How to Create a Bootable Ubuntu 20.04 USB Stick
This tutorial will guide you on how to create your own bootable Ubuntu 20.04 USB stick. From which you can, install it on your machine or try out the latest features Ubuntu has to offer without actually having to install it.
Different ways we can create a Bootable Ubuntu 20.04 USB:
- From Ubuntu desktop
- From the command line
- From a Windows machine
Ingredients required:
- Ubuntu iso file. It can be any flavor of Ubuntu, examples being, xubuntu, kubuntu, lubuntu etc. at the time of writing, the latest LTS version of Ubuntu is 20.04.1
- USB Stick (minimum size: 4GB)
FROM UBUNTU DESKTOP
If you are already using an Ubuntu Desktop system, be it 20.04 itself, the non LTS 20.10 or something older, you can use the Startup Disk Creator utility to create your own bootable USB stick.
After connecting the USB stick to your system, launch the Startup Disk Creator utility. Click on the "Other..." button and browse for the Ubuntu .iso file which you have downloaded. With the .iso file and disk selected, click on Make Startup Disk. It will ask for confirmation and then your user password before the process begins.
Note: If more than one device is listed in the Disk to use list, make sure you choose the one that you're intending to use.
When its done, you will have a bootable Ubuntu USB stick.
FROM THE COMMAND LINE
First, we need to know our USB stick's device name. For that we can use the lsblk utility, when you run the command, the output will be something like what is shown below,
lsblk NAME MAJ:MIN RM SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT loop0 7:0 0 55M 1 loop /snap/core18/1880 loop1 7:1 0 55.4M 1 loop /snap/core18/1932 loop2 7:2 0 255.6M 1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/36 loop3 7:3 0 217.9M 1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/60 loop4 7:4 0 64.8M 1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1514 loop5 7:5 0 62.1M 1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506 loop6 7:6 0 29.9M 1 loop /snap/snapd/8542 loop7 7:7 0 31.1M 1 loop /snap/snapd/10492 loop8 7:8 0 51M 1 loop /snap/snap-store/498 loop9 7:9 0 49.8M 1 loop /snap/snap-store/467 sda 8:0 0 20G 0 disk ├─sda1 8:1 0 512M 0 part /boot/efi ├─sda2 8:2 0 1K 0 part └─sda5 8:5 0 19.5G 0 part / sdb 8:16 1 14.9G 0 disk /media/penguin/16G sr0 11:0 1 2.6G 0 rom
In my case, the USB stick's device name is sdb so the device path will be /dev/sdb. And with that information, we can use the dd utility to create our bootable USB stick with the command,
sudo dd if=/path/to/ubuntu20.04.1.iso of=/dev/sdb bs=4M
Note: We have to be careful when using the dd utility. Since it will do exactly what you tell it to do, always make sure to double-check that you typed in the correct device path.
The process will take a few minutes. The dd command won't be providing any progress indicator. So, we will have to wait until dd gives us back control of the terminal. Don't panic and stay patient. You will know it's done when you see an output similar to what is shown below.
664+0 records in 664+0 records out 2785017856 bytes (2.8 GB, 2.6 GiB) copied, 209.978 s, 13.3 MB/s
And that is it. You now have an Ubuntu bootable USB stick.
FROM A WINDOWS MACHINE
You will need a utility called Rufus. download it from here. I would suggest using the portable version since it is convenient.
Launch Rufus, click on SELECT, browse and choose the Ubuntu iso file. Leave all the option as they are and click on START.
Now, a window will pop up asking you to choose the mode in which you wish write the iso file onto the USB stick. The two modes are, ISO Image Mode and DD Image Mode. Going with recommended option, which is the ISO Image Mode would be fine. The main noticable difference between them is that, with ISO Image Mode you'll be able to open it in a file explorer to add or remove files. While with the DD Image Mode you are restrained from accessing the contents of the USB stick. You can read this if you want to know more about the differences between these modes.
After choosing the mode, all we have to do is wait. It will tell you when the process is done.
