What is Reddit's opinion of
Wubi?
From 3.5 billion Reddit comments
37 reviews of this app found across Reddit:
I'll assume you are using windows, because if you were using OSX, you would have a unix environment anyway =P .
I think you have three options here:
it's a unix-like environment for windows. I don't particularly like it, but I also don't use windows ever.
A shell account
Basically, an account on a unix server somewhere online. Some are free and some cost money, but you can telnet or ssh into the server and practice. This is nice because you don't need any additional software other than putty or telnet, so you can get up and running pretty quickly. Some actually run "real unix", like Solaris or a BSD . Haven't seen many (or any) AIX, Irix, etc machines.
Vmware or virtualbox - You can install and run a real unix-like system on your non-unix machine. Nice because you get an full-featured unix or linux system, but it takes a bit more time to get setup.
EDIT:
a fourth option, burn a Linux or Unix livecd. You can run unix/linux on your own machine without changing your own operating system. Just don't use the 'install' command or you can overrwrite your windows system.
fifth option, wubi or something similar. I only know this option for Ubuntu, so you get a pretty easy linux. This installs under windows so it does change your operating system but it's not supposed to overwrite your windows system.
I'm making a bunch of assumptions here, so if any are off don't hesitate to mention it.
Yes, it's possible in a few different ways. If you had an actual system image you could dd it to the harddrive/partition, you could also use a VM that's writing to a drive instead of a VM image. However, I think what you want is something like Wubi.
if anyone is unsure of making the switch, they can try Wubi first. it's an Ubuntu installer for Windows. gives the look and feel of a partition but it's actually just a virtual disk. very easy to install and get rid of.
If you can boot into windows, you can install linux alongside it using wubi (outdated but still usable). https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
LPT: Get a flash drive. Man how can you live without a flash drive?
Another more complicated solution is to use your android phone, there are apps on the play store that turn your phone into a linux usb live cd (installer). You only need like 800MB free space and a usb cable (and maybe root?)
Ubuntu is a good choice. You can try it out before installing it by booting from the CD (recent versions of Ubuntu don't look quite the same when booting from the CD as installing it though... but it's pretty close).
You can also install it for dual booting by inserting the disk while windows is running. It will install as a windows application. When you reboot, you'll have the option of loading ubuntu OR windows. (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide)
You won't want that to be permanent though.
I'm not sure what you're talking about, but the closest thing I can think of is Wubi.
The thing you're looking for is called wubi installer. Link is to the Ubuntu documentation. Be sure to read the "Unsupported set-ups" sections and make sure your computer doesn't have any of those things. (It doesn't have the partitioning support you wanted, though.)
Get an old Ubuntu with Webi Boot. From that you can, if you are lucky and have another partition (like a windows recovery partition), format one (not your windows install, as that is what your webiboot will use) and install a full linux install.
You can also use grub4dos. Get it installed (not sure how though), and then get a small linux that can copy itself to ram. Then you can format the whole hard drive and install.
If you're using Windows for gaming, you should install it natively; its graphics performance would suffer under VM.
If you're using Win7, you can still use WUBI for a single partition dual boot, but otherwise, Linux is much lighter weight and won't suffer as heavily from being virtualized.
If your use is geared significantly more towards Linux than Windows and what you play is rated well in AppDB, or if your system install space is limited (like a 60GB SSD), native Linux would be a very good choice.
Also, just for some numbers, a recent fresh Win8.1 VM install took up just over 18GB of the 25GB it recommended. The Linux VM had room to spare with 8GB, all apps installed.
I would recommend Wubi https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide. >"Wubi is an officially supported installer for Windows XP, Vista and 7 users that allows Ubuntu to be installed and uninstalled in a safe, easy way as with any other Windows application."
Edit:Formatting
tell them about Wubi. Try linux without formatting anything.
> "Yeah but it's slow. It's not the same."
Semantics. A person just trying a linux distro for the first time isn't gonna see nor care about the difference.
"won't install if I use an Ubuntu CD to access the 2 drives - one with the image"
Huh? If you have ubuntu (or mint) on CD (well, dvd) and can boot from it, why do you need to access the image on the HD to install; you'd install from the dvd, right?
You could try this: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
gparted won't work because wubi isn't a standalone installation the way a dual boot system is.
wubi sets up a virtual drive within the windows partition/file space to run in. I found this Resize Wubi Disk on the wubi wiki that will help.
Have you tried following the instructions for manually uninstalling it? and Have you tried this program?. Because we need to know if after trying all this you still have this issue to give you other solutions.
