Creating a bootable USB Key
Before we install Ubuntu Server I’m going to assume that you’ve already gone through Part 1 of this guide and have a working PC ready to go.
Next you’re going to need to create a bootable USB key which will allow us to install the OS on the server. Ubuntu Server is quite compact so it doesn’t need to be a big USB key, certainly anything over 4GB will be fine.
The first step is to follow this link and download the Ubuntu Server 18.04 image file.
Next, you’ll need to download a free tool called Rufus, which will allow you to make a bootable USB drive containing the data held in the Ubuntu Server image file.
Insert your USB key and open the Rufus software, you should see a screen like this:
Ensure that your USB memory stick is shown in the “Device” field at the top.
Click the SELECT button and choose the Ubuntu Server image file you downloaded earlier, you can leave all the other settings on default and then select START.
You may see a warning such as the one below. This is normal, and you can just select Yes.
Next you will see a prompt asking you to confirm the mode in which Rufus will create the bootable drive. I recommend selecting ISO mode and continuing…
After a while your bootable disk should be finished, you can now install this in any PC and boot from it to install Ubuntu Server, which we’ll do on the next page!