Help installing & using a dual boot GUI Linux Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu's 'Windows' version)

Hi, I probably wasn't quite clear with that question.

I intended to confirm that, as I understand it, getting the boot image downloaded to a USB thumb-drive per your linked site should, like I suppose would be the case always in such an operation, mean that the USB is formatted in the procedure and, though not "ruined", still, by the process, anything on the thumb-drive at the time the download is executed is going to have been erased in a prior format procedure just before the download is executed.

This is a key factor since, lately, I'm finding many of my archived text documents (created using Apache Open Office 4) to be corrupted to the point of being no longer accessible in any legible form--as some here might know it, the dreaded full pages of "####".

  I can devote an entire thumb-drive exclusively to the purpose of booting a Linux distribution.  It's just that, in creating one, I don't want to inadvertently lose still more documents in a archive set which is rapidly diminishing by attrition of  something seriously out of order with Apache Open Office.  

thanks, once again. I hope this clarifies my query because, probably tomorrow--too little time left today to launch such a download--I'll proceed to it and, with some luck, get the bootable image onto a thumb-drive which opens the distribution.

cheers, Russ

Yes, your assumption is correct. The nature of making the USB stick bootable means a reformat and loss of any data on the stick at that time.

Generally and often, simply 'dd'ing the downloaded image onto the stick doesn't work in making it bootable, that is why, we lazy gits use something like Rufus. If you give Rufus an input file that is really intended for burning to a DVD disk, you need to ensure that Rufus is told that it is a ISO so that it also knows not to copy the thing sector-by-sector to the stick, but to dissect the ISO and make the changes necessary to make it bootable.

It also goes without saying that the BIOS of the machine must be capable of, and set to, boot from a USB stick.

Thanks again.

I wouldn't call you "lazy" at all --given the time you've devoted to this help. But in neither of the above do I feel confident that I know how to "ensure that Rufus is instructed to dissect the ISO and make changes necessary to make it bootable" or, other than looking at some profile's specs, to know that the machine BIOS is able to boot from a USB stick. I presume that it is--since it's supposed to be able to do this "under Windows"--even if that's not how what i'd thought I was doing already is properly described, I can look at the BIOS specs and report to you whether there's any indication of "bootable" / boot-ability. These things I'll try to take up tomorrow. The present connection is neither secure nor from a "friendly" source.

Hi,

If you follow step-by-step the instructions on the "Create a bootable USB stick with Rufus on Windows" link that I provided, then you should end up with a bootable USB stick at the end of that process. This USB stick will henceforth purely contain the Linux installer and nothing else, and you would not (or certainly should not, at least) use it for any other purpose. You should then be able to use that stick to boot your system, and from there, to install Linux.

The point I was trying to make was that Rufus can handle all kinds of input formats, for example, my (older) Rufus 2.5p version says "Create a bootable disk using" allowing selection of either MS-DOS, FreeDOS, ISO image, DD image. Newer versions support an even bigger selection. So it needs to know what you are giving it to work with.

Preparing a bootable USB stick manually requires quite a lot of work and such tools as Rufus allow you to just sit back and wait for it to happen.

The point is this. If it doesn't work first time don't despair. That happens to all of us. Try the USB stick in different machines (PCs/Laptops with the BIOS set to USBboot) to check that it boots ok. You won't be risking it overwriting any hard disk OS because you'll stop the process way before then. Once you know that the USB stcik will boot a system don't mess with the stick any more (unless you've prepared a BIOS boot stick when you should have a UEFI boot stick, or vice versa). Go to the machine in question and, if it doesn't boot from the stick, start looking at BIOS and/or UEFI, etc boot settings.

BTW, later Rufus versions also offer setting for UEFI specifically.

So, don't give up, persist until it works and post back any issues here.

Kevin and D Hicks,
Well, I'm in the download process at the Ubuntu link and currently downloading what's labelled
"ubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64-iso" to the "downloads" folder of the C:\ drive and, from there, (because the instructions were clear that the download ought not be made to the USB stick itself) I understand that I'm to insert the USB stick into the drive and, selecting that drive when prompted by the executable file, I "install" the download to the USB. But, here's why I'm intervening now: the download "meter" indicates that the procedure is going to take anywhere from 16 hours to an entire day or more! --and I understand from your guidance that this is unrealistically long. It ought to require about 10 to 20 minutes, right?

