Install to a new drive from existing Kubuntu installation

[Tahaan]

After talking to a colleague he decided he would like to try out Kubuntu on his PC at home. I have the Kubuntu ISO for him, but he is not ready to give up Windows yet and also doesn't want to re-partition (his drive is nearly full in any case so it is not a quick or easy option). A portable Kubuntu system installed on a flash drive would seem to be perfect, but how to obtain that?

I could just create a flash drive for him using the startup disk creator but that only realy seems good for a short "try-out" period - funny overlayed partitions, installing software into a file mounted as a writeable partition, etc. The image so created does have an installer - it launches the original Kubuntu installer from within Kubuntu, and can (afaik) be used to easily install Ubuntu to another flash drive. I don't have a DVD with Kubuntu, only the ISO image files.

To get Kubuntu fully installed (as opposed to running from the startup disk) it seems my only options are:
1. Create a Kubuntu DVD (or startup flash disk), boot from that (to get access to the installer), and then install to the flash drive.
2. Boot a Vbox VM from the ISO, give it access to the flash drive and install to the flash drive from there.

All of these seems awfully cludgy. Is there any way to get access to the real Kubuntu installer from my existing, working kubuntu system to create Kubuntu systems ready for first boot on removable flash drives?

[Rog132]

Ubuntu installation guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation

There are:
- Standard installation
- Alternate Installation
- Installation without a CD
- Network installation
- Installing on external or RAID hard disk

[Tahaan]

Ubuntu installation guide: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation

There are:
- Standard installation
- Alternate Installation
- Installation without a CD
- Network installation
- Installing on external or RAID hard disk

I don't know if I am missing something. All of the mentioned installaiton methods involves
a) Installing by rebooting the computer which it will be installed to, or
b) creating a bootable flash drive (with an optional persistent storage file system in a file)

The installation is performed by running the installer from within "an Ubuntu instance". So my question is: How can I run this installer from my desktop.

I forsee that I will need to
a) copy the source media to my hard drive
b) set up my desktop to be able to run the installer
c) Launch the installer and complete the process
d) not need to reboot at the end, in stead removing the target drive and using it in the actual target system.

[oshunluvr]

Have you tried installing and running Ubiquity and then selecting your new target partition?

[Tahaan]

It sadly doesn't work. Errors. Pitfalls. Hangs. But it appears to be what I am looking for, if ouly it would work.

Errors: Numerous "errors", I will detail these in a follow-up post. These may be affecting some of the issues I have.

Pitfalls: It doesn't know that it must exclude/hide the local disk drive(s), and possibly may damage the system's already installed Boot Loader.

Hangs: When presumably starting the Install phase.

What does it use as source to install from?

Some or all of these issues could possibly be solved by running the installer "in a different way", eg by passing it the right options at startup, whatever that may be

[oshunluvr]

Ubiquity hangs on some partition tables, sadly un-fixed.

As far as "pitfalls", Ubiquity or any other program doesn't "know" anything. It has preset defaults by it's programmer and you have the option to manually set where it installs and where/whether or not to install the bootloader. Those decisions are yours and yours alone.

Ubiquity sources from the boot media and the internet if you have a connection - just like every other installer.

I am unclear as to why you're attempting this anyway. The only reason I can think of to do this is there is no boot device available on the other computer. Since this is your friends computer and your friend is reluctant to free up some space, why not let him try it from a liveUSB? If you create a persistent thumb drive install, he'll even be able to save settings. Besides, if he can't find 10GB or so to free up, he'll not be able to install Kubuntu anyway. Tell him to remove some of the bloated crap from his Windows install.

It seems to me you're taking a very basic process - doing a new install - and making it vastly more complicated for no reason at all. Frankly, Ubiquity is not the most robust installer out there and this is not how it's intended to be used. IMO, you can expect trouble.

My advice: Use Unetbootin to create a liveUSB install with persistence and loan it to your friend. Tell him it's his only option until he is willing to make some space on his hard drive. Ask for it back in a couple weeks.

[Teunis]

I've done it several times with USB drives where the original HD is not touched at all.
Start up from a Live CD and have a USB drive attached, partition this USB drive using the partition manager on the Live CD.
Then install Kubuntu on the USB drive, make sure to select the USB drive for the GRUB start up manager!

Would you boot without the USB drive all is as before, is the USB drive connected you get GRUB and it's boot options.

That's all.