There are a few ways to manually test Ubiquity installer, here is information on how to get the latest installer, boot it, (optionally upgrade it) and test it.

Getting Latest Installation Media

• Go to http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com

• Select relevant milestone, e.g. "Saucy Daily"
• Scroll to relevant product, e.g. "Product (Ubuntu)"
• Click relevant build, e.g. "Ubuntu Desktop amd64" for 64-bit image
• Click download instructions for links to various download methods

Alternatively you can download latest Ubuntu Desktop images directly from cdimages.ubuntu.com:

• Go to http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/

• Select correct image, e.g. release-desktop-amd64.iso

Prepare Installation Media

For Virtual Machines (VirtManager, Qemu, Virtual Box, VMWare, etc):

• No steps required, simply point your virtual machine to boot from the downloaded ISO file.

For USB-sticks to boot laptops/desktops:

• Windows:

  • http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

• Mac OS X:
  • option 1: Use Disk Utility to burn/restore the .iso onto the usb disk

  • option 2: Follow http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx

• Ubuntu:

  • option 1: use "Startup Disk Creator" app, Follow http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-ubuntu

  • option 2: use sudo dd if=/path/to/release-desktop-amd64.iso of=/dev/sdx where /dev/sdx is your USB drive NB! be careful to not wipe your own machine

  • option 3: use any other LiveUSB creators / apps

For DVDs to boot laptops/desktops:

• Mac OS X:

  • http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-mac-osx

• Windows:

  • http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

• Ubuntu:

  • http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-ubuntu

If you do ubuntu testing often, you might want to use USB-sticks or re-writable DVDs as one can reuse the same media multiple times.

Boot

As you are testing an in-development installer, make sure you boot it on a disposable machine with no useful data on it, as it can be accidentally removed. A Virtual Machine (VirtManager, Qemu, VirtualBox, VMWare, etc) or a spare old laptop are good candidates for testing.

• For Virtual Machine, point to boot from the downloaded .iso file

• For laptops/desktops, insert USB-stick or DVD disk and boot from it.

General test cases

The http://iso.qa.ubuntu.com website offers many test cases for our current images. Browse the website for relevant test-cases. For example, some of Ubuntu Desktop installer standard test cases are:

• Live Session

• Install (auto-resize)

• Install (entire disk)

• Install (entire disk with lvm and encryption)

• Install (manual partitioning)

Upgrading Installer

• Boot into "Live Session" (see steps in the above test case)
• (optional) using software properties add a new PPA

• Using Software Updater, update & upgrade all packages

• Launch the installer
  • (normal) click installer icon in the dash

• To activate additional modes, such as debug or a new hidden feature do following:

  • Open Terminal from the dash or press CTRL-ALT-T

  • Execute ubiquity followed by feature flags, e.g. ubiquity --debug or ubiquity --sso

Testing WiFi in VM

• Boot to Try Ubuntu
• modprobe virt_wifi module

• Use ip link add link en0 name wlan0 type virt_wifi to wrap wifi in ethernet

• Use network manager indicator to disable dhcp / networking on the ethernet device
• Then start ubiquity
• Wifi screen should offer to connect to a fake wifi ap that is visible on the wlan0 device, which in practice simply passes through the dhcp to the regular qemu eth device.