What if you have been using Windows XP or Vista for a pretty long time and now want to give a try at Ubuntu, this is probably the best way forward. The product is called Ubuntu Wubi installer and it comes along with Ubuntu 8.04 and Ubuntu 8.10 live CD. Unlike normal installation process, Wubi doesnot require any changes to your partitions. All you need is a free space of atleast 4GB in your PC with Windows XP or Vista as the OS.
The often cited problem about GNU/Linux based is the difficulty in installing it. This is probably because most of them have never installed Windows either. With Wubi however, this problem is almost completely solved. Wubi installer is open source and is officially supported.
Now lets take a look at the installtion process. As you will see, installing Wubi is a cakewalk. Its like installing any other software in Windows. All you need to do is, put the Ubuntu 8.04 or Ubuntu 8.10 live CD while inside Windows. If autoplay is enbled, there is no hassles and the Wubi installation menu pops up. Otherwise manually run the file
umenu.exe
from the CD. You will see the following window.
You have three options here.
->Demo and full installation
->Install Inside Windows
->Learn more
To start Wubi installer select Install Inside Windows option.
Then you will see the following window.
Now u need to choose the installtion drive with enough space(a minimum of 4GB) and then the space you want to devote to ubuntu install. Also, select the language and then username and password as well. Click install and thats it !!
Installation is fast and hassle free .
Now reboot.
When you reboot you will notice that windows boot menu has now options for both Windows and Ubuntu. Thats it. You are ready to go.
Now if you want to remove Ubuntu, all you have to do is, boot into windows and select the Add/remove programs(programmes and features in Vista) from control panel and uninstall Ubuntu.
Eventhough modern day Linux installtions is quite easy even for a novice user, Wubi simply steals the show. Its as simple as it could ever be. If you want to try out free software,Ubuntu Wubi is possibly the best option you have. Installing and unistalling is a breeze. Another reason for using free software :-) enjoy!
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Few months ago i installed dual boot (Windows XP and Fedora 7) successfully. After few months of working my Windows XP corrupted so i am not able to boot Windows XP. So I need to reinstall Windows XP. when i try to install Windows XP in existence with Fedora 7. During booting XP cd is detected after few processing a blue screen comes then after nothing to be installed. ie i am not able to install Windows XP or I am not able to format windows drive.
Then I format linux using Linux bootable CD. then i Installed windows XP.
In Such a case comes for the above ie. After Installing windows and Ubundu If windows corrupted what will happen ? Will Ubundu boots normally as like dual boot. Can i reinstall windows without affecting Ubundu ?
In Wubi installation of Ubuntu, what you are doing is, you are actually installing Ubuntu inside Windows, just like installing any other program in WIndows. Once WIndows gets corrupted(which it eventually will ;-) ), just like other native applications inside windows, you won't be able to access Ubuntu anymore.
What you need to do is, install Ubuntu in an entirely different partition, and create a dual boot with Windows. In such a case even if Windows is corrupted you will have your Ubuntu as back up. I recommend using Ubuntu as your default OS, which is always the safer bet. I myself have been using Ubuntu for the past three years, and i didn't had to reinstall Ubuntu even one time. It's all your decision anyways. Happy Ubuntu-ing.
Hey, I was wondering if you could help me out, I've been trying to install Ubuntu on my computer so I can dual boot Ubuntu and windows xp but I keep getting errors during the installation of Ubuntu I was wondering if you had any ideas on what the problem might be.
Well, I did what you said to do etc, but I think i need to get regular CD's 700MB ones to burn Ubuntu to because now I just keep getting an error when I click install ubuntu that says there is an error with the CD, used a DVD+RW to burn Ubuntu onto since it is the only thing I have at the moment. Thanks for the info though.
I've been using Ubuntu inside Windows for a while now, but for some reason Ubuntu doesn't start anymore, getting the message : Windows cannot boot because missing hal.ddl...bla, bla, bla...Windows starts just fine, but Ubuntu doesn't anymore....Any help please....I really love my Ubuntu.
10x
OK, now I installed the UBuntu using the "install inside windows option". But, now when PC restarts. it doesn't boot into the UBUNTU OS. instead I get a blank screen including blinking cursor......
what's going wrong?
Just in case you uninstall this, it is safe to do it without affect the normal booting of the computer as if you normally install this? Please give me an answer soon, and thanks for the forum
Yes, it is absolutely safe to uninstall wubi from your system, without causing any harm to the normal booting of the computer.
I use BootItNG to control my bootups in winxp, and its menu gives me three options of different installations of winxp on the HD (each has its own partition). I'd like to try Ubuntu, but don't want to screw up my bootup system.
Can you advise?
Thanks!
jdh
hi,
So what you are saying here is, you have intsalled windows 3 times. Is that right? If that is the case, you simply choose one of the installed XP(preferably with largest free space) and follow the steps in our above post. Any queries are welcome.
Cheers
Manuel Jose