Installing Ubuntu 12.10

DIY Ubuntu

If you want to maintain some control over the installation, select the Something else option, although this requires some knowledge of the Ubuntu hard drive structure (see the "Hard Drives in Ubuntu" box).

Ideally, you would place at least two logical partitions for Ubuntu on an empty hard drive: a swap partition (/dev/sda5) and a partition for the root directory that is at least 4.9GB (/dev/sda6). Optionally, you can add an extra partition for the /home directory (/dev/sda7) that gives you enough space. This partitioning has the advantage that you can install Ubuntu again later without losing your user data. You can add the new partitions using Add. For the / and /home directories, selecting the Ext4 filesystem is best.

Windows and Ubuntu

Windows likes to save its files across the entire hard disk. In defragging, Ubuntu arranges the scattered file fragments in a contiguous region; shrinking the partition doesn't disrupt any installed programs. In Windows 7, you can start the defragging with Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools . If you freshly installed Windows, a program called chkdisk routinely looks for damages to the partition, and then Windows can boot normally.

You can begin shrinking the Windows partition. At the bottom of the Start menu, type hard and click Create and format hard drive partition . Window XP and Vista have similar functions.

Next, select the Windows partition you want to shrink. Right-click and choose Shrink Volume , enter a desired value in the Total size after shrink in MB field, then click Shrink , and restart Windows.

In any case, after you install Ubuntu and restart Windows, Windows resorts to chkdisk to check for possible damages and restarts the computer again before starting up normally. If you don't want to create a separate Ubuntu partition, you can use also use Wubi [2] to install Ubuntu on Windows, but you'll need a couple gigabytes of free space on the Windows hard disk.

Installing Windows after the fact is so complicated that we don't recommend it. If you plan to do so, choose creating a manual partition in the Ubuntu installer (as described in the "DIY Ubuntu" section) while reserving an empty /dev/sda1 partition for Windows.

Install Now

If you opted for self-partitioning, click Install Now. To set up complete encryption, Ubuntu asks for a security key; select the most secure one possible (Figure 5). Ubuntu then asks about your location (Where are you?, to get the time zone), Keyboard layout, name, username, and password (Who are you?). The latter dialog also asks whether you want to Require my password to log in or Log in automatically, with an additional option to Encrypt my home folder, for which Ubuntu uses EcryptFS.

Figure 5: If you use the complete encryption Ubuntu provides as an option, be sure to use a secure password (security key), and keep it in a safe place so as not to lose it.

If you have one of the supported Ubuntu webcams, the installer also suggests that you take an image of yourself to complement your profile. Ubuntu 12.10 can also import profiles for parallel-installed operating systems that includes not only browser and email files but also screen backgrounds and documents.

During the install process, you can view a slideshow that presents the new Ubuntu features. Installation can take a while, depending on your system, and it ends with Restart Now. Then, you can remove the CD/DVD and press Enter so that the computer reboots. If you activated system encryption, enter the password before booting up.

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