Is it normal that the installation takes more than 2 hours?

Solution 1:

When I recently installed Ubuntu 11.10 on my desktop, it took a long time too because I had selected to download and install updates during initial install. For what it's worth, my install was 3+ hours long and I have a fairly quick cable modem connection.

Should I reboot the computer?

No, just let it sit for a while and it should come back.

If you're interested, you can use CTRL-ALT-F1 to get to a text console and tail the install log to see if it is stuck at some step.

If it does get powered off, you should be able to re-start the installation and it should be fine. If you do restart, don't select the updates option - it should go much faster since it will only use the DVD install media files.

Solution 2:

My Acer Aspire took 6 hours the first time (both my desktop and netbook) but my HP laptop only took an hour. I've found (my opinion) that the fastest and most stable way to install 11.10 is to install without an Internet connection and then run the update manager afterwards. So far this has been the only way to get a stable installation on my particular system.

Solution 3:

TIMING issue resolution for complete install and first run of Ubuntu 11.10

Time to completion: Live media - around 2 hours and WEB@DSL - around 1.25 hours.

Live Media

Not longer than 1.5 hours. If your install goes past this time, consider the following:

• Disc Media is bad. Burn a fresh copy after downloading ISO of the latest stable version from ubuntu.com.
• Hardware issue:
  Too little RAM, Overheating CPU, HDD < 2 GB [really?], busted USB, or BUSTED media read device. Diag, Fix or Replace the busted module, [or call your PC TECH if you don't feel you can fix the problem safely on your own]

WUBI

If you experience a freeze or real slow install time > 1 hour, cancel install.

• Check your network, confirm the computer you're prepping for WUBI is attached to the network.

Reboot computer, start your Windows task manager, click on the networking tab, run WUBI again [uninstall will happen then you can re choose your install config] on 54 MBPS with Network usage no less than 3% total time to first run will be 1 hour.