Here, for example... but you will need to have Grub2 somewhere. Also if you want to use it for Ubuntu, you can use Wubi, which installs Ubuntu inside a file on your windows partition, so nothing complicated.
Wubi is still uses a dual-boot system, but it uses Windows's bootloader instead of GRUB. It's just as easy to change the BCD in windows as it is with GRUB in linux.
And for using your KDGuntu, you can use your own iso with Wubi.
"You need to download the DESKTOP CD ISO of the appropriate version. Place the ISO in the same folder where you have wubi.exe and then run Wubi." - WubiGuide
You're looking for a Linux distro, yes? I suggest Ubuntu, or maybe Kubuntu (a variant of Ubuntu that looks + acts more like Windows). K/Ubuntu, because it's the biggest, and user-friendliest; it will have the most help in forums, support, etc. Even friendlier, Wubi - installs Ubuntu, /harmlessly/, into a big Windows file, you don't have to risk damaging your partitions (not that it's usually a problem but, you sound like you have no experience). But IMO you're right to want to use Linux, the shell is easier to work from (though you could use Cygwin on Windows), and most programming tutorials are aimed at Linux users. (Unless it's C# or something.)
It looks like you've crossposted this to /r/Ubuntu, and they're giving you some solid help. The only time I've seen errors like you describe was a graphics card that the LiveCD didn't like, which I see someone has mentioned over there. I've not used the past few versions of Ubuntu, but I think sometimes there's an option on the menu to switch to "Text-only mode," which will do the same installation, but using just the command prompt. If that option doesn't exist anymore, try the alternate installer or Wubi, since you can get Windows running fine.
Good luck!
This'll be a two step process and may not work on modern windows.
The second part is something I've never tried.
First, install wubi.
Wubi creates a virtual disk on the windows partition and installs Ubuntu inside it. You can then boot to Linux and it will run as normal. This is useful if you don't want to partition your main drive. If that's enough for you, you can stop there. But you may want a different Linux, or you don't want Linux eating up your windows disk space.
Second, install the second hard drive, boot into your wubi Linux, download your preferred distro's iso, mount it, and run the installer.
I have no idea if either of the above is actually do-able. Wubi was a Windows 7 thing, and supposedly wouldn't work on windows 8. No idea if it'll work on windows 10.
If you can get wubi going, you may need to look at how to do a manual install for your preferred distro. I've never heard of running one distro's installer from another distro.
Hope you get better soon! Good luck.
Wubi lets you install Ubuntu and many of its flavors inside a folder on your PC but with direct dual boot. Imagine like you boot into a virtual HDD. Then if you don't want to use it anymore simply uninstalling the app removes the dual boot option. That's the best option to try out Linux.
Here is the official guide but actually the project was discountinued
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
So there is a port with better UEFI support, more download options etc. Use this.
https://github.com/hakuna-m/wubiuefi/releases
Latest version: https://github.com/hakuna-m/wubiuefi/releases/download/1610r319/wubi1610r319.exe
Normally you'll observe a performance hit. I hope you intend to use this as a temporary fix, because flash drives are not designed / intended for frequent writes, which you will be doing every time you save a file. The flash drives wear down quickly, and thus become sluggish over the period. A related concept. Alternatively consider installing Linux inside your windows environment using the frequented VirtualBox approach or wubi.
Look into wubi. Infinitely easier to install with minimal drawbacks.
A native install is still better, but you should be aware of the alternatives to make an informed decision.
You can choose some lightweight distro (xubuntu installer is ~900MB, my / is ~5GB now, you also can go full ARCH and save LOTS of space) and setup a persistent storage on USB...
Or go try install ubuntu via wubi.
Can you elaborate on exactly what you intended to happen? Are you trying to boot into Windows after removing Ubuntu?
When dealing with WUBI, you can generally find your answers here...
Then why in your post you keep saying Wubi?
So are you trying to install Ubuntu or Wubi?
This is Wubi
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wubi_%28software%29
You don't want Wubi, you want Ubuntu.
If you read what it says on the screen, you won't mess up. With Linux, you are the person making decisions unlike windows install which carelessly overwrites other bootloaders. Edit: grub is like; Oh, I see that you also have Windows installed, let me add that to my menu so you can boot it whenever you like.
Check this https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
Wubi can install ubuntu in a directory and use a bootloader (grub4dos) to boot using a windows bootloader. All these are just files in a directory in your windows and can be just deleted any time.
├─sda3 8:3 0 348.4G 0 part /host [...] loop0 7:0 0 17.3G 0 loop /
This seems to indicate a Wubi installation.
Did you install Ubuntu from within Windows?
Have a look at this to confirm and for more information.
