How to Install Linux? - Part 1: Preparation

Let’s start with the very beginning where I assume that you have never installed Linux. We will need the following things without which it won’t work at all.

Laptop (where you want to install Linux)
USB Drive (To make it bootable with Linux)
Internet (Mostly to download the Linux image and once installed, to update the system)

Proceed further only when you have the above things ready

Step 1: Download the `.iso` File

There is a lot of debate if you go to any Linux community about which Linux distribution to pick, so let me simplify it for you. Start with Ubuntu. Go to the following link and download the latest version of Ubuntu Server

https://ubuntu.com/download/server

Get Ubuntu Server one of three ways; by using Multipass on your desktop, using MAAS to provision machines in your data centre or installing it directly on a server.

https://ubuntu.com/download/server

Step 2: Prepare the USB Drive

You can do this step while your .iso file is being downloaded. You need to prepare your USB drive. Download the following tool call Ventoy. It allows you to easily create bootable USB drives.

Download . Ventoy

Ventoy is an open source tool to create bootable USB drive for ISO files. With ventoy, you don't need to format the disk again and again, you just need to copy the iso file to the USB drive and boot it.

https://www.ventoy.net/en/download.html

The next step is slightly different based on your current operating system.

For Windows Machine

Extract the installation package with the name similar to ventoy-x.x.xx-windows.zip.
Plug in your USB drive.
Run Ventoy2Disk.exe and select your USB drive in the device list and click on Install.

Reference for Windows: Documentation (Windows)

For Unix Based (MacOS or Linux) Machine

Extract the installation package with the name similar to ventoy-x.x.xx-linux.tar.gz.
Plug in your USB drive.
Run sudo bash VentoyWeb.sh in the terminal.
Open browser and visit http://127.0.0.1:24680
Select your USB drive in the device list and click on Install.

Reference for Windows: Documentation (Unix)

Step 3: Move the Image

Now, there should be two partitions within your USB drive. Move your .iso file to the partition with larger space. You can keep it inside any folder or in the root directory of the USB drive (it really doesn’t matter as Ventoy will scan for the entire drive). You just need to copy paste the file to the USB drive.

This step is different in each brand and model of your system.

Search Keyword: <device name> boot menu

All you need to do is to go to the boot menu and select your USB drive from there. If you have done everything till now successfully, then you will see the screen with Ventoy logo at top with your .iso file in the list.