christopher2405

I have downloaded Wubi and it is currently downloading the ISO to install Ubuntu as a program. Before it completes, I have a couple of questions.

1. Is there any way this could damage my computer? If so, what can I do to prevent it?
2. I understand from the Wubi website that I will be able to access Ubuntu before booting into Windows - is this true?
3. Does Wubi act like Qemu, in that it piggybacks on Windows, thus leaving only some of the available resources for Linux?
4. I notice it is downloading the 64-bit version. I have a 64-bit processor, but only a 32-bit OS - does this matter?

Any thoughts on Wubi are greatly appreciated, thanks.

christopher2405

Just to let you know, I got a BSOD (not sure if it was related or not) about 20 minutes before the download had a chance to complete, and I've now lost the parts of the ISO I had. If you know of any reason this might happen, or know how to recover the ISO, please let me know, but otherwise I'm giving up Wubi for today and will try again some time soon.

Rome5

A. I never used wubi... what do I know
B. Your questions:
1. It could make trouble with Windows but, how high of risk that actually is, not sure. I don't see many post about major trouble with it. The biggest thing seems to be when 1. people want to backup their things from the wubi install 2. removing wubi.

2. Yes. It acts just like a dual boot even though Ubuntu is installed through Windows. It's not (obviously) a dual boot system and because of that, if Windows screws up for any reason, you lose both.

3. No, doesn't seem so. I believe you have full system resources with Linux, but not positive.

4. No, that shouldn't make a difference. Windows isn't running Ubuntu itself, just the wubi program.

As far as the BSOD and the iso download, I can't say. I don't use wubi nor Windows so I can't play around with it.

wmorri

Here is what I know from hearing about wubi. It is terrible. Most of the people that have talked about it find that it can install linux great, but when it comes to removing it for whatever reason there are major hiccups.

Also, like Rome5 mentioned if you ever wanted to move to remove windows then you would have to do a whole new install, since it install linux as a program.

I don't know about BSOD's because I rarely use windows.

Cheers!

christopher2405

Thanks for the replies. I am now downloading Ubuntu using the official torrent (just in case it gets interrupted again), and I will try Wubi again as soon as it is finished.

Looks like it should be pretty safe to install from what you've said. You mentioned it is difficult to remove, but the program comes with an uninstaller that seemed to work OK when removing the old (BSODed) installation I already had - what exactly is wrong with it?

I'll let you know what my experiences are as soon as possible.

sobeit

you do not need wubi. it is included in the last few ubuntu releases. All you have to do is to place ubuntu into the drive while windows is running and it should give you the choice.

christopher2405

Well, I have successfully used Wubi to install a fully-functional Ubuntu 9.04 desktop system.

So far, everything is working, including my wi-fi which I remember didn't work in the last Ubuntu release, however my screen resolution is slightly worse than it should be - is there any way of getting the correct resolution (my graphics card is SiS Mirage 3, and my monitor is "Generic PnP" - i.e. the screen that came with my laptop)? This isn't so much a problem as an annoyance.

Also, as a side note, my Mam uses this computer sometimes, and as such I would like it to boot into Windows unless I press F8 to select the OS. I think I do this by right-clicking "Computer" in Vista, going to the "Advanced System Settings" link. From here, I think I go to the "Startup and Recovery Settings" button, and then unticking the box to "Display the list of Operating Systems". Before I do this, is this right? I don't want to brick my computer, so please could someone let me know? I will leave it until otherwise advised.

Thanks for the help

christopher2405

OK, my resolution problem is now fixed after looking through the Ubuntu forums. I ended up editing the Xorg.conf file, and everything seems fine so far.

As for my second question (relating to automatically booting into Windows unless otherwise stated), does anyone know if that is correct?

Thanks for the help so far - Wubi is a piece of software I would recommend for first-time Linux users though.

wmorri

For your computer to start into windows by default you need to change the settings in the bootloader. I need to know if you are using the windows bootloader, or the linux bootloader called GRUB?

Cheers!

christopher2405

I am almost certain that Wubi just uses the Windows bootloader. When I boot up, I just get to the screen you would normally get by pressing F8 on startup (the Windows OS Selection Screen, not the recovery options).

I certainly haven't purposely installed Grub.

wmorri

Hi,

You are going to need to get to this screen:systemproperties.jpg

From there you will need to click on the Settings button in System and Recovery. Then you will be presented with this screen: startupandrecovery.JPG


Cheers!

christopher2405

OK thanks, I will set my system up with the settings shown in your screen shots. Looks slightly different in Vista, but the theory seems the same.

Thanks very much.