify and delete disk partitions using this option.

      4- When you click Forward, you may receive a message saying that the changes will be applied . This normally happens if you resized a partition. If you clickContinue, your hard disk will be changed permanently and you won't be able to go back. Make sure you're happy with any changes that you made.       5- Follow the rest of the instructions to choose a username and password and migrate files and settings from Windows.       6- Click Install. The installation will begin, and should take 10-20 minutes to complete. When it is finished, choose to restart the computer and then remove your memory stick. Ubuntu should start to load.