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I am trying to download Ubuntu 18.04.3 LTS. I observed that I am downloading a .rar file instead of an .iso file. The official tutorial here assumes that the file is an iso.

I am an amateur. This had happened when I tried to install Kali for fun. So I copied the contents of the folder of the download into my pen drive and booted from it. I am now greeted with a GRUB command line instead of the expected live environment.

Is it expected to download a rar file? If so, am I doing the right thing?

Edit:

screenshot with file

Apparently Windows is telling me it's a rar archive even though the extension is .iso.

Zanna
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Hemil
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    You are on windows aparently. The file is ISO, but windows opens it with winrar, hence the icon (not the extension). If you configure windows to show the extension you wll see it's .iso. – schrodingerscatcuriosity Nov 07 '19 at 16:38
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    Kali is not Ubuntu. Kali-related questions are generally off-topic here. Kali is rarely recommended for beginners. – user535733 Nov 07 '19 at 16:57
  • Windows was telling me its a rar archive. I updated the question to include a pic. @guillermochamorro. Rufus works it out though – Hemil Nov 08 '19 at 04:07
  • I am not exactly a beginner @user535733. I tried my hands on Ubuntu 16.04LTS 2 years back. I then became enthusiastic about bleeding edge and have been using fedora for more than 18 months. There had been some problems with fedora on my system and hence I came back to Ubuntu to see if it works better. I don't poke around my system so you can say I am a beginner – Hemil Nov 08 '19 at 04:09

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Because you ended up at a shell prompt like bash, it sounds like you downloaded the Ubuntu Server installer, and not the Ubuntu Desktop installer. Please redownload the Ubuntu Desktop installer. It will be named ubuntu-18.04.3-desktop-amd64.iso or ubuntu-19.10-desktop-amd64.iso depending on which version you chose.

Making a LiveUSB for Ubuntu in Windows requires, not just copying the ISO file to a flash drive, but using a specialized program to do several things to the USB. The official Canonical steps to do that in Windows are outlined here, and require you to install an app, Rufus, which is free, Open Source, and reliable.

First, please go to the Rufus home page and download the app.

Install it on your PC.

Start the Rufus program and pick the drive letter for the USB.

Tell Rufus to set up for FreeDOS.

Tell Rufus where the Ubuntu file was downloaded to. You will see in this step the file was really an ISO file, not an RAR.

Tell Rufus to erase everything on the USB drive and make it an Ubuntu Live USB.

If there's a message about Syslinux, click YES.

Tell Rufus to write in ISO mode and confirm it's OK to erase the USB drive. When you do, Rufus will begin making the LiveUSB.

When you see READY in white on the green bar, click Close then eject the flash drive by going to the Tray at the bottom right corner of your Windows desktop and clicking on the up arrowhead, then on the icon of the USB Flash Drive.

Put the LiveUSB in the PC you want to add Ubuntu to. Reboot, press your Boot Selection key, and you will see Ubuntu boot up and show you a Live Desktop.

K7AAY
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