Help with Switching from Windows

[Phil Sexton]

Matthew Bartek wrote:
> Hello and good afternoon.
>  
> I apologize if this question is very basic and is getting sent to many 
> people as I am new to Ubuntu and to this listserv. I am trying to switch 
> from Windows (read: liberate myself) and I ahve downloaded the iso file, 
> verified it using md5sum (spelling?), and have tried to create a 
> bootable cd, but it hasn't worked. While this problem could be with my 
> computer (the computer that I want to load Ubuntu onto is basically 
> broken--I tried to reset the boot order, but it said "operating system 
> not found" unless I allowed it to boot from the hard disk), I am 
> wondering how to check to see if the cd that I created from teh iso file 
> will actually work. I actually made two: one using the windows XP cd 
> burning system, and one using Nero. For the windows disc, I dragged the 
> file into my CD drive and then clicked on: "burn disc". For Nero (I have 
> version 7), I followed these instructions: 
> http://www.bay-wolf.com/burnimage.htm
>  
> Still, when my put the cd in my computer and try to boot from it, it 
> fails. Any thoughts?

If you insert the disk in Windows and navigate to it with your file 
browser, do you see a single file?  That indicates that you have 
burnt a data disk rather than a bootable disk.

<https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto>

If you see several files and folders, you have burnt a bootable CD 
and need to set your bios to boot from the CDROM first.

-- 
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