I am trying to help a friend out by downloading linux from my laptop into a USB. My question is will this change my operation system? How can I be sure its going to load onto the USB without effecting my computer.
Your help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Rosey
the file to install Ubuntu does nothing until you run it. you can download it to your computer and copy it (to other drives, USB, CD, DVD) with no consequence.
if you’re using the unetbootin program like Ubuntu recommends to create the USB stick, it cannot change anything about your own operating system. It can overwrite other hard drives if you’re not careful (pay CLOSE attention to the drive letter it will write the Ubuntu image to) but it shouldn’t be able to alter your system in any way.
Download LinuxLive USB - then download the Live linux ISO you want on your USB stick.
Run LinuxLive, point it at the ISO and the USB stick, and it will pretty much do the rest. No risk, no mess.
Si
The Ubuntu ISO image is just a big file. It doesn’t do anything, even if you double click it.
Once it has been burned on a DVD, you can use that DVD to install Ubuntu. But even then you get plenty of warnings before anything happens that can’t be reversed.