Install from network via PXE boot

Details regarding preseeding: https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/installation-guide/amd64/apbs04.html and https://help.ubuntu.com/lts/installation-guide/example-preseed.txt

nfs

Enable NFS 3 (not 4) on QNAP
mkdir /Public/isos # on qnap
Mount iso image
cp to /Public/isos
mount on linux system
chmod -R ug+rwX,o+rX,o-w /Public/isos/myiso

unnattended configuration

Run

docker compose up

in order to provide the unattended seed (I'm running it on 192.168.178.38)

Either boot via PXE

Get additional files not provided in this repo.

DIST=linuxmint-20.1-xfce-64bit.iso
cd pxeboot
sudo mkdir /tmp/loop
mkdir -p iso/${DIST}
sudo mount -o loop /mnt/nas/home/isos/${DIST} /tmp/loop
sudo cp -r /tmp/loop/. iso/${DIST}/
mkdir /tmp/out
dpkg -x iso/${DIST}/pool/main/g/grub2-signed/grub-efi-amd64-signed_*.deb /tmp/out/
sudo cp /tmp/out/usr/lib/grub/x86_64-efi-signed/grubnetx64.efi.signed grubx64.efi

Or use USB stick

For UEFI via USB: Hit e on the grub menu entry. Add ip=dhcp noprompt url=http://192.168.178.38:8080/preseed/linuxmint-unattended.seed script-url=http://192.168.178.38:28080/preseed/postinstall.sh auto-login=false ssh-port=22 username=ubuntu hostname=ubuntu before -- and append automatic-ubiquity after the --.

Or create a custom USB drive manually.

1. Format the USB drive. For that issue sudo fdisk /dev/sdb, hit o to create a new empty DOS partition table. Hit n and just accept primary and the defaults. Save with w. To format run sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdb1.
2. Copy iso contents to USB drive. For that mount ubuntu iso file (tested with Ubuntu 20.04) and copy everything to usb. sudo cp -a /tmp/iso-mnt/. /tmp/usb-mnt/. Ignore errors regarding links.
3. Modify boot/grub/grub.cfg as desired. See the example from this repo.
4. After booting and choosing Unattended install... remove the USB after the initrd has been loaded (which should only take a couple of seconds).

For mint:

mkdir "/media/bbowe/Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64/mint-20.1/"
cp linuxmint-20.1-xfce-64bit/casper/vmlinuz linuxmint-20.1-xfce-64bit/casper/initrd.lz "/media/bbowe/Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS amd64/mint-20.1/"

For Ubuntu from the standard desktop installer usb image change the boot parameters to:

initrd=/casper/initrd boot=casper ip=dhcp noprompt url=http://192.168.178.38:8080/preseed/linuxmint-unattended.seed  script-url=http://192.168.178.38:28080/preseed/postinstall.sh auto-login=false ssh-port=22 username=ubuntu hostname=ubuntu -- automatic-ubiquity

Finish installation

Change the default LUKS password from insecure to something more secure.

sudo cryptsetup luksChangeKey /dev/sda3

Consider extending root volume.

sudo lvextend -l +100%FREE /dev/workstation/root
sudo resize2fs -p /dev/workstation/root

Consider adding the full user name as a comment.

sudo usermod -c "Firstname Lastname" user

Virtualbox setup

Assuming host is running the PXE server.

Configure network to be in Bridged mode Hit F12 on boot or configure Network boot to be the first option (System->Motherboard)