How to Create a Bootable Ubuntu USB Flash Drive

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Have you ever wanted to have a Portable Ubuntu OS in your pocket and use it whenever you need, in every case? I’m completely sure that you will not hesitate to do it, especially if your work is related to computers and laptops. Today having an USB Flash Drive is more than a need and fortunately they are more than cheap. So if you have more than one, then I suggest you to use it for the creation of the Bootable Ubuntu USB Flash Drive, which process is quite easy if you follow the instructions I will give now. To make a bootable Ubuntu USB Flash Drive I will use a free portable tool for Windows and Linux called UNetbootin.

First before we start, you should have your USB Flash Drive formated in NTFS format. To do that, follow the steps below:

1. Attach the USB Drive in your computer, go to My Computer and under Device and Removable Storage find your USB, right-click on it and select Format.

2. The format window will appear in front of you. Here all you need to do is change the File system into NTFS and click the Start button to begin the format. After few moments your USB Flash Drive will be formatted and ready.

The first part is completed, now we have to continue with the phase where we are going to create a bootable Ubuntu in the same USB Flash Drive that we formatted earlier.

When you run UNetbootin you will notice that it gives you two options to make a bootable USB Drive:

1. Distribution – gives you the opportunity to download the desired Linux distribution by selecting the ones that are listed on the program

2. Diskimage – use the Linux distribution that you have downloaded before, by locating it in your hard drive and selecting the type of the drive, in our case is USB Drive.

So once you have decided for the method just click OK and the process will start. In my case I downloaded earlier the ISO image file of Ubuntu 11.10, which represents the latest version. If you are interested to download it, just visit the official download page of Ubuntu by clicking here.

After the installation is completed, Unetbootin will ask you to reboot your computer, so just click the Reebot Now button.

Immediately after restarting your computer, you have to enter to your BIOS Menu by clicking the Delete button or F2. Proceed to the Boot section and set your USB Flash Drive as your first boot device, before your Hard Drive or CD/DVD Drive. After finishing this setup your USB Flash Drive is ready to start the Ubuntu installation.

That’s all what you have to do in order to make a bootable Ubuntu installation in your USB Flash Drive. Wish you good luck!