How to install a Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus)

1. Requirements

To install a Ubuntu LTS Server, you will need the following prerequisites:

2. Preliminary Note

In this tutorial, I use the hostname server1.example.com with the IP address 192.168.1.100 and the gateway 192.168.1.1 These settings might differ for you, so you have to replace them where appropriate.

 

3. The Base System

Insert your Ubuntu install CD into your system and boot from it. When you install the OS in a virtual machine like I do it here, then you should be able to select the downloaded ISO file as source for the CD/DVD drive in VMWare and Virtualbox without burning it on CD first.

The first screen will show the language selector. Plese select your language:

Select the installation language

Then choose the option Install Ubuntu Server:

Choose to install Ubuntu Server

Select the language for the installed Operating System:
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How to Install Ubuntu 18.04 (Bionic Beaver)

Introduction

Ubuntu 18.04 (codenamed Bionic Beaver) is a free, open-source distribution of Linux, based on the Debian operating system. 18.04 was released in April 2018 and it is an LTS (long-term support) version publicly supported until 2023.

In 2020, Ubuntu 18.04 was succeeded by Ubuntu 20.04 as the latest LTS version.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to install Ubuntu 18.04. 

Prerequisites

  • 2 GHz dual-core processor, at least
  • 4 GB system memory
  • 25 GB of free space on the hard drive
  • A DVD drive or USB port

Step 1: Download Ubuntu 18.04 ISO File

Before you start, make sure you have read the prerequisites, and you have all the recommended system requirements. If you are confident that your system can support the new OS installation, take the first step, and download Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Open a browser of your choice and navigate to the Ubuntu 18.04 official download page.

2. You will see two available packages – Ubuntu 18.04 for Desktop and Ubuntu 18.04 for Server.
We shall download and install the desktop version.

3. Select the 64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image link to start downloading the package.

Click the 64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image link to download Ubuntu for Desktop.

4. It will take a couple of minutes to download the .iso file. Once it is done, move on to creating a bootable USB or DVD.

Step 2: Create a Bootable USB

The next step is to create a way to transfer the installation package to your system. You will want your computer to boot from the USB on which the package is on. To do that, you need to create a bootable USB.

This process requires at least a 2GB flash drive and software that creates bootable USB flash drives. There are many options to choose from (Rufus, UUI, UNetbootin, PowerISO, and so on).

For this example, we are going to use Rufus, as it is much faster than the alternatives out there. It is also free and open-source.

1. Download Rufus from the official website. Navigate to the webpage and scroll down to the Download section.

Select option to download Rufus bootable.

2. You will find a list of the latest updated versions. Today, these include Rufus 3.5 and Rufus 3.5 Portable or other available versions. Click on either one of the first two, choose to Save and then Run the file.
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How to Upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04

Prerequisites

  • A system running Ubuntu 18.04 or Ubuntu 19.10
  • Access to a terminal window / command line (Ctrl+Alt+T, search > terminal)
  • A user account with sudo or root privileges

Upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04 via GUI

If you prefer updating your system using the graphical user interface, follow the steps outlined below. The instructions apply to both Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 19.10 users.

Step 1: Update the System

Firstly, you need to start by updating the system and software running on your Ubuntu. You can easily switch to the newer version with the Debian upgrade process, but you need to ensure you have the latest packages.

1. Open the Search bar and type in Software Updater. Find the icon in the results and open the console.
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How to Check Your Ubuntu Version

Prerequisites

  • A system running Ubuntu
  • Access to a user account with sudo or root privileges
  • A terminal window/command line (Ctrl–Alt–T)

There are two (2) simple ways to determine the Ubuntu version installed on your server. Check the version in the terminal window or use Ubuntu’s default graphical interface.

How to Check Ubuntu Version in Terminal

If you prefer using the terminal, you can determine the Ubuntu version installed on your machine in three (3) different ways.

Check Ubuntu Version with lsb_release –a Command

  1. Open the terminal (use the Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut).
  2. Type in the following command and hit Enter:
lsb_release –a
screenshot of checking ubuntu version from terminal

The output displays the current version of Ubuntu. In the example seen in the image above, it is Ubuntu 18.04 (codenamed Bionic Beaver).

Check Ubuntu Version with cat /etc/lsb-release Command

Alternatively, you can use the command:

cat /etc/lsb-release
cat /etc/lsb/release

Check Ubuntu Version with cat /etc/*release Command

To get more in-depth information about the Ubuntu release, you can also use the command:

cat /etc/*release
find information about ubuntu release

Check Ubuntu Version with hostnemctl Command

Another command that also gives you information about the Ubuntu version is the hostname command:

hotnamectl
Check Ubuntu version using hostnamectl command.

Check Ubuntu Version from Graphical Interface

You can quickly identify the Ubuntu version running on your system through the graphical interface.

1. First, select Activities in the top left corner.

2. In the search bar, enter Settings and click on the icon once it appears in the results.

find settings in ubuntu

3. In the System Settings window, click on the Details tab.

system settings details of Ubuntu

The Details section displays which Ubuntu version number you have, along with other information about your operating system.

ubuntu version details 18.04

The image above indicates that the system running on the machine is Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS (codenamed Bionic Beaver). LTS is an acronym that stands for Long-Term Support, meaning it’s a major version supported for up to 10 years.

Other Ubuntu LTS releases include:

  • Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa)
  • Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus) which has an end of life in April 2021
  • Ubuntu 14.04 (Trusty Tahr)
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