Is it possible to install from a mounted ubuntu-11.10-desktop-i386.iso already downloaded to the desktop?

Question

I have a machine that seems to have some issues, and I would like to install directly from the iso image already on the HDD. I cannot for some reason boot from a LiveCD nor from a USB stick. I attached the HDD to another machine and dumped the iso to the desktop and reinstalled to the machine with issues.

Answer 1

As no one else has answered you, I will say in my ignorance that it will not be possible but I think that you can come at it from another direction. Imagine an empty but formatted hard disk as another kind of removable media. How would you use such a hard disk to install Ubuntu. Let us examine the ways we install Ubuntu.

1) From a Live CD. We take a blank CD disk and burn the iso image to the CD. This unpacks the iso image and we then boot from the CD and we get working Linux that lets us install Ubuntu.

2) USB stick. We take an empty but formatted USB memory stick and we use Startup Disk Creator to unpack the iso image to give us the same kind of working Linux that we get on a Live CD.

You cannot use either of those methods. So, perhaps you can try this. It may work. It may not.

a) Hard disk. Take an empty but formatted hard disk and connect it to a machine that has a working operating system preferably Ubuntu.

b) Use Archive Manager to uncompress the iso image on to the empty hard disk. The iso image would be on the working machine not the problem machine. Startup Disk Creator may also do the job but as I have only ever used Startup Disk Creator once and that was with a USB stick I cannot say for sure.

c) Connect the hard disk with the uncompressed/unpacked Ubuntu iso image on it to the problem machine and boot the machine from this hard disk.

With a bit of luck you might get a working Linux of the type that runs from CD and USB stick which you can use to install Ubuntu onto the hard disk that will be the main drive of the problem computer. And as it is connected to the machine it is going work in Ubuntu will be set up for that machine.

Good luck. This may be a first.

If you cannot do because you do not have a spare hard disk, try attaching the disk from the problem machine to the working machine and using a Live CD or USB stick to install Ubuntu on to the second hard disk. Then put this disk back into the problem machine and hope you get a working Linux from which you can update more appropriate drivers.