I need to test out some Web site programming on a Linux system and have determined that the Ubuntu distribution is ideal. My question: whatâs the best, easiest way to install Ubuntu Linux on my Mac system so I can run all my tests?
There are a number of different ways to install Ubuntu Linux on your Mac system, but one of my favorites, hands down, is to install it within the Parallels Desktop environment. Why? Because itâs literally a one-click download to get it up and running. Now I realize that Parallels Desktop, like VMWare Fusion, is a commercial Mac application and has a price tag associated with it, but it sounds like this is related to your work and, well, sometimes you have to pay for your tools, right? The again, itâs not that expensive at $79.
From a testing perspective, the Ubuntu Linux environment within Parallels is functionally identical to running the operating system native on a PC computer, which is nice. Itâs just neatly tucked into the Mac OS X environment and â a nice bonus â can run full screen giving you the distinct impression that your Mac is only running Linux, which is bound to impress your geeky friends!
Once youâve installed Parallels Desktop on your computer, simply launch the program and youâll be given a variety of options for proceeding:
The option you seek is on the lower left: âDownload Ubuntu Freeâ. Thatâs really all you need to do, itâs going to do everything else in a surprisingly automated fashion. Still, letâs keep stepping through the process.
First off, is this really what you want? Hereâs the description, along with an indication that itâs the Linux 11.04 Desktop distro release of Ubuntu thatâs available:
Looks good? Click on the button to continue and itâll start downloading a ready-to-roll Parallels installation image of he operating system:
As you can see, itâs about 1.2GB so if youâre on a dialup (is anyone still on a dialup?) itâs going to take a while. With a decent connection, however, itâs not too long to wait and you can always switch to a different window and do something else while you wait.
Once it has downloaded, the installation will be uncompressedâŠ
Literally the next step after it uncompresses and installs is that Parallels Desktop launches the new image and youâve got Ubuntu running!
Note the warning on the bottom, though: âParallels Tools are outdated. Please reinstall them manually.â Not hard to do but before we update these important display and network drivers, letâs just log in! Click on âparallelsâ and donât worry, you donât need to know the password to proceedâŠ
Pick an easily remembered password and click the orange âLoginâ button.
Youâre up and running. Nice! This particular release of Ubuntu Linux goes by the rather odd name of âOneiric Ocelotâ, which, Google assures me, has the following explanation: âOneiric means âdreamy,â and the ocelot is a domestic-sized cat native to South and Central America.â
Now you know. đ
Letâs fix that out of date tools issue before youâre done, just so you can see that itâs similarly easy in Parallels Desktop.
Along the bottom of the window, youâll notice that the gear icon has a small black triangle adjacent. Click on it and youâll see all the configuration options appear:
The one we want is the gear within a gear: itâs displayed with a tiny blue element to highlight that your attention is needed. Click on it:
To update the Parallels Tools within the Ubuntu Linux environment in Parallels Desktop, simply click on the ingeniously named âUpdate Parallels Toolsâ. Thatâs it.
When youâre ready to go full-screen and hide the Mac OS X menu bar, you can either click on the diagonal up/down arrows on the very top right of the window, or pull down the window options menu on the lower right, where two overlapping windows icons are displayed. Either way, I think youâll be surprised and pleased at the performance and ease of working within the Ubuntu environment for your testing while still having the best of the Mac OS X world accessible with a mouseclick.
What if you just resize the Parallels window, William? In VMWare Fusion (how I have Ubuntu running) it just resizes when I change its windowâŠ
It was an easy fix:
parallels@parallels-Parallels-Virtual-Platform:~$ sudo passwd root
[sudo] password for parallels:
Enter new UNIX password:
Retype new UNIX password:
passwd: password updated successfully
parallels@parallels-Parallels-Virtual-Platform:~$ su
Password:
root@parallels-Parallels-Virtual-Platform:/home/parallels#
Thanks for a great guide.
Glad it helped out and that you figured out the password thing, Prashant! đ
I got my ubuntu running however, when I open the terminal and enter âsuâ command the password I set for parallels does not work. I get an authentication failure.
Could you solve this problem? I am experiencing the same issue.
Ubuntu comes with Wubi software that helps user to install ubuntu in parallel with windows.
Hi Dave, I successfully installed Ubuntu Linux per you excellent instructions on my iMac using Parallels and it runs well!
The only thing is that I have a Parallels Tools are outdated etc⊠message at the bottom of the screen.
When I try to updtae the Parallels Tools, I get two dialog boxes in turn.
One says that I am going to update Parallels Tools etc⊠So I click Yes because thatâs what I want to do.
The next one says that my CD/DVD is mounted inside the guest operating system, so I am assuming that I need to click on Disconnect Anyway, because Cancel would stop the update.
Well, many moons pass, but nothing happens.
What am I doing wrong?
I assume the account that was created for me has Root privileges, if not how do I get them in Linux, there doesnât seem to be any way to set that upâŠ
Thanks from a long-time Mac user but a Linux NewbieâŠ
âPick an easily remembered password and click the orange âLoginâ buttonâ.
Now, your next screen shot shows: 11.10 upgrade available.
Do you click âYes, Upgrade Nowâ and then update Parallel Tools?
Or, do you update Parallels Tools and then upgrade to 11.10?
Also, when done does the bar at top of Ubuntu screen change to read: âUbuntu Linux 11.10 Desktop â Parallels Desktopâ?
I already tried once to install through Parallels 7 but failed to get Parallel Tools to update and even though I successfully upgraded to Ubuntu 11.10, the bar at top read: â âUbuntu Linux 11.04 Desktop â Parallels Desktop.â
Thanks for any help.
Sam