Among the possible obstacles or delays is perhaps that I have an active "VPN". Would that explain the lengthy process? Should I disactivate it before proceeding to the download?

Russ

How fast is your internet connection? Is it really slow?

If you're talking about the time to download the .iso file, you cannot believe everything that the download "meter" tells you until you start the download process. That figure could shrink rapidly once the download is running.

If I'm not understanding your question properly, try again.

Or possibly go somewhere else with a fast internet connection, download the .iso and put it on the stick. Bring it to the Rufus box and copy it off onto the hard drive before you run Rufus to rewrite the stick.

No, you've understood my concern.
from the active connection's data, there's this: "Link speed" : 390/390 (Mbps)
From the download's "meter", the indicated rate of transfer varies and hovers around anything from ~ 20 to 60 KB/sec. I think by your standards this rate of progress would be called "glacial". I've tried to help by closing all non-essential windows/sites, processes, etc.

I found a "work-around" and I'm just embarrassed to say it involved resorting to Firefox's browser--which has a live download rate which is well into the MBs (around 3MB/sec.) and ought to complete in around 20 minutes from the re-start.

thanks again for all!

Russ

(also, I wrote and tried to post some user-profile information about me but it appears not to have "taken", and stuck. )

UPDATE: Okay, the download is apparently complete. I wanted to "verify" it but I'm now tempted to skip this verification.

I can make the way to the downloads' file-folder and run a prescribed "Shasum" script in it but there's a hang-up in doing this as shown below:

C:\Users\ASUS> chdir C:\Users\ASUS\Downloads

C:\Users\ASUS\Downloads>echo "b85286d9855f549ed9895763519f6a295a7698fb9c5c5345811b3eefadfb6f07 *ubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64.iso" | shasum -a 256 --check
'shasum' is not recognized as an internal or external command,
operable program or batch file.
C:\Users\ASUS\Downloads>

Your advice? Just proceed to "burn" this ISO image onto the specified USB stick?
Thanks,
R.

Here's a fresh update:

with the Rufus auto-install, I have the following specified in the fields and the "READY" available:

the "device" indicated is the (G:) drive 64GB SanDisk
the "boot selection" (chosen from the menu provided*: ) is Syslinux 6.04

• choices were: Non-bootable; FreeDOS; or, under "Disk or ISO Image", these:
  Syslinux 4.07
  Syslinux 6.04
  ReactOS
  Grub 2.06
  Grub4DOS 0.4.6a
  UEFI:NTFS

Partition scheme : MBR
Target system: BIOS (or UEFI-CSM)
I selected (positive) a box: "Add fixes for old BIOSes (extra partition, align, etc.)"
and FORMAT OPTIONS:
"Volume Label" (designated device name) is "SanDisk64"
Filesystem: "LARGE FAT32" (Default)
Cluster size: 32KB (default)
"Create extended label and icon files" is selected for active.
"Check device for bad blocks" is not selected
and, finally, "STATUS" is "READY"

do those look correct to you?

R.

Note: when I executed the Rufus program, it ran and returned a Green "Ready" bar at the base of the window.

image-burn completed?

Yes, that's correct, BUT you are not understanding the menu exactly.................

You pick "Disk or ISO image" and THEN you need to select either "SELECT" or "DOWNLOAD" which means select from your hard disk (which is what you want) or get Rufus to download on the fly.

Ignore the rest of the menu selection.

Yes, go, go, go. Let's see what happens. Success or not. It shouldn't take long to find out.

Yep, that's right. Rufus returns to "Ready" state when done. You should then close Rufus, get Windows to eject the stick, and if you reinsert it you should see files on it now. Then Windows eject it again.

well, at last I did see your point and went back and correctly selected the pre-saved 64amd ISO from my C:\ drive's downloads. Now, here's the heartbreaking part: I "ran it" and, upon doing that, the Rufus dialog box's lower extremity is literally below the visible level of what may be seen within the larger dialog box (window) within which it sits and there is literally NOTHING I can do to adjust, resize, move or reposition the dialog box so that I can see the "READY" --and whether it's "green" or something else.

