diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 2d7d1d7..debcb86 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@ Download or check selected targets:
 ./download-images.sh debian13
 ./download-images.sh almalinux10
 ./download-images.sh fedora44
+./download-images.sh ubuntu2604
 ./download-images.sh virtio-win
 ```
 
@@ -36,6 +37,7 @@ The path interface prints one absolute path without downloading anything:
 ./download-images.sh --print-path debian13
 ./download-images.sh --print-path almalinux10
 ./download-images.sh --print-path fedora44
+./download-images.sh --print-path ubuntu2604
 ./download-images.sh --print-path virtio-win
 ./download-images.sh --print-path windows11
 ./download-images.sh --print-path windows11 --iso
@@ -48,13 +50,14 @@ ISO (for example `Win11_25H2_English_x64_v2.iso` →
 existing `*Win*11*x64*.qcow2` in `base-qcow2/` is used instead.
 
 Download URLs can be overridden with `DEBIAN_IMAGE_URL`, `ALMA_IMAGE_URL`,
-`FEDORA_IMAGE_URL`, and `VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_URL`. Each may list several mirrors of
-the same file, separated by whitespace; the Fedora image defaults to the TUNA,
-BFSU and NJU mirrors.
+`FEDORA_IMAGE_URL`, `UBUNTU_IMAGE_URL`, and `VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_URL`. Each may
+list several mirrors of the same file, separated by whitespace; the Fedora
+image defaults to the TUNA, BFSU and NJU mirrors, and the Ubuntu image to the
+TUNA, NJU and official cloud-images.ubuntu.com mirrors.
 
 When [aria2](https://aria2.github.io/) is installed (`aria2c`), an image is
 downloaded from all of its mirrors at once, with a single connection to each
 mirror. Without it, `curl` (or `wget`) tries the mirrors in order. A partial
 download is only resumed with the same downloader and mirror list; otherwise
-it starts over. The Fedora checksum can be
-overridden with `FEDORA_IMAGE_SHA256` when using a custom image.
+it starts over. The Fedora and Ubuntu checksums can be overridden with
+`FEDORA_IMAGE_SHA256` and `UBUNTU_IMAGE_SHA256` when using a custom image.
diff --git a/download-images.sh b/download-images.sh
index 048f995..948e196 100755
--- a/download-images.sh
+++ b/download-images.sh
@@ -19,11 +19,16 @@ if [[ "$image_arch" == arm64 ]]; then
   debian_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/debian-13-generic-arm64-20260810-2566.qcow2"
   alma_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/AlmaLinux-10-GenericCloud-10.2-20260526.0.aarch64.qcow2"
   fedora_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2"
+  ubuntu_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/ubuntu-26.04-server-cloudimg-arm64-20260927.img"
   debian_url_default="https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/trixie/20260810-2566/debian-13-generic-arm64-20260810-2566.qcow2"
   alma_url_default="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10/cloud/aarch64/images/AlmaLinux-10-GenericCloud-10.2-20260526.0.aarch64.qcow2"
   fedora_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/aarch64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2
     https://mirrors.bfsu.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/aarch64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2
     https://mirrors.nju.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/aarch64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.aarch64.qcow2"
+  ubuntu_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/ubuntu-cloud-images/resolute/20260927/resolute-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
+    https://mirrors.nju.edu.cn/ubuntu-cloud-images/releases/26.04/release-20260927/ubuntu-26.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img
+    https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/26.04/release-20260927/ubuntu-26.04-server-cloudimg-arm64.img"
+  ubuntu_sha256_default="63a93bd5a8d76e33b15ceb5daa3657bd79be804748051ab178e643b0f5da22e7"
   # TODO: these were pinned for the amd64/x86_64 builds; verification is
   # skipped (empty default) for the arm64/aarch64 builds until their
   # checksums are fetched and pinned via DEBIAN_IMAGE_SHA512 /
@@ -35,14 +40,19 @@ else
