Ubuntu released the Intrepid Ibex alpha 6 for public testing last week. If you want to install and test the new Ibex on your system, but do not want to burn the iso file into a CD (either because your computer does not has a CD-ROM or you find it a waste to burn into a CD that you might use only once), here’s a neat way to create a bootable USB thumb drive where you can use it to boot up Ubuntu Ibex and install it in your system.

The application in use here is UNetbootin. UNetbootin stands for Universal Netboot Installer and it allows the installation of various Linux/BSD distributions to a partition or USB drive, without the CD. It’s no different from a standard install and can be used to create a dual-boot install, or replace the existing OS entirely.

Creating a bootable USB thumb drive with UNetbootin

Things you need:

• Ubuntu Ibex Alpha 6 iso file
• UNetbootin (for Linux)
• A USB thumb drive with minimum 1 GB free space. (Be sure to back up the content in your thumb drive).

UNetbootin only works with USB thumb drive of FAT32 format. To check whether your thumb drive is FAT32: plug in your thumb drive and type the following in the terminal

sudo fdisk -l

.Your thumb drive need to be formatted in FAT32 format.

In your terminal, type

sudo fdisk -l

You will see something like this:

Make sure that the wording under the ‘System’ shows FAT32. Also note your device ID on the left (i.e. /dev/sdb1)

If your thumb drive is not in FAT32 format, you will have to format it to FAT32:

unmount the thumb drive:

sudo umount /dev/sdX1 (Replace the X with your device ID)

Format to FAT32

sudo mkfs.vfat -F 32 -n ubuntu /dev/sdX1

Install UNetbootin

UNetbootin needs p7zip-full and mtools to work. Type the following command in your terminal to install the files:

sudo apt-get install mtools p7zip-full

On the UNetbootin file that you have downloaded, right click and select Properties. Go to the Permission tab. Tick the checkbox “Allow executing file as program”. Click Close.

Now, double click on the file to run UNetBootin (You will be prompted to enter your password).

On the window that pop up, select Diskimage and point the file path to the Ubuntu Ibex iso file location that you have downloaded.

Under the type, make sure that it shows USB drive and the Drive is the same as the device ID that you have noted just now.

Click OK and let it run.

After it finishes, it will show a window asking you to reboot your system. Click Reboot now.

When the system reboot, press the hotkey (The hotkey is different for every computer. On my laptop, I have to press Esc to access the “boot from USB drive” mode ) to boot from your USB thumb drive. UNetbootin will then take over and boot up Ubuntu Ibex from your thumb drive.

Note: This method will also work for most Linux distribution.

Image credit: noeren

Related Posts:

• How to Integrate Skype With Ubuntu Unity
• How to Install Java Runtime In Ubuntu 12.04
• How to Connect to A VPN In Ubuntu [Quick Tips]
• How to Upgrade to Gimp 2.8 in Ubuntu