I'm at a very low point here. This is maddening. Still, this must seem incredible to you, too. I don't know where your reserves of patience come from.

R.

Here's all that occurs to me:

as you advised, I eject the SanDisk and just try it out as a boot device and see what results. So, that's going to mean closing windows down, and re-booting with, I presume, the SanDisk installed in the USB drive at the time of re-boot. So, "NASA ground-control", there'll some minutes when "the Shuttle" won't have live contact ;^)

(see you on the other side of the re-entry glide path.)

So you can't change the screen resolution upwards, or just get hold of the top of the window and drag it up?

Anyway, if you give it long enough the chances are that it will have finished so then you close Rufus and eject the stick.

So you can't change the screen resolution upwards, or just get hold of the top of the window and drag it up?

Nope. Tried that--again and again. No matter how I try, I can't move the dialog box up high enough to see the bottom edge--no "green" visible at all. Infuriating, isn't it?

Anyway, if you give it long enough the chances are that it will have finished so then you close Rufus and eject the stick.

Right. That's all I had left.
Shall let you know as soon as I know. logging off now.

R.

Well, I still don't know--because, at re-boot, there was a question in mind: was a key-chord CTL+F12 required during the re-start to invoke the bootable options? If so, I didn't get the expected optional boot offer(s). Instead, the resident Windows just loaded and opened (graphically, of course) as usual.

More grief: I'm virtually obliged to run Firefox, a browser I'd thought--and hoped--I had already been able to ditch. But, no: I have to open and use it merely to access, for starters, my internet connection I'm currently relying on for these operations (a library internet connection I routinely use). In, say, "Opera", I can't even get the signal's recognition of my modem--- launching the internet connection software opens an auto-dialog with the library which states that, to connect to the library WiFi, there's an obligatory sign-in step---one which doesn't appear when the browser is an alternative of the Firefox I'd so long used here. It just doesn't "find" this device and prompt for the library's own pre-sign on login password-- all patrons here using a computer (which is the near totality of us) do this sign-on routine whatever their OS, hardware, etc (Windows, Mac, other)

But that's really another issue--there are so many!, huh?

So, to re-login just now, I was obliged to open (use/launch) Firefox to get the library's WiFi dialog box, enter (their) password, wait for the connection, then, depending on whether I am too fed up to quit Firefox and open "Opera's" browser, I either do that or just remain in this (current_) Firefox browser environment--reminding me more and more of being a prisoner of MS Windows.

There's really only a half an hour left now before the library closes up shop for the day. About the time I need to assemble my things and head out. Which is fine because my patience for the day is spent.

I fear I sound like an adolescent just figuring out that "life isn't fair, (LOL!)

I think I must log-off with this and put my mind on other matters. That shall be a relief of sorts.

many, many, thanks for your time, attention and patience so far.

We surely both should need a break.

R.

Hello,

In terms of download speed: from the sounds of things, you are using the Wi-Fi of a library to download your ISO, is that right ? It's extremely likely that they cap the speed of downloads past a certain point, to ensure that bandwidth gets shared evenly between the (doubtless many) users. In terms of Rufus: you should be able to use the Tab key of your keyboard to shift the focus to the box you need to click, and then to press the spacebar or Return to actually select that box (or that's what I would normally expect, anyway).

Thanks.
The download, I have to trust, ran to a successful completion and in theory, it's on a SanDisk USB. Now the task is to figure out how I get it to open and launch a native GUI-type Ubuntu distribution. And, on that, I'm still struggling--as, so far, what I've tried hasn't done the trick.
I did some reading at "partitionwizard" 's site on the topic of " How to Access Asus Boot Menu to Make Asus Boot from USB?" and learned that:

... "If your computer uses Asus motherboard, you can enter its boot menu quickly by pressing a key when powering on your computer. This key is called Asus boot menu key and it varies depending on computer models. The following chart shows the Asus BIOS keys and boot menu keys corresponding to different computer models"

yet, amazingly (that is, to me), "the following chart" just mentioned doesn't in fact show "the Asus BIOS keys and boot menu keys "--unless one recognizes these from these supposed indicators:

"f200ca, f202e, q200e, s200e, s400ca, s500ca, u38n, v500ca, v550ca, v551, x200ca, x202e, x550ca, z202e"

Sorry, but these mean nothing to me. Is each merely a reference to the "F-2" key? I don't understand how I'd be supposed to grasp that from the instructions given.

