As Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot reaches an end to its development cycle, its time to install the all new glossy and stylish Ubuntu version. In this post I will walk you through the process of installing Ubuntu 11.10 on a physical and virtual machine. The below mentioned process can be used to install Ubuntu on a VM and physical machine (minus the virtual machine steps explained below). You can also use this process to install previous Ubuntu versions on VMware Workstation.
Virtual Machine Installation On VMware
To create a virtual machine, launch VMware Workstation and click on New Virtual Machine.
In the next step you can either perform a Typical or Custom installation. In this example I will use the Custom Installation process.
You can select an older VMware version (optionally). This is normally not required with Ubuntu and having the default never version selected is much better to avoid any issues with Unity.
You can either select your CD/DVD ROM to install Ubuntu from a disc or select an ISO image from your hard drive. The latter involves selecting an ISO image file of the Ubuntu operating system from a location on your computer. When installation starts, VMware will use this ISO image to install the operating system automatically.
Now, select a computer name, username and password for your virtual machine.
After that, select a virtual machine name and location on your hard drive for saving the virtual machine files. It is advised to avoid saving the virtual machine on a primary partition such as the “C” Drive. Depending on you host operating system, the primary drive is likely to result in data loss, if you perform a clean wipe and load installation. Newer operating systems like Windows 7 provide better data safety via the “Windows Old” folder which saves data from the previous installation. However, if you are using Windows XP as the host for the VMware, you are likely to face data loss in wake of a fresh wipe and load re-installation.
Select a disk allocation size. Although you can create a virtual machine for Ubuntu by allocating as low as 8 GB hard disk space. But I would recommend at least 15-20 GB of disk space, as that would allow you to install more updates and applications without running out of disk space.
In the last step of the wizard, you can check the list of your configurations and either go back or click Finish to proceed with the installation o Ubuntu virtual machine. The rest of the steps will be the same as the ones shown below for the physical machine installation below.
Physical Machine Installation / Continuation of Virtual Machine Installation
The steps involved in the physical machine and the virtual machine (after the configuration wizard ends) is more or less the same process and requires going the the following basic steps.
Ubuntu will boot from a CD/DVD drive and start copying files.
You will be asked to select a keyboard layout. Most keyboards have a US layout, you can optionally change it to suit your needs. Click Continue to proceed further.
While you select your keyboard layout, the files will continue to copy. Once the files are copied, the next step will begin.
For virtual machine users, there will be screen displayed which will ask them to wait for the Graphical User Interface (GUI) to launch. If the GUI does not launch, reset the system to be able to reach the login screen.
Now, just login with the glossy new Ubuntu 11.10 login screen and enjoy your Ubuntu experience.
Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot has come with a number of new features and upgrades. You can check out my complete guide for the new features of Ubuntu 11.10 for more.