   debian_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/debian-13-generic-amd64-20260810-2566.qcow2"
   alma_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/AlmaLinux-10-GenericCloud-10.2-20260526.0.x86_64.qcow2"
   fedora_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2"
+  ubuntu_image="${base_qcow2_dir}/ubuntu-26.04-server-cloudimg-amd64-20260927.img"
   debian_url_default="https://cloud.debian.org/images/cloud/trixie/20260810-2566/debian-13-generic-amd64-20260810-2566.qcow2"
   alma_url_default="https://repo.almalinux.org/almalinux/10/cloud/x86_64/images/AlmaLinux-10-GenericCloud-10.2-20260526.0.x86_64.qcow2"
   fedora_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2
     https://mirrors.bfsu.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2
     https://mirrors.nju.edu.cn/fedora/releases/44/Cloud/x86_64/images/Fedora-Cloud-Base-Generic-44-1.7.x86_64.qcow2"
+  ubuntu_url_default="https://mirrors.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/ubuntu-cloud-images/resolute/20260927/resolute-server-cloudimg-amd64.img
+    https://mirrors.nju.edu.cn/ubuntu-cloud-images/releases/26.04/release-20260927/ubuntu-26.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.img
+    https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/26.04/release-20260927/ubuntu-26.04-server-cloudimg-amd64.img"
   debian_sha512_default="f6978100d8031c266d55d7815ceea7fcdeacf28e1e5834fdb9c94ac96880a054a6e6f8681c2d3b0584e0057eaf3ef7353856b85212d04134744faa9b3bb1f24f"
   alma_sha256_default="47f2218668dd4776be140dd92fa3bea700be1766e2c7d88bdfd6a4b50f477b4d"
   fedora_sha256_default="28680fe5b371a5a82ebf43a31926e086a168e59949d03969c5093e7071f90b7f"
+  ubuntu_sha256_default="8800651811af9a85465ad1d552add729947bb16488dddb4a9b5305a3d97332b2"
 fi
 
 virtio_image="${tools_iso_dir}/virtio-win.iso"
@@ -89,19 +99,21 @@ windows_qcow2_path() {
 debian_url="${DEBIAN_IMAGE_URL:-$debian_url_default}"
 alma_url="${ALMA_IMAGE_URL:-$alma_url_default}"
 fedora_url="${FEDORA_IMAGE_URL:-$fedora_url_default}"
+ubuntu_url="${UBUNTU_IMAGE_URL:-$ubuntu_url_default}"
 virtio_url="${VIRTIO_WIN_ISO_URL:-https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/stable-virtio/virtio-win.iso}"
 debian_sha512="${DEBIAN_IMAGE_SHA512:-$debian_sha512_default}"
 alma_sha256="${ALMA_IMAGE_SHA256:-$alma_sha256_default}"
 fedora_sha256="${FEDORA_IMAGE_SHA256:-$fedora_sha256_default}"
+ubuntu_sha256="${UBUNTU_IMAGE_SHA256:-$ubuntu_sha256_default}"
 force_download=false
 
 usage() {
   cat <<EOF
-Usage: $(basename "$0") [--force] [all|debian13|almalinux10|fedora44|virtio-win] ...
+Usage: $(basename "$0") [--force] [all|debian13|almalinux10|fedora44|ubuntu2604|virtio-win] ...
        $(basename "$0") --print-path TARGET [--iso]
 
 Download one or more shared VM images. With no arguments, all targets are
-processed. The Debian/AlmaLinux/Fedora image architecture (arm64 or amd64)
+processed. The Debian/AlmaLinux/Fedora/Ubuntu image architecture (arm64 or amd64)
 is auto-detected from the host; override it with VM_IMAGE_ARCH.
 
 When aria2c is installed and an image has several mirrors, the image is
@@ -125,6 +137,7 @@ print_image_path() {
     debian13) printf '%s\n' "$debian_image" ;;
     almalinux10) printf '%s\n' "$alma_image" ;;
     fedora44) printf '%s\n' "$fedora_image" ;;
+    ubuntu2604) printf '%s\n' "$ubuntu_image" ;;
     virtio-win) printf '%s\n' "$virtio_image" ;;
     windows11)
       if [[ "$media" == iso ]]; then
@@ -171,7 +184,7 @@ fi
 
 for target in "${targets[@]}"; do
   case "$target" in
-    all|debian13|almalinux10|fedora44|virtio-win) ;;
+    all|debian13|almalinux10|fedora44|ubuntu2604|virtio-win) ;;
     -h|--help) usage; exit 0 ;;
     *) printf 'Error: unknown download target: %s\n' "$target" >&2; usage >&2; exit 2 ;;
   esac
@@ -378,6 +391,15 @@ if wants_target fedora44; then
     "$fedora_sha256"
 fi
 
+if wants_target ubuntu2604; then
+  download_file \
+    'Ubuntu 26.04 cloud image' \
+    "$ubuntu_url" \
+    "$ubuntu_image" \
+    sha256 \
+    "$ubuntu_sha256"
+fi
+
 if wants_target virtio-win; then
   download_file \
     'VirtIO Windows tools ISO' \