0

My desktop (running Ubuntu) has completely stopped working after updating from v14 to v15. I would like to download a trial version of Ubuntu to a USB stick from my laptop (running Win10), and then boot my desktop from the USB stick to see if it will recover enough to reload Ubuntu. I'm not sure how to do this without downloading to my laptop rather than to the USB stick. I don't want to corrupt Win10 on my laptop. Any advice would be appreciated.

Andy Kay
  • 3
  • Sounds similar to a kernel error I had not too long ago. You should be able to make a bootable usb from the website and boot onto it if you follow the official ubuntu pages. After that, backup everything from the ubuntu partition that you need. It's likely you won't be able to fix it without needing to fully reinstall. – Dooley_labs Mar 01 '16 at 16:36

2 Answers2

0

Downloading the Ubuntu installation program to your laptop, and burning it to USB should not in anyway affect the operation of your laptop.

You'll want to follow the instructions at Ubuntu's download page for creating a bootable USB, and after having created it remove it form your laptop and then use it to boot your desktop computer. Given that you had a problem with the Ubuntu 15 upgrade, you may want to use the Ubuntu 14 download, but my suspicion would be that something added like a video driver is what 'broke' your computer.

More complete instructions:

Download two programs:

  • Download Ubuntu 14.04.4
  • Download UUI
  • Install UUI on your laptop
  • Use UUI on your laptop to create a bootable USB stick using the downloaded Ubuntu 14.04.4 installation program
  • Boot the USB in your desktop computer, and choose 'try Ubuntu'
  • Using the file manager in the Ubuntu booted from USB, navigate to your hard disk...
Charles Green
  • 21,339
0

Ok, wait, what do you mean by "recover enough" ? You can boot from the usb stick with ubuntu with no problems, as long as neither the desktop, nor the stick is damaged. As far as I know, when booting the Ubuntu from the stick it will detect your os and if it is Ubuntu, you can repair it. Booting from a usb stick with Ubuntu will not edit anything on your hard disk, unless you tell it to (for example, you edit a file from file manager). I suggest you install Ubuntu 14.04, since it's an LTS version (Long Term Support) and because Ubuntu 16.xx LTS will be released soon.

Stefi
  • 70
  • Installing 14.04, and will await 16.xx on your advice. Thanks Negoescutz. – Andy Kay Mar 01 '16 at 20:57
  • You should check this thread out, involving the difference between normal releases and LTS releases : http://askubuntu.com/questions/16366/whats-the-difference-between-a-long-term-support-release-and-a-normal-release – Stefi Mar 01 '16 at 21:10