Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Raspberry Pi

In this tutorial you will learn how to install the Ubuntu 20.04 system on Raspberry Pi by flashing the MicroSD card with the latest Ubuntu 20.04 system image.

In this tutorial you will learn:

  • How to flash Ubuntu image to MicroSD card from command line
  • How to flash Ubuntu image to MicroSD card from GUI

Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Raspberry Pi

Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Raspberry Pi

Software Requirements and Conventions Used

Software Requirements and Linux Command Line Conventions
Category Requirements, Conventions or Software Version Used
System Installed Ubuntu 20.04 or upgraded Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa
Software dd, disks, xz
Other Privileged access to your Linux system as root or via the sudo command.
Conventions # – requires given linux commands to be executed with root privileges either directly as a root user or by use of sudo command
$ – requires given linux commands to be executed as a regular non-privileged user

Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Raspberry Pi step by step instructions



  1. Download the Ubuntu 20.04 Raspberry Pi image appropriate to your Raspberry Pi version. The image you need to download will have the *.img.xz file extension. For example:
    $ ls
    ubuntu-20.04-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img.xz
    
    DID YOU KNOW?
    That the arm64 is a 64bit architecture image and the armhf is a 32bit architecture image.
  2. Insert your MicroSD card into your computer but do not mount it.

    Flash the image using command line

    Check in /dev/ to obtain its block device name. You can use a graphical tool like gparted or command line fdisk tools to look too. Once you know where your card is, you can use the dd command to flash the Ubuntu 20.04 image to your MicroSD card.

    To flash the Ubuntu 20.04 image to your MicroSD card first extract the image:

    $ unxz ubuntu-20.04-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img.xz
    

    Next, execute dd command to flash the image. Make sure to enter the appropriate path to the Raspberry Pi image and MicroSD card block device name:

    $ sudo dd if=/path/to/ubuntu.img of=/dev/sdX bs=8M
    
    Flash the MicroSD card with Raspberry Pi Ubuntu 20.04 image from command line

    Flash the MicroSD card with Raspberry Pi Ubuntu 20.04 image from command line



    Flash the image using GUI

    Start disks application

    Start disks application on your Ubuntu system

    Select the appropriate SD card and click restore

    Select the appropriate SD card and click on the Restore Dissk Image.. from the Drive Options menu.

    Start Restoring image

    Ensure that everything is in order and hit the Start Restoring... button.

  3. Wait for the flashing process to complete. Once ready, remove the MicroSD card reader.
  4. Insert the MicroSD card into you Raspberry Pi board and start it up. The booting process may take some time, so be patient. The Raspberry Pi Ubuntu default user name and password is ubuntu.