Installing Ubuntu in a solid-state drive(SSD) and fixing “No WiFi adapter found” error.

In this article I am going to share the method to safely install Ubuntu OS in the solid-state drive of your computer.Lately, I too have been through a hustle to install Ubuntu safely in my newly purchased M.2 NVME SSD (250 GB) while having Windows 10 in my 1TB hard disk. Well! most of the people prefer installing Linux in their hard drives and Windows in the SSD.To be honest I also prefer this very installation but i had some back up constraints with my files on windows so i didn't go for a fresh installation of windows.

Before I proceed I would like to say that don’t be anxious about messing up with the installation and accidentally formatting your hard disk(if you have one) in the process because we are going to work completely on the SSD’s free space (without altering the hard disk partitions).

“You cannot create experience.You must undergo it.” — Albert Camus

Let’s begin.

1. First of all make sure you insert your SSD properly in your computers(the motherboard) provided slot. In-case you have Windows preinstalled in your another drive(if you have one), check in the Disk management/Task manager if your SSD is detected.This will ensure you that your SSD is fitted and detected properly by your system.

2. Make a bootable pen drive for Ubuntu with GPT partition scheme.I had used the software Rufus to do so.

3. Power off your computer, insert the bootable pen drive,go into your BIOS, identify your pen drive containing Ubuntu and then boot from their.

You must see a welcome screen like this after Ubuntu finishes checking disks. Click on install Ubuntu.

When you come across this window make sure to select the second option i.e Install third-party software… under “other options”.

After this step you must find WiFi enabled at the top right of your screen .In-case it doesn’t, you might come across “No WiFi adapter found” error later after installing Ubuntu. Irrespective of this uncertainty I would say continue installing Ubuntu for later fixes.

3.

Next step is to select the “Something else” option.

After you do so you will see a screen like below-

You need to identify and select the SSD in the “Device for boot loader installations” at the bottom.

Then you will find an empty drive(transparent cylinder at the top) with free space equal to the memory size of your SSD . Mine one was 250 GBs.

In the above image you can see that the first 3 devices detected are of my M.2 NVME SSD. The rest (starting from /dev/sda)are of my HDD containing Windows 10.So I did not make any changes in them else I could have lost my data on Windows. Yours will be named according to the type of your SSD.Make sure to make changes in only the free space of your SSD(device) and nothing else.

Click on the “free space’’ and then click on the ‘+’ symbol below on the right side and you will find a create partition window pop up.Here i have allocated 20GBs for EFI system partition in “Use as”. Ignore it and instead allocate around 350 to 500 MBs for that.Click on “OK”.

Again click on the “free space’’ and then click on the ‘+’ symbol.This time “use as” select swap area and allocate around 2GBs for that. Having a swap partition is a good thing. Swap space is used to extend the amount of effective RAM on a system, as a virtual memory for currently running programs.(Note: You do not need a mount point for swap area.)

Lastly, once again click on the “free space’’ and then click on the ‘+’ symbol.This time “use as” select Ext 4 journaling file system.

The last partition you will need is for a Ext 4 journaling file system.

Allocate rest of the remaining memory of your SSD to this partition and set the mount point as ‘/’ (root partition)and click on “OK”.

4. Finally you must find all of your partitions displayed like this-

Note: Here I didn't create a partition for a swap area and also I had allocated 20GBs for EFI, but you must follow the allocation size and type I have written down in previous steps.

6. Click on Install Now , there is no turning back from here so once review the window carefully before clicking on it. Rest of the installation steps are understandable enough so hopefully you can do it by yourself.

Now, If after installation you cannot connect to the WiFi and it shows that “No WiFi adapter found” then you can try the following two methods to solve the problem.

1. Use USB teetering to access the internet in your Ubuntu System and download Synaptic Package Manager.Open the software and type search (top right corner)for the WiFi driver of your computer (In my case it was iwlwifi). Apply a tick on your WiFi driver and right click to see if its upgraded , if not then select Mark for Upgrade option.Restart your computer to bring the changes into effect.This method might fix the error.If this doesn’t then the next step definitely must.
2. This method fixed the problem for me.When we boot up our computer it doesn't allow unsigned drivers and in Ubuntu 20.04 a lot of WiFi drivers are not signed yet .This is what likely causes the problem. First open the Terminal and type the following command-

Before password length you have to give your systems password.In the next prompt for password give the one you will remember correctly because it will be require for verification later. After this reboot your computer . While booting up you will be shown a window named “Perform MOK management” , select the “change secure state’’ option. After this you will need your previously set password.Enter the characters as prompted by the system and after that select the options “Yes” followed by “reboot” .This will boot your system in “insecure mode” hence it must solve the issue. If still it doesn’t then remove Ubuntu from boot option in the BIOS and reinstall Ubuntu carefully following from the step 3 again (Note: Do not change the insecure boot mode in the BIOS which was earlier turned on using the sudo mokutil — disable-validation command in the Terminal ).

Remember there are plenty of Linux distributions from which you can still choose from !

Thank You ! :-)