This is completely different from a normal Ubuntu installation: Ubuntu doesn't have its own native partition in this case - It resides in a special file (virtual disk) in your Windows partition.
I'm not 100% familiar with Wubi, but basically you have 2 possibilities:
Increase the size of your Wubi virtual disk.
Migrate your Wubi to a proper native installation on its own partition.
I'll do some research and try to provide more info once we are sure that it is in fact a Wubi install.
So, by "mini-install" I assume you mean wubi (the "install from windows" thing) which, frankly, isn't all that good. I've found a script to migrate a wubi install to a real one, but it's not official and could very well screw up your system.
My recommendation is to either retry booting from usb (I've never seen a computer with usb ports that couldn't boot from them) or get a disc.
You used to be able to install Ubuntu (Debian fork) using wubi
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
This would create a virtual disk on your Windows partition and boot from that. Not sure if this is still current though. I have used this in the past and it worked quite well.
Looks like you can install and boot linux from a VHD too:
http://www.sevenforums.com/virtualization/77618-linux-vhd-boot-made-possible.html
Disclaimer: I haven't used this and haven't looked much into it
For Windows 7, XP, and Vista, you can install Linux (as a dual boot) into a file on the windows partition. Works great. Very easy. Very easy to undo as if nothing ever happened. Not a VM or emulation.
EDIT: Now I am getting this from Boot Repair:
EFI detected. Please check the options.
The boot of your PC is in Legacy mode. You may want to retry after changing it to EFI mode. Do you want to continue?
sudo chroot "/mnt/boot-sav/sda11" dpkg --configure -a sudo chroot "/mnt/boot-sav/sda11" apt-get install -fy sudo chroot "/mnt/boot-sav/sda11" apt-get purge -y --force-yes grub*-common shim-signed linux-signed*
sudo chroot "/mnt/boot-sav/sda11" apt-get install -y --force-yes grub-efi linux
Boot successfully repaired.
Please write on a paper the following URL: http://paste.ubuntu.com/6918513/
In case you still experience boot problem, indicate this URL to: or to your favorite support forum.
You can now reboot your computer. Please do not forget to make your BIOS boot on sda1/EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi file!
A broken Wubi has been detected. Please fix it this way: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#Cannot_boot_into_Ubuntu
As far as dual booting, the easiest and most noob friendly way is to download either Ubuntu or Mint, burn the ISO to a disc, and use the Wubi.exe or Mint4win.exe programs to install either distro on Windows' partition.
If you need help, refer to this guide for help. It should apply to Mint4Win as well.
Also, once you burn the disc. Put it in a case and put it in a safe place. You never know when something will fail and you'll need a live CD to save your machine.
If you don't want to go through the pain of running a virtual machine, but don't want to mess with the partitions on your machine, an option that several Ubuntu versions supports is called Wubi, which allows you to install the Linux partition within Windows (and removal is as easy as uninstalling under Windows). I personally use this on one computer and it works well.
I would add another voice of support for 64-bit Xubuntu. I use it for my daily work on several machines and I've been happy. It's noticeably lighter weight than Ubuntu/Kubuntu, but has the same software available for install. Drivers haven't been an issue at all. You can get the latest version here.
Wubi's meant to be a demo, not anything permanent, plus it limits you a 30GB install. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide
Oh, and the shell remembers commands you've entered so you don't have to. Type in history
See here for tools to access the files in the Wubi virtual disk: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#How_can_I_access_the_Wubi_files_from_Windows.3F
The virtual disk is located here: C:\ubuntu\disks\root.disk
Hey gramps! so it will not boot from external usb hard drive nor flash drive. My external firewire cd drive is only recognized after it boots to xp. I still have a couple other tricks up my sleeve though. Wubi has a "help me boot from cd" option which apparently gives support for compters that do not boot from cd or usb. Or I may install it in windows and just repartition my computer from there heres the wubi wiki or I may partition my pc and make a bootable 10.04 on the second partition and go from there because I think it can do internal boots with no problem.
do you have any input or comments?
I'm telling you that it doesn't work that way. The upgrade is performed by booting from and in a disk image. The Windows partition isn't touched or written to outside the disk image. There are definitely no Windows drivers touched.
Hard resetting an NTFS partition is always dangerous. It may have become corrupted. Use chkdisk /r to check and repair the filesystem. The fact that both things failed nearly simultaneously might also indicate imminent hardware failure. Back up your hard disk ASAP.
For future reference, there are many ways to recover from a freeze in Ubuntu without resorting to a hard reset. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide#How_to_reboot_cleanly_even_when_the_keyboard.2BAC8-mouse_are_frozen