- How to operate the Server installer
- Get the installer
- Installer UI navigation
- Running the installer over serial
- Connecting to the installer over SSH
- Help menu
- Switching to a shell prompt
- Global keys
- Basic installation
- Preparing to install
- System requirements
- Perform a system back up
- Download the server ISO
- Create a bootable USB
- Boot the installer
- Using the installer
How to operate the Server installer
This document explains how to use the installer in general terms. For a step-by-step guide through the screens of the installer, you can use our screen-by-screen reference guide.
Get the installer
Installer images are made (approximately) daily and are available from https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-server/daily-live/current/. These are not tested as extensively as the images from release day, but they contain the latest packages and installer, so fewer updates will be required during or after installation.
You can download the server installer for amd64 from https://ubuntu.com/download/server and other architectures from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/20.04/release/.
Installer UI navigation
In general, the installer can be used with the up and down arrows and space or Enter keys and a little typing.
Tab and Shift + Tab move the focus down and up respectively. Home / End / Page Up / Page Down can be used to navigate through long lists more quickly in the usual way.
Running the installer over serial
By default, the installer runs on the first virtual terminal, tty1 . This is what is displayed on any connected monitor by default. However, servers do not always have a monitor. Some out-of-band management systems provide a remote virtual terminal, but some times it is necessary to run the installer on the serial port. To do this, the kernel command line needs to have an appropriate console specified on it – a common value is console=ttyS0 but this is not something that can be generically documented.
When running on serial, the installer starts in a basic mode that does using only the ASCII character set and black and white colours. If you are connecting from a terminal emulator such as gnome-terminal that supports Unicode and rich colours you can switch to “rich mode” which uses Unicode, colours and supports many languages.
Connecting to the installer over SSH
If the only available terminal is very basic, an alternative is to connect via SSH. If the network is up by the time the installer starts, instructions are offered on the initial screen in basic mode. Otherwise, instructions are available from the help menu once networking is configured.
In addition, connecting via SSH is assumed to be capable of displaying all Unicode characters, enabling more translations to be used than can be displayed on a virtual terminal.
Help menu
The help menu is always in the top right of the screen. It contains help – both general and for the currently displayed screen – and some general actions.
Switching to a shell prompt
You can switch to a shell at any time by selecting “Enter shell” from the help menu, or pressing Control + Z or F2 .
If you are accessing the installer via tty1 , you can also access a shell by switching to a different virtual terminal ( Control + Alt + arrow, or Control + Alt + number keys, move between virtual terminals).
Global keys
There are some global keys you can press at any time:
Key | Action |
---|---|
ESC | Go back |
F1 | Open help menu |
Control + Z , F2 | Switch to shell |
Control + L , F3 | Redraw screen |
Control + T , F4 | Toggle rich mode (colour, Unicode) on and off |
Basic installation
This chapter provides an overview of how to install Ubuntu Server Edition. You can also refer to this guide on how to operate the installer for more information on using the installer, and to this screen-by-screen reference guide for more information about each of the installer screens.
Preparing to install
This section explains various aspects to consider before starting the installation.
System requirements
Ubuntu Server Edition provides a common, minimalist base for a variety of server applications, such as file/print services, web hosting, email hosting, etc. This version supports four 64-bit architectures:
- amd64 (Intel/AMD 64-bit)
- arm64 (64-bit ARM)
- ppc64el (POWER8 and POWER9)
- s390x (IBM Z and LinuxONE)
The recommended system requirements are:
- CPU: 1 gigahertz or better
- RAM: 1 gigabyte or more
- Disk: a minimum of 2.5 gigabytes
Perform a system back up
Before installing Ubuntu Server Edition you should make sure all data on the system is backed up.
If this is not the first time an operating system has been installed on your computer, it is likely you will need to re-partition your disk to make room for Ubuntu.
Any time you partition your disk, you should be prepared to lose everything on the disk should you make a mistake or something goes wrong during partitioning. The programs used in installation are quite reliable, most have seen years of use, but they also perform destructive actions.
Download the server ISO
You can obtain the amd64 server download from https://releases.ubuntu.com/. Select the version you wish to install and select the “server install image” download. Note that the server download includes the installer.
There are platform specific how-to guides for installations on:
Create a bootable USB
There are many ways to boot the installer but the simplest and most common way is to create a bootable USB stick to boot the system to be installed with (tutorials for other operating systems are also available).
Boot the installer
Plug the USB stick into the system to be installed and start it.
Most computers will automatically boot from USB or DVD, though in some cases this is disabled to improve boot times. If you don’t see the boot message and the “Welcome” screen which should appear after it, you will need to set your computer to boot from the install media.
There should be an on-screen message when the computer starts telling you what key to press for settings or a boot menu. Depending on the manufacturer, this could be Escape , F2 , F10 or F12 . Simply restart your computer and hold down this key until the boot menu appears, then select the drive with the Ubuntu install media.
After a few moments, the installer will start in its language selection screen.
Using the installer
The installer is designed to be easy to use and have sensible defaults so for a first install you can mostly just accept the defaults for the most straightforward install:
- Choose your language
- Update the installer (if offered)
- Select your keyboard layout
- Do not configure networking (the installer attempts to configure wired network interfaces via DHCP, but you can continue without networking if this fails)
- Do not configure a proxy or custom mirror unless you have to in your network
- For storage, leave “use an entire disk” checked, and choose a disk to install to, then select “Done” on the configuration screen and confirm the install
- Enter a username, hostname and password
- On the SSH and snap screens, select “Done”
- You will now see log messages as the install is completed
- Select restart when this is complete, and log in using the username and password provided