You will need:

Take note of where your browser saves downloads: this is normally a directory called ‘Downloads’ on your Windows PC. Don’t download the ISO image directly to the USB stick! If using Windows XP or Vista, download version 2.18 of Rufus.

Perform the following to configure your USB device in Rufus:

You can avoid the hassle of selecting from a list of USB devices by ensuring no other devices are connected.

To select the Ubuntu ISO file you downloaded previously, click the SELECT to the right of “Boot selection”. If this is the only ISO file present in the Downloads folder you will only see one file listed.

Select the appropriate ISO file and click on Open.

The Volume label will be updated to reflect the ISO selected.

Leave all other parameters with their default values and click START to initiate the write process.

You may be alerted that Rufus requires additional files to complete writing the ISO. If this dialog box appears, select Yes to continue.

You will then be alerted that Rufus has detected that the Ubuntu ISO is an ISOHybrid image. This means the same image file can be used as the source for both a DVD and a USB stick without requiring conversion.

Keep Write in ISO Image mode selected and click on OK to continue.

Rufus will also warn you that all data on your selected USB device is about to be destroyed. This is a good moment to double check you’ve selected the correct device before clicking OK when you’re confident you have.

If your USB stick contains multiple partitions Rufus will warn you in a separate pane that these will also be destroyed.

The ISO will now be written to your USB stick, and the progress bar in Rufus will give you some indication of where you are in the process. With a reasonably modern machine, this should take around 10 minutes. Total elapsed time is shown in the lower right corner of the Rufus window.

When Rufus has finished writing the USB device, the Status bar will be filled green and the word READY will appear in the center. Select CLOSE to complete the write process.

Congratulations! You now have Ubuntu on a USB stick, bootable and ready to go.

! Your computer must be connected to the internet so the installer can work properly.

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 the boot messages appear, a ‘Language’ menu will be displayed.

As the message suggests, use the Up, Down and Enter keys to navigate through the menu and select the language you wish to use.

Before you need to type anything in, the installer will next display a menu asking you to select your keyboard layout and, if applicable, the variant.

Just go with the default - when Ubuntu Server has been installed you can test and change your preferences more easily if necessary. Move down with the arrows and click Done.

The Ubuntu Server option will be automatically select just select “Done” button and click enter.

The installer will automatically detect and try to configure any network connections via DHCP.

This is usually automatic, and you will not have to enter anything on this screen, it is for information only. Just click enter to continue.

If you need to set a proxy connection you can set it here, if you don’t you can skip it by selecting “Done”

You can skip this step just click on the “Done” button.

The next step is to configure storage. The recommended install is to have an entire disk or partition set aside for running Ubuntu. Here you need to select “Use An Entire Disk”. If you have SSD and HDD make sure that, from the drop down menu under the “Use an entire disk” option, the SSD is selected.

The installer will calculate what partitions to create and present this information… just select “Done”.

Before the installer makes any changes, it will show this final confirmation step.

Click “Continue”.

The software is now being installed on the disk, but there is some more information the installer needs. Ubuntu Server needs to have at least one known user for the system, and a hostname. The user also needs a password. For our purpose you need to type “racefacer” in all 5 text fields, as shown in the picture below. If you decide to create custom username and password, be sure to type them down and provide them to the RaceFacer team.

For our purpose we don’t need Ubuntu Pro. The “Skip for now” option will be automatically marked, just click “Continue”.

Very important. The “Install OpenSSH server option must be marked with “X”, as shown on the picture below. With the arrows keys, move down to the option, and click “Enter”. Make sure it is marked and then go to the “Done” button and select it.

We don’t need anything from this page. Just scroll down with the arrow keys and select “Done”.

Selecting “Done” will start the installation and that will take from 3 to 5 minutes.

When the installation is complete you will see this screen. You need to select the “Reboot Now” option.

Rebooting will give you an error message, but don’t worry it is normal. Just take out the flash drive from your PC and click enter. Then you will see a screen looking like this

When that is over you will see this screen.

Here you need to enter racefacer for username and racefacer for password. Be careful when entering the password, because you will not be able to see what you are typing in the console. Just type the password and click enter. If you used custom username and password on step 12 use them. If you are successful, you will see this screen.

Take a picture of this screen and send it to the RaceFacer team. Good thing to do, is creating a static IP for the server in your router and create port forwarding for better support.