Replacing XP With Linux Ubuntu: Part 2

With the end of support for Windows XP just a few weeks away, many of you are looking for alternatives that don’t involve spending hundreds of dollars on a new operating system or perhaps thousands on a new computer. For many of you, the  free Linux Ubuntu operating system could be just the ticket. In this article, we discussed the advantages of Ubutnu.

In part one of this article we showed you how to download Ubuntu for free and get ready to install it on your computer. Now, we continue that process.

At this point you should have already followed the steps in part one to either burn the ISO onto a DVD or create a bootable USB stick.

Installing Ubuntu

First of all, back up your important files and documents from Windows XP on an external drive, so that you can copy them back after you have installed Ubuntu and run it through Linux applications. Everything is going to gone on your computer when we complete this process.

After you have backed up all required documents, video files, music files and any other important stuff, proceed through the following steps:

•    Insert the CD/DVD or USB stick where the Ubuntu ISO has been burned and restart your system.
•   Newer systems will automatically detect a bootable drive and proceed to boot menu, but older ones might not. So for older PC’s, press your default boot key (It is often F8 or F10  or F12) while your PC is starting up.
•  After you have successfully landed on the boot menu,  select which boot device you want to use. If you burned the ISO into a CD/DVD then select CD/DVD drive or if you are using USB stick then select “USB Hard Drive” from the boot menu.
•  After selecting the desired boot option you will land upon an Ubuntu welcome screen asking for the desired language and two options: Try Ubuntu and Install Ubuntu. Select your desired language and then select “Install Ubuntu” option by clicking on it.

The next step is preparing Ubuntu installation.

This step will ask you if you have sufficient disk space, if you want to install updates while installing Ubuntu and if you wish to install third party software while installing.

The latest Ubuntu version would require at least 6 GB of space to run smoothly, so make sure you have that space on the installation drive. If you have the Internet connection running then you can go forward with installing the updates and third party software and thus check the required box shown below.  Click “Continue” to proceed.
Note: Uncheck the update and third party software part for quick installation, you can always update after installing Ubuntu.

 Next, set up wireless connections. You will get two options : do not connect to WiFi and continue or  connect to a wireless network . If you have any wireless connection available, then you can choose it from the given connections.  If you don’t have any wireless connection available, then just skip this part by selecting “I don’t want to connect to a WiFi network right now” and clicking on continue.

 Choose the type of installation. Now remember, this tutorial is on how to install Ubuntu over XP. We want to replace XP with Ubuntu. So in this step, we would select “Replace Windows XP with Ubuntu” and proceed by clicking on continue.

Note (i): Your personal files and documents are already backed up, so ignore the “warning” part.
Note (ii): The screenshots of installation are from  a PC running Windows 7, so naturally, in the following image it is shown as “replacing Windows 7 with Ubuntu” but if you are installing this on your XP computer, then it will display “replacing Windows XP with Ubuntu”.

In part 3 of this tutorial, we’ll complete the installation.

~ Nelson Gomez