What is UNetbootin?
UNetbootin creates a boot option in GRUB or the Windows bootloader that will download the installation files directly over the Internet and starts the installation. I find this very attractive since I don’t have to download or burn any CD’s. It works from within Windows and Linux and a variety of distro’s can be installed this way besides Ubuntu. The process is more than ideal with the new generation of netbooks, like the Dell mini, Asus EEE just to name a few, which don’t have optical drives.

Installation

1. Let’s first install the dependencies required by UNetbootin:

aptitude install ms-sys syslinux p7zip-full libqt4-gui

2. Download UNetbootin from here.

3. Make the downloaded file executable and run the install (you may need administrative rights):

chmod +x unetbootin-linux-319

./unetbootin-linux-319

4. You should now have a window like below. Select your distro and whether to use a disk or USB stick. Very convenient that you can simply choose an ISO, in case you want to download the distro first and then get it on the USB stick. Make sure to select “Disk Image” if that is what you want.

5. After hitting ok, the installation files will be downloaded over the internet.

6. Finally you are asked to reboot and start the Ubuntu installation process.

7. During the reboot, you will now have an option “unetbootin” to boot into. After that, simply follow the standard installation process.

Unetbootin is really a life saver. Gone are the ages where we needed to burn CD’s for OS installations. And the speed at which the installer races thru is just amazing. Mine literally took like 10 minutes!