However, again, beyond my comprehension, if I copy and paste these data, Behold! somehow I get the "extra information" included just below--

" |Models|Boot Menu Key|Bios Key|
| --- | --- | --- |
|Desktops|F8|F9|
|VivoBook f200ca, f202e, q200e, s200e, s400ca, s500ca, u38n, v500ca, v550ca, v551, x200ca, x202e, x550ca, z202e|Esc|Delete|
|N550JV, N750JV, N550LF, Rog g750jh, Rog g750jw, Rog g750jx Zenbook Infinity ux301, Infinity ux301la, Prime ux31a, Prime ux32vd, R509C, Taichi 21, Touch u500vz, Transformer Book TX300|Esc (Disable "Fast Boot" and "Secure Boot Control")|F2|
|k25f, k35e, k34u, k35u, k43u, k46cb, k52f, k53e, k55a, k60ij, k70ab, k72f, k73e, k73s, k84l, k93sm, k93sv, k95vb, k501, k601, R503C, x32a, x35u, x54c, x61g, x64c, x64v, x75a, x83v, x83vb, x90, x93sv, x95gl, x101ch, x102ba, x200ca, x202e, x301a, x401a, x401u, x501a, x502c, x750ja|F8|Delete|
|Eee PC 1015, 1025c|Esc|F2|
|Custom builds|"

So, I gather that the information I needed was that, to enter and adjust the boot-order, for my system,

( System Model: VivoBook 12_ASUS Laptop E203MAS_E203MA
BIOS: E203MAS.319 (type: UEFI)
Processor: Intel(R) Celeron(R) N4000 CPU @ 1.10GHz (2 CPUs), ~1.1GHz )

I have to boot with Esc|Delete|

If the instructions' author wanted to be less clear, I can't imagine how he might have topped what I found given.

The present plan is to close things up and try applying this new information and see if I can arrange the boot-order to select the Ubuntu USB.

FWIW your post rings bells with me. My sister recently bought an Asus laptop and accessing the BIOS was like breaking and entering. It didn't announce anything to prompt you or even tell you what key(s) to press. Crazy!!

It was so crazy that in order for me not to have to go through that again, I wrote the experience in my notebook.

I've noted that to access the BIOS press and hold F2 during power up/flash screen and I have noted that the timing of this keypress is not easy to get right. My notes tell me to go around and around power cycling until it works. Need to persist. When you get is right, you'll see the BIOS screen.

Hope that helps.

PS. From re-reading my notes on this, you might even try holding down the F2 key even before pressing the power on button.

replied (separately) to HicksD as follows:

Blockquote

Yes! Thank you so much: it's actually something of a relief to hear this from you. Sometines I'd wondered if it's just I who am losing my mind by this stuff.

" I have noted that the timing of this keypress is not easy to get right. My notes tell me to go around and around power cycling until it works. "

ASUS! Figures.

again, you've provided valuable guidance. I feel for anyone who's had to endure this sort of messy proecess. Somewhere at the (UCL) site's installation help pages, prominent "flags" should be indicated for any poor souls who come to have to grapple with these matters.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in my daily life, even more urgent "fires" are "burning" and I've been absolutely obliged to turn my attention to them. If only the Unix/Linux/Ubuntu install was the greatest of my difficulties I'd be greatly relieved.

yours, with thanks again,

R.

Blockquote

"PS. From re-reading my notes on this, you might even try holding down the F2 key even before pressing the power on button." My view also. ;^) (..."great minds")

I'll try this. Again, in theory the boot-image was successfully installed on the SanDisk64GB drive. Shall report on the results of trial.

Cheers, R.

This topic was automatically closed 60 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.