Setting up Ubuntu Live Environment

Ubiquity

Performing administrative tasks using Ubuntu tools saves time and stress. However, installing and configuring Ubuntu for such a purpose is inefficient. Using an Ubuntu live environment for such purposes allows access to Ubuntu's tools without having to install Ubuntu on your computer. The typical Ubuntu installer is a live environment that is booted from a USB flash drive, or a DVD. While used to install Ubuntu, it is essentially a fully-functional Ubuntu environment that can be used for system administration.

After creating an Ubuntu flash drive, boot from the flash drive by following your motherboard's manual. Usually, pressing F12 on your keyboard while the computer is starting up shows a boot menu, from which, your USB flash drive can be selected. However, it varies based on motherboard configuration and manufacturer. After booting the USB flash drive, select Try Ubuntu if prompted and wait for the desktop to be shown.

Open a new terminal

1) Open the terminal by holding down Control (Ctrl) and Alt (Alt) keys at the same time and pressing (t) with the other hand.

Connect to The Internet

The first step is to connect your machine to the Internet. If you have connect to the Internet using a cable, then Ubuntu has probably automatically completed this step. Modern versions of Ubuntu have support for Wifi, so in most cases, your computer's Wifi capabilities can be used to connect to the Internet.

1) Verify that you have Internet connectivity by typing ping google.com. The output should look similar to below:

Terminal

ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ ping google.com
PING google.com (93.184.216.34): 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=0 ttl=56 time=11.632 ms
64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=1 ttl=56 time=11.726 ms
64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=2 ttl=56 time=10.683 ms
64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=3 ttl=56 time=9.674 ms
64 bytes from 93.184.216.34: icmp_seq=4 ttl=56 time=11.127 ms

--- google.com ping statistics ---
5 packets transmitted, 5 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 9.674/10.968/11.726/0.748 ms
ubuntu@ubuntu:~$ █

If not, then you are not yet connected to the Internet.

2) Abort the ping operation by pressing Ctrl+C until it stops.

Add Third Party Sources

1) Install the package, software-properties-common by typing the following:

sudo apt-get install -y software-properties-common

2) Add the main repositories by typing these commands:

sudo apt-get install -y sudo apt-add-repository universe

3) Update the system now that the repositories have been added:

sudo apt update

It is very important that no errors occur during repository updating. If an error occurs, it could be due to lack of Internet connectivity.

Secure Environment

Next, secure the environment to allow administrative access:

1) Set a password on the root user by typing:

sudo passwd

When prompted, enter your desired password and press enter.

2) Set a password on the Ubuntu user account by typing:

sudo passwd ubuntu

When prompted, enter your desired password and press enter.

Ready

The environment should now be ready for administrative use.