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In the interests of clarity, I'm going to frame this as what I need help with and then the longer explanation of how I got here. Question: I'm attempting to install Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on my HP Laptop from a flash drive. It keeps hanging up on grub2. How do I do that?

Point 1: I am not very tech savvy; my degrees are all in the humanities, y'all. That means I know almost nothing BUT I learn very well, so please assume in your answer that you'll need to spell everything out for me, but only once. (So why am I getting Ubuntu at all? Because for various personal reasons I prefer open source tech, and Ubuntu is considered the most user friendly.)

Point 2: pursuant to the above, I'm pretty sure I accidentally wiped the Windows OS off of this laptop by accident while trying it the first couple of times.

Point 3: I have another laptop which I am not attempting to change in any fashion but which I can use to do things that require an OS, if that helps at all.

Point 4: to clarify what I mean by "hangs on Grub2 " - I mean that during the actual installation, when it gets to "Installing the 'grub2' package", it begins installing and then just sorta freezes. I've tried just leaving it alone, once for the better part of 24 hours. It just refuses to go any farther.

Your assistance is greatly appreciated.

Bill Eldridge
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  • What exactly do you mean by "It keeps hanging up on grub2"? Is that after the installation has finished and you reboot for the first time? Or is it pre-installation? Or even during installation at some point? What is the exact message you get? Please edit your question and add this information. – Jos Jan 16 '19 at 09:54
  • @Jos , have now edited the ask with the relevant information. – Bill Eldridge Jan 16 '19 at 10:08
  • Thank you for clarifying. This sounds as if the installation media - the flash drive - is corrupt. That happens all too often. How did you create it? (i.e. did you use UnetBootin, LiLo, Rufus...) Can you use a different flash drive and/or different method? – Jos Jan 16 '19 at 10:11
  • I used Rufus. I can't use a different flash drive - without going into details, I'm afraid all my money for the next few weeks is limited to necessities - but I can clear this one off and use something other than Rufus. – Bill Eldridge Jan 16 '19 at 10:19
  • Using different software to put the same Ubuntu image on the same flash drive may very well be enough to complete the installation. (I'd be surprised if it stopped at the same point.) Tell us if you have any more problems with the installation process. – Jos Jan 16 '19 at 10:28
  • I'm afraid my best efforts with different software's achieved the same result - the install works fine for a while, but then hangs up at Grub2. I'm beginning to be afraid that it's the usb itself that's the problem, but I don't know why that should be- it's brand new, bought specifically for this purpose. Unless I damaged it somehow? – Bill Eldridge Jan 17 '19 at 09:12
  • I notice that "install hangs at grub2" is actually a thing. Does this: https://askubuntu.com/questions/392254/ubuntu-install-hangs-at-installing-the-grub2-package/392273 correspond to your experience? It may because you mentioned losing the whole Windows install at one point. – Jos Jan 17 '19 at 09:17
  • It appears to be a similar issue, yes. – Bill Eldridge Jan 17 '19 at 19:31
  • So how much of what appears in this old thread is useful to me? It's from little over 5 years ago; as mentioned, I'm very much a novice, so I don't know what kind of difference if any that makes. – Bill Eldridge Jan 18 '19 at 05:27
  • The relevant steps in the installation procedure, as far as I can tell, haven't changed. You get the option to convert the whole disk from a (probably broken) MBR disk to a GPT disk, which is what I would recommend. – Jos Jan 18 '19 at 09:24

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