Hi, thanks for enabling my favorite desktop for my favorite platform! It installed very nicely. I installed using the rpi-installer v1.5 which has some changes in the UI - you may want to consider updating the screenshot instructions accordingly.
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Before picking a timezone and after setting the keyboard layout, there is another screen for connecting to a network. But the corresponding text (and screenshot) are missing in the set of steps shown in the tutorial.
The USB Boot step is way more complicated than it should be.
In the official documentation it’s mentioned that all you need to do is:
sudo -E rpi-eeprom-config --edit
then set the BOOT_ORDER option to 0xf41 (that part is correct), then reboot. The rest of the commands ( vcgencmd, sudo rpi-eeprom-update etc.) are pretty much useless.
I was setting this up with a brand-new Pi 4 (8 Gb), which had BOOT_ORDER set to 0x1 by default (no idea why), but it was in fact really easy to fix it with a single command above.
password ubuntu and login ubuntu are not working… any update on this?
Need a section on when it doesn’t work. No graphical interface just ‘user ubuntu login’
so long ubuntu
USB Boot Information for older Raspberry Pi models
This is a subsection from a previous version of the tutorial aimed at older Raspberry Pi 4s (more specifically 4GB Pis released prior to 2021) posted here for reference.
You can also now boot from a USB attached hard-drive or SSD with no microSD card involved. You have to do this after booting from an SD card however because all Raspberry Pi 4 models ship with an EEPROM configuration that boots from SD cards only. But we can change that.
The first check you’ve got an up to date EEPROM version on your Pi 4:
sudo apt install rpi-eeprom
Extract the current bootloader configuration to a text file:
sudo vcgencmd bootloader_config > bootconf.txt
Next we need to set the BOOT_ORDER option to 0xf41 (meaning attempt SD card, then USB mass-storage device, then repeat; see pi4 bootloader configuration for more information).
Alternatively vim bootconf.txt and make the edits yourself if you don’t like sed-hacking
sed -i -e '/^BOOT_ORDER=/ s/=.*$/=0xf41/' bootconf.txt
Now we generate a copy of the EEPROM with the update configuration:
rpi-eeprom-config --out pieeprom-new.bin --config bootconf.txt /lib/firmware/raspberrypi/bootloader/critical/pieeprom-2020-09-03.bin
Set the system to flash the new EEPROM firmware on the next boot
sudo rpi-eeprom-update -d -f ./pieeprom-new.bin
To apply any changes (the EEPROM is only updated during the early stages of boot)
sudo reboot
Now we need to get the image onto a hard drive. That’s the easy part. If you roll this tutorial back to “Prepare the SDcard” and go through it replacing “SD card” with “Hard Drive” you’ll have it.
You should now be able to boot from your hard-drive. Congratulations.
Be aware that some drives have issues being used to boot the Pi. In particular:
- Spinning hard-disks required a lot more power than SSDs and will very likely require a powered USB hub.
- Hubs themselves can cause compatibility issues, so you’re better off with an SSD to boot off (typically no need for a hub and no spin-up time issues).
There’s lots of good information on both the Pi forums and various GitHub issues for debugging boot issues; here’s a selection of links in a rough “look at this first” order from our top Pi guy:
On a raspi 4 8gb I installed 20.04 on SD-Card following the manual. It’s great working. The next step is the change to a bootable ssd. The described instruction I can follow. But there is a problem with the last step.
“Now we need to get the image onto a hard drive. That’s the easy part. If you roll this tutorial back to “Prepare the SDcard” and go through it replacing “SD card” with “Hard Drive” you’ll have it.”
There can I find “Hard Drive”? I find only “SD-Karte”.
Could you give a instruction step by step for beginner. Thanks!
Hey @saxonian, if you plug the hard drive you want to use with the PI into your laptop/PC USB port, then in the middle of that menu where it says ‘SD Card’ and you click ‘Choose SD Card’ you should have an option to select the Hard Drive instead (be careful not to select your PC’s own hard drive!). On my machine the imager actually says ‘choose storage’ as that option. Let me know if this solves your problem!
Hoping to install Ubuntu on a new pi 400 4GB. Does this tutorial apply to 400 as well? Any exceptions? Thank you in advance.
thanks for your tips. I was two weeks ill. That’s why i can’t give you a feedback. Last weekend I installed according your guideline Mate 21.10 on Raspi 4 8GB with SSD 240 GB. It works smooth and at the first impression the operating system is very well thought out. Now I’m just getting an better overview of the operating system. For the most W-Program’s are good alternatives available. If I have enough experience, then I’ll install later Mate 22.04 on my PC for CAD and Video-processing.
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Great, thanks for letting us know you got things working! Hope you enjoy your experience!
Hey @wacojohn it should work exactly the same, just flash the SD card and insert it into the 400. One of our engineers actually used a 400 with Ubuntu as his development machine for a while… Let us know how you get on!
Thank you SO much for the reassurance. I’m finding confusion on what Ubuntu image. One instruction says (simply) choose it with the Rasp. Installer. Another says download it from the Rasp. site. I’m also concerned about the 4GB of memory on the 400. Once I know exactly what and where the image is, I won’t worry about 4GB though.
By golly, … it’s right chere!
found at:
https://ubuntu.com/download/raspberry-pi
Grab that and burn to SD … right?? thank you again.
Hey @wacojohn the best way is not to download that but to open your Pi Imager and click ‘Choose OS’ then choose ‘Other general purpose OS’ then ‘Ubuntu’ then ‘Ubuntu Desktop 21.10 (RPi 4.400)’ then choose your sd card and away you go 
you can do it with the version from the site using the ‘use custom’ option but it’s easier doing it all in the imager app!
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Yes Sir. I figured two ways to go. D/L the pkg, and burn it to SD Card. So I did. Wasn’t sure I could burn a xxxxx.img.xz file, so I ‘FELL BACK’ to use Pi Imager just exactly as you said, and I’m ready to use the SD Card in my 2nd and still in the box Pi 400. Thank you Sir. Peace and prosperity to you and yours.
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I can only boot from the SSD if I have a SD Card inserted.
What does discourse version mean and why does it link to the same artcle?
Do we have a tutorial about how to create an SD card image from scratch? I bought a device called uConsole that uses a CM4 as brain and I would like to bake my own image with some customizations.
rPi imager refuses to download ubuntu server 22 LTS 64bit. Every time it just says fails to connect and lists a different IP. I have confirmed there is not anything on my side blocking it so not sure if its the remote server or the rPi imager but it does not work.