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2022-08-24T15:01:53Z

Created page with "== Overview == This article will explain how to create a custom USB Boot disk for automatic installation of Ubuntu 22.04 including an answer file. == Quick-n-Dirty == === In..."

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== Overview ==
This article will explain how to create a custom USB Boot disk for automatic installation of Ubuntu 22.04 including an answer file.

== Quick-n-Dirty ==
=== Installation Media ===
Partition USB stick into 2 pieces 
Partition 1 = 16M, EFI, Format FAT32 
Partition 2 = 4G, MS Dos, Format FAT32 

'''Mount Partition 2''' (make sure to use the right device, you can check with lsblk)
mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt

'''Extract ISO to Partition 2'''
7z -y x ubuntu-22.04.1-live-server-amd64.iso -o/mnt

'''Edit /mnt/boot/grub/grub.cfg'''
Add these lines after the end of the first 'menuentry'
menuentry "Auto Install Ubuntu Server" {
set gfxpayload=keep
linux /casper/vmlinuz autoinstall quiet ---
initrd /casper/initrd
}

'''Update /mnt/md5sum.txt'''
cd /mnt
md5sum ./boot/grub/grub.cfg >> /mnt/md5sum.txt
Remember to delete the old grub.cfg line.

'''Create an efi directory under /mnt/boot/''':
mkdir /mnt/boot/efi

'''Mount Partition 1'''
mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt/boot/efi

'''Install grub on Partition 2''' (this assumes the system is x64 UEFI):
grub-install --boot-directory=/mnt/boot /dev/sdb2

'''Unmount Partition 1, then Partition 2'''
umount /mnt/boot/efi
umount /mnt

=== Answer File Media ===
'''Generate a user-data file''', this is most easily done by copying one from a manual installation. This file can be found at:
/var/log/install/autoinstall-user-data

'''Generate a meta-data file''', this file is typically empty.
touch meta-data

'''Create the answer-file.iso'''
cloud-localds ./answer_file.iso user-data meta-data

'''Burn answer-file.iso to a USB stick.'''

''' Unmount the Answer File USB stick'''

=== Boot it! ===
Insert the newly created Installation USB stick and invoke your system's boot menu (F11 perhaps).
* Highlight Partition 2
* Insert the Answer File Media
* Press [Enter]
The system should install unattended including the network settings, user credentials, and packages you selected when generating the user-data file on the manual installation.

== Reference ==
https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/install/autoinstall
 
https://cloudinit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/topics/datasources/nocloud.html
 
https://github.com/covertsh/ubuntu-autoinstall-generator/blob/main/ubuntu-autoinstall-generator.sh#L249
 
https://linuxconfig.org/ubuntu-autoinstall-example
 
https://gist.github.com/jamiekurtz/26c46b3e594f8cdd453a

[[Category:Ubuntu]]

Ubuntu 22.04 Autoinstall - Revision history

Ledhed: Created page with "== Overview == This article will explain how to create a custom USB Boot disk for automatic installation of Ubuntu 22.04 including an answer file. == Quick-n-Dirty == === In..."