Create an Ubuntu image for a Raspberry Pi on Windows

1. Overview

In this tutorial, we will walk you through creating a bootable Ubuntu microSD card for your Raspberry Pi .

What you’ll learn

How to create a bootable microSD card to run Ubuntu on your Raspberry Pi

What you’ll need

  • A microSD card
  • An Ubuntu Server image
  • A computer with a microSD card drive

Warning
Following these steps will erase any existing content on the removable drive!

Please note
The following instructions are for Windows users. We also have tutorials for Ubuntu and MacOS users.


2. On your Windows machine

  1. Download the Ubuntu image for your device in your Downloads folder
  2. If the Ubuntu image file you have downloaded ends with an .xz file extension, you will need to extract it first. To do so, you might have to install an archive extractor software, like 7-zip
  3. Insert your microSD card
  4. Download and install Win32DiskImager, then launch it
  5. Find out where your removable drive is mounted by opening a File Explorer window to check which mount point the drive is listed under. Here is an example of an microSD card listed under E:
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  6. In order to flash your card with the Ubuntu image, Win32DiskImager will need two elements:
    1. An Image File: navigate to your Downloads folder and select the image you have just extracted
    2. A Device: the location of your microSD card. Select the drive on which your microSD card is mounted
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  7. When ready click on Write and wait for the process to complete
  8. You can now eject your microSD card

3. That’s all folks!

You did it!

Now you can put the microSD card in your Raspberry Pi and boot it up. See the How to install Ubuntu Server on your Raspberry Pi tutorial and learn about booting it up, installing a desktop and installing software from our Snap Store.