How To: Try Ubuntu Using Wubi

wubi-1Many people are interested in trying Ubuntu – a popular Linux distribution – but are unfamiliar with terms such as “partition” and “dual-boot” and how to perform those actions on their systems.  Although partitioning a drive is reasonably simple, it’s not always the best or easiest choice to make when deciding to install Ubuntu on your PC.

Wubi Installer is an extremely simple and safe way to try out Ubuntu.  After downloading Wubi Installer from the official website, just double click the executable like any other Windows program.  You’ll be presented with a setup screen that automatically selects your local drive (C: for most users), installation size, desktop environment (Ubuntu), and language.  You’re left to fill in a username for the OS and a password if you wish to have one.  The username must be all lower-case for the installation to work correctly.  Now all that’s left to do is click Install.

The appropriate version of Ubuntu will be downloaded and installed on your hard drive in a complete and separate folder within your Windows installation, which means that there’s no need to mess around with partitioning your hard drive or using a boot loader.  If you want to use an older Ubuntu installation (or simply don’t feel like waiting for Wubi to download Ubuntu) you can download any version of an Ubuntu ISO file and place it in the same folder as the Wubi.exe before you run the program.  Wubi will recognize the ISO and use it for installing the operating system so there’s no wait for downloading.

Following the setup instructions for Ubuntu is easy and will only take a few minutes.  From this point on, you will be given the option of choosing to boot into your Windows installation or Ubuntu whenever you turn your computer on.  There’s a short timer that will automatically boot into Windows unless you use the navigation keys to make your choice of operating system to load up.

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While Wubi is impressive, it’s not perfect.  Wubi’s Hibernate and Suspend modes do not function yet, and may even be removed in future releases.  Having the ext3 file system settled within Windows’ NTFS  file system has also been problematic for people who have hard rebooted their computers.

Lastly, you may experience slightly slower disk performance, especially if you install Wubi on an older, slower machine.  It’s very unlikely that you’ll notice a difference, but the best way to avoid problems with disk performance is to make sure to allocate enough space in the Wubi setup screen, and defragment your entire hard drive before installing.  It’s recommended that you set aside a minimum of 10 gigabytes for a new installation, but the Wubi Installer should automatically choose an installation size to accommodate the new OS.

If you notice that Ubuntu is taking up too much space on your hard drive (or if you just don’t care for it) Wubi makes the uninstallation process easy as well.  Navigate to Control Panel/Programs/Programs and Features to remove it just like any other Windows program.

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Trying Ubuntu has never been easier for Windows users, and most problems can be avoided by following the recommendations I listed above.  I certainly encourage using Wubi to test drive Ubuntu because it is very safe and easy to use.  Perhaps after trying Ubuntu, you’ll decide to take on a fully untethered installation in the future.

Let us know if you’ve tried Wubi, or any other thoughts by commenting down below!


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8 responses to “How To: Try Ubuntu Using Wubi”

  1. ron Avatar

    I have done my share of partitioning and such but that was on a PC that was my designated "mess around with stuff "computer. There are some definite pitfalls and risks involved for the noobie with parititoning and altering the MBR.

    Having said that I have Ubuntu installed on my laptop alongside Vista and used the method you described a few months ago. .

    Attention noobies !!! Use Wubi , its very easy and my install has been a joy . I really don't have much desire to go partitioning my HD . This install works just great. Everything works except 3D and I really dont have much desire for that eye candy anyway , but , it is a cool feature.

    Excellent advice . Use Wubi and you will be glad you did.

  2. ron Avatar

    I have done my share of partitioning and such but that was on a PC that was my designated "mess around with stuff "computer. There are some definite pitfalls and risks involved for the noobie with parititoning and altering the MBR.

    Having said that I have Ubuntu installed on my laptop alongside Vista and used the method you described a few months ago. .

    Attention noobies !!! Use Wubi , its very easy and my install has been a joy . I really don't have much desire to go partitioning my HD . This install works just great. Everything works except 3D and I really dont have much desire for that eye candy anyway , but , it is a cool feature.

    Excellent advice . Use Wubi and you will be glad you did.

  3. Edwin Avatar
    Edwin

    I'm sad to say that I cannot be as positive as the author and ron: running Wubi gives a 'No Disk' error message that keeps comming back for countless times. Persisting in clicking the continue button then finally gets to the screen with the parameters. After entering the password Wubi the same error message pops up again and after numerous clicks on the contine button wubi then starts downloading the amd version of the iso image, on my intel system. Not good IMO.

    Retrying after downloading the correct ubuntu install image, gave the same error message
    I quit and looked around the ubuntu-nl forum to find that either it works fine or does not work (with same behaviour as I noticed) and there is nobody able to explain why. On xp it seems to work though.

    All in all: if this is for newbies , it will only scare them back to windows …

    1. Evan Wondrasek Avatar

      Hi Edwin,

      You definitely aren't the only person reporting this problem, there is an existing bug report for it:
      [ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/365881 ]

      Do you have more than one optical drive in your PC? It seems that others have had luck by simply inserting a blank CD into any extra optical drives while running the installer:
      [ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/365881/com… ]

      Another person reported that the problem was caused by their card reader, and the installer worked after they disabled it: [ http://they.misled.us/archives/1047 ]

      Please let us know if any of those fixes work!

  4. Edwin Avatar
    Edwin

    I'm sad to say that I cannot be as positive as the author and ron: running Wubi gives a 'No Disk' error message that keeps comming back for countless times. Persisting in clicking the continue button then finally gets to the screen with the parameters. After entering the password Wubi the same error message pops up again and after numerous clicks on the contine button wubi then starts downloading the amd version of the iso image, on my intel system. Not good IMO.

    Retrying after downloading the correct ubuntu install image, gave the same error message
    I quit and looked around the ubuntu-nl forum to find that either it works fine or does not work (with same behaviour as I noticed) and there is nobody able to explain why. On xp it seems to work though.

    All in all: if this is for newbies , it will only scare them back to windows …

    1. Evan Wondrasek Avatar

      Hi Edwin,

      You definitely aren't the only person reporting this problem, there is an existing bug report for it:
      [ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/365881 ]

      Do you have more than one optical drive in your PC? It seems that others have had luck by simply inserting a blank CD into any extra optical drives while running the installer:
      [ https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/365881/com… ]

      Another person reported that the problem was caused by their card reader, and the installer worked after they disabled it: [ http://they.misled.us/archives/1047 ]

      Please let us know if any of those fixes work!

  5. Campact.de Avatar

    Does someone know if Wubi’s Hibernate and Suspend mode now work in Ubuntu 9.10?

  6. Campact.de Avatar

    Does someone know if Wubi’s Hibernate and Suspend mode now work in Ubuntu 9.10?

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