Install Ubuntu 20.04 on Raspberry Pi

Running Ubuntu on your Raspberry Pi is easy. Just pick the OS image you want, flash it onto a microSD card, load it onto your Pi and away you go. This post summarizes the step to install Ubuntu 20.04 server into Raspberry Pi 2 Module B, and shows how to get Wifi working. 

Download Raspberry Pi Imager

You need to install the right Raspberry Pi Imager for your operating system. Go to https://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads/  and find out following imager download link:

• Raspberry Pi Imager for Ubuntu
• Raspberry Pi Imager for Windows
• Raspberry Pi Imager for macOS

Since we are using windows, you might want to download Raspberry Pi Imager for Windows

Install and Run Raspberry Pi Imager

Once download is done, start the Imager and open the “CHOOSE OS” menu.

Choose OS and SD Card

Scroll down the menu click “Ubuntu”. You will then be able to see a list of Ubuntu downloads to choose from. For this tutorial we recommend you select the Ubuntu 20.04 download. As indicated in the imager this will work for the Raspberry Pi 2,3, 3+ and any of the 4’s.

Choose Ubuntu -> Ubuntu 20.04 LTS (Pi 2/3/4)

Open the “SD Card” menu. Select the microSD card you have inserted.

Then Write

Boot Raspberry Pi with your SD Card

You might want to connect hdmi cable to your displayer to see the output during booting. Wifi adapter and Keyboard can be plugged into USB ports. They will be identified and the drivers automatically will be loaded.

User following username and Password

User: ubuntu 

Passord: ubuntu
It will prompt you to change password right away after you log in.

Log in to try Internet access

You will need to connect your Ethernet cable to get DHCP IPv4 address , and Internet access to update your system.

sudo apt update -y && apt upgrade -y

• sudo -i : Gives you a root prompt with a new shell environment (as if root did a login). It also does a cd to root's home directory as well.
• sudo sh or sudo bash: Gives a basic root shell spawned in the environment of the calling user (sanitized by sudo).
• sudo -s -H: Gives a shell and resets $HOME, but doesn't cd to $HOME like sudo -i.
• sudo su: Uses the normal su method of becoming root but doesn't need a root password.

Your Wifi might not working since the configuration for Wifi not done yet.

 Get Wifi Working

7.1 Find WiFi card name:

$ ls /sys/class/neteth0  lo  wlan0

7.2 Edit network configuration file to add WiFi info:

sudo vi /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

you will see the following in the original file:

network:
    version: 2
    ethernets:
        eth0:
            dhcp4: true
            optional: true

After adding your WiFi info such that it should look something like the following:

network:
    version: 2
    ethernets:
        eth0:
            dhcp4: true
            optional: true
    wifis:
        wlan0:
            dhcp4: true
            dhcp6: false
            access-points:
                    "<your network ESSID>":
                     password: "<your WIFI Password>"

Last step is to execute the netplan.generate the configuration using this command:

sudo netplan generate

And now apply this:

sudo netplan apply

If you are lucky, you should have network connected. Try to ping a website or run apt update command.

However, things may not go as smooth and you may see some errors. Try some extra steps if that’s the case.

Possible troubleshooting

It is possible that when you use the netplan apply command, you see an error in the output that reads something like this:

Failed to start netplan-wpa-wlan0.service: Unit netplan-wpa-wlan0.service not found.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/sbin/netplan", line 23, in <module>
    netplan.main()
  File "/usr/share/netplan/netplan/cli/core.py", line 50, in main
    self.run_command()
  File "/usr/share/netplan/netplan/cli/utils.py", line 179, in run_command
    self.func()
  File "/usr/share/netplan/netplan/cli/commands/apply.py", line 46, in run
    self.run_command()
  File "/usr/share/netplan/netplan/cli/utils.py", line 179, in run_command
    self.func()
  File "/usr/share/netplan/netplan/cli/commands/apply.py", line 173, in command_apply
    utils.systemctl_networkd('start', sync=sync, extra_services=netplan_wpa)
  File "/usr/share/netplan/netplan/cli/utils.py", line 86, in systemctl_networkd
    subprocess.check_call(command)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.8/subprocess.py", line 364, in check_call
    raise CalledProcessError(retcode, cmd)
subprocess.CalledProcessError: Command '['systemctl', 'start', '--no-block', 'systemd-networkd.service', 'netplan-wpa-wlan0.service']' returned non-zero exit status 5.

It is possible that wpa_supplicant service is not running. Run this command:

sudo systemctl start wpa_supplicant

Run netplan apply once again. If it fixes the issue well and good. Otherwise, shutdown your Ubuntu system using:

shutdown now

Start your Ubuntu system again, your wifi should be ok now. If not, just log in and generate and apply netplan once again:

sudo netplan generate
sudo netplan apply

Manually Assign Static IP to Network Card

You might want to install net-tools for ifconfig command.

sudo apt install net-tools

You might want to manually assign a static ip address to your wifi network. Here is the configuration:

sudo vi /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

network:
    version: 2
    ethernets:
        eth0:
            dhcp4: true
            optional: true
    wifis:
        wlan0:
            dhcp4: true
                dhcp4: false
        	addresses: [192.168.2.9/24]
        	gateway4: 192.168.2.1
        	nameservers:
          		addresses: [8.8.8.8, 1.1.1.1]
            dhcp6: false
            access-points:
                    "<your network ESSID>":
                     password: "<your WIFI Password>"

Apply the changes using netplan. 

sudo netplan apply

YouTube video:

References

• How to install Ubuntu Server on your Raspberry Pi
• netplan + WiFi: link is not ready (18.04 Server)