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This is a basic problem that has perplexed me for a while. On a machine running Ubuntu, is it possible to mount a new disk, run the Ubuntu installer the same as you would from a live CD and install on that new disk? I haven't figured out how to find the installer program(s) or what would prevent me from doing so. It sure would aid in deployment of the rare single machines if I could do a net install from the machine running my local mirror!

NobodySpecial
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    Your description is not very clear. You want to install Ubuntu on top of your existing installation without signing off the current installation? Impossible. Why can't you use a liveCD or USB? Edit your question and make sure that it's clear what you are asking. Provide examples if it's necessary to explain what you're asking. If you think you need to reinvent the wheel for a system installation, tell us the detailed reasons why you think the normal methods are unacceptable. Because this could be an XY problem. – Nmath Nov 10 '21 at 19:17
  • As stated, Install on new media, not over top the running installation. Akin to copying the image and running syslinux, but I want to update packages and configure a user account at the same time. If the live CD installer can't do that for some reason, I'd like to better understand why. Right now, I just don't know which programs I'd need to run. – NobodySpecial Nov 12 '21 at 11:41
  • Oh, you just want the ubiquity package (the Ubuntu Desktop installer). Warning -- it pulls in 500MB of dependencies, since it must handle a wide variety of environments and options. Ubiquity will be superseded in 22.04 (or perhaps 22.10) by a new installer that's currently in testing. See https://askubuntu.com/questions/995980/how-to-install-ubiquity-to-full-install-bootable-usb for some discussion of Ubiquity usage. – user535733 Nov 12 '21 at 12:46
  • I was sure I was just missing a package name or something. Thanks! Hard to believe I missed it all this time – NobodySpecial Nov 15 '21 at 16:05

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Four of the main features of Live installers are:

  1. Simple to create
  2. Independently bootable
  3. Reasonable download size
  4. Capable of testing hardware

You specifically don't seem need #1 and #2 since you're already booted into a working system. You are sacrificing #4, which matters a lot to people who are surprised when their hardware doesn't work.

Look into dd-able images of Ubuntu Base:

Warning: Ubuntu base is not intended for beginners nor the unskilled. If the link above isn't enough information to get your Ubuntu Base system up and running, then it's perhaps not right for you; stick to the normal installers.

There are some other dd-able images, but they are for specific use cases like unusual architectures or pre-release testing. There is no dd-able AMD64 Focal Server image, for example.

user535733
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  • Thanks for the info. That installation example is pretty much what I thought the live CD installer did. I was hoping for a method to launch the existing installer that loads packages from some up to date source. If that isn't possible for some reason, I'd like to understand why. I'm not above scripting a solution that will work for me, I just assume the same function exists somewhere, somehow already. – NobodySpecial Nov 12 '21 at 12:05