CREATE AND BOOT INSTALLATION MEDIA
You can download the Ubuntu 24.04 ISO image from the link above. It’s over 5GB, so won’t fit on a regular DVD. Unless you’ve got a thing for dual-layer optical media, you’ll want to write that image to a USB drive. This is more complex than just copying the file on to it, and you need specialist tools to do it. If you’re already running Ubuntu, it includes its own tool for this, called
Startup Disk Creator. Otherwise, we recommend
Etcher, which you can get from https://etcher.io. It runs on Windows, Mac OS and Linux. Fire up Etcher, select the ISO you just downloaded and hit Flash. Now make a cup of tea while it’s writing.
Exactly how to boot your freshly minted media depends on your system. Some give you a helpful boot menu when you push a key (often F12 or F10) while booting. Others require you to explicitly change the boot order from the UEFI configuration (which you might get to by pushing Del or Alt+F2). In some cases, it’s tricky (if not impossible) to catch the UEFI before Windows boots. In this case, you can force the issue from the Windows login screen (or Start menu). Hold down Shift as you click the power icon in the bottom-right (or Power Options in the Start menu) and select Restart. Then from the recovery menu, select Advanced Options > UEFI Firmware Settings. Dig around in here and you’ll find some boot options.