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HOWTO Install Ubuntu Server on a laptop

This tutorial has been made on December 2021 on a MSI gaming laptop with Ubuntu Server 20.04.

Requirements​

Hard drive​

  • Make sure there is a FAT partition created or a complete hard drive available

Windows settings​

BIOS settings​

  • Review boot order to ensure the bootable drive will run first (USB for instance)

Installation steps​

Download required files​

  • Download Rufus portable
  • Download Ubuntu Server LTS ISO

Create bootable drive​

  • Use Rufus to create a bootable drive

Plug the drive and boot the machine​

  • Do not configure network (may cause the installation to fail after a long time)
  • Define machine name, username and password

Reboot and login​

  • Configure Wifi network
# lists the available networks (copy the wl one that you want)
ls /sys/class/net

# lists available configuration
ls /etc/netplan/

# creates a new configuration
sudo vi /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

# network:
#     version: 2
#     renderer: networkd
#     ethernets:
#         eth0:
#             optional: true
#             dhcp4: no
#             dhcp6: no
#             addresses: [192.168.xxx.xxx/24]
#             gateway4: 192.168.xxx.xxx
#             nameservers:
#                 addresses: [8.8.8.8, 4.4.4.4]
#     wifis:
#         wlp3s0:
#             optional: true
#             access-points:
#                 "SSID-NAME-HERE":
#                     password: "PASSWORD-HERE"
#             dhcp4: no
#             dhcp6: no
#             addresses: [192.168.xxx.xxx/24]
#             gateway4: 192.168.xxx.xxx
#             nameservers:
#                 addresses: [8.8.8.8, 4.4.4.4]

# applies the change
sudo netplan apply

# makes sure an IP has been assigned
ip a
  • Updates packages and reboot
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo reboot

Additional configuration​

  • Disable action when lid is closing
sudo vi /etc/systemd/logind.conf

# find out the line #HandleLidSwitch=suspend and change it to one of following
# HandleLidSwitch=ignore

systemctl restart systemd-logind.service
  • Update hostname
hostnamectl set-hostname 'new-hostname'

Enable remote access through SSH from the remote computer​

  • Copy the SSH public key from the remote computer to be able to login without password
# creates SSH key (if not already done)
ssh-keygen

ssh-copy-id <username>@<serverip_or_dnsname>