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Installation issue off of a USB Ubuntu 20.10

Hi folks,
I am trying to install ubuntu off of a USB. I have HP computer with windows vista. when I hit the F10 key I see a screen with a couple of options. I go to the one that says Boot. So I am looking for the USB option and I see four options. 1st boot device Floppy drive, 2nd boot device CDRom drive,3rd boot device hard drive group, 4th boot device network boot group. There is nothing that says USB.

Under this message it says floppy drive not installed, network group not installed, then a whole bunch of numbers for CD rom and hard drive. So which one do I choose. I have a picture but can't find a place to upload it here. Thanks

George M

Most HPs have a boot menu activated by pressing F9 when the logo first comes up. If you have a USB drive plugged in at that point, you should be able to select it. Depends to a degree on what HP model, which you haven't mentioned. Tell us that and a more precise answer may be possible.

what did you use to put iso on usb?

^ It should see the USB regardless. I think.
Maybe there's some sort of secure boot enabled in BIOS, or USB boot is simply disabled?

On a side note, 20.10 is a beta version. Wouldn't you rather use a LTS (long term support) release?
See here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases

Also, vanilla Ubuntu is rather heavy, not sure your Vista computer can handle that. Consider Xubuntu LTS, or something else entirely: https://distrowatch.com/search.php?c...=Old+Computers

More information:
So the specs on the computer are Windows Vista Home Premium Service pack 2
Model IQ804 64 BIT Ram 6 GB
Intel Core TM2 Duo CPU T5850 Hewlet Packert Touch Smart

I bought the USB drive with UBUNTU on it from liuxdisconline.com it is version 20.04 So the ISO is already on the USB.

The F9 key says it is diagnostic it actually takes me to some tests. The F10 key takes me to setup. which has a couple of options. MAIN, POWER BOOT. When I click on Boot I get the message from my first post.

As I was writing this post, something did occurr to me, sometimes I remember the port I used didn't work. There are six ports on the HP. Its a big computer 32 inch all in one screen. Maybe I should try to boot it up in each port because in the boot section there is nothing that says USB port.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gmatvias (Post 6144376)

If you have a linux operating system on usb - then you have to instruct the motherboard on your computer to boot from usb and not from hard disk drive.
To do that access the BIOS or UEFI of your motherboard.
Then find the option to boot from usb.

This link shows you how to boot from usb on a HP Touchsmart.

Essentially it says:

Code:

1. Turn on the computer, and insert the USB flash drive into a USB port.



2. Press and hold the power button turn off the computer.



3. Disconnect all connected devices and cables such as Personal Media Drives, 

printers, and faxes. Remove media from internal drives, 

and remove any recently added internal hardware. 

Do not disconnect the monitor, keyboard, mouse, USB recovery flash drive, or power cord.



4. Immediately press the Escape key repeatedly, about once every second, until the Startup Menu opens.



5. Press F9 to open the Boot Device Options menu.



6. Use the up or down arrow key to select the USB flash drive, and then press Enter.

If the motherboard does not see your ubuntu flash drive - then you have a problem.

Installation success - other issue

Hi Linux,

The recommendation with hitting the escape key then go to the F9 boot with the USB installed did it. I was able to boot off the USB however, there is another issue. After clicking a few programs it just stalled on two different occasions. I had to reboot in order get it working again. I was running off the USB as opposed to installing it on the computer ( just to try it out) I could click a couple items and it stopped. Now some one mentioned that the program I was installing was too heavy, if this is the reason what recommendation would you give for a lighter program or perhaps another program, or is there something else going on? Thanks for your advice. I was installing the 20.04 version.

The live OS does not run entirely from RAM and has to access the USB drive which is slow in comparison. Running a lighter desktop or lighter distribution entirely will help some but the real issue is just USB bus speed. Actually installing to hard drive should fix the problem if that is your end goal.