how to Installing Ubuntu on Windows using Wubi

Windows users who is planning to install Ubuntu on your machine, but have no clue of how to do it, Wubi is for you.

Wubi is an officially supported Ubuntu installer for Windows users that can bring you to the Linux world with a single click. Wubi allows you to install and uninstall Ubuntu as any other Windows application, in a simple and safe way. Wubi installer installs Ubuntu as a file on your Windows system. The best thing is it runs as if you are using a seperate partition for Ubuntu.

Wubi adds an entry to the Windows boot menu which allows you to run Linux. Ubuntu is installed within a file in the Windows file system (c:\ubuntu\disks\root.disk), this file is seen by Linux as a real hard disk.

To begin with Wubi, follow the steps below

1.) Download Wubi and run the same, insert a password for the new account, and click “install”. The installation process from this point is fully automatic. The installation files (700MB) will be downloaded and checked, after which you will be asked to reboot. Do so and select Ubuntu at the boot screen. The installation will continue for another 10-15 minutes and the machine will reboot again. This is it. Now you can select Ubuntu at the boot screen and start using it.

Wubi Installation Screen

2.) Once the reboot is done, you shall be presented with an OS selection screen as shown below

OS Selection screen

Select Ubuntu to log on to Ubuntu. If things don’t look good, try logging into Windows and re-installing Wubi.

Wubi also gives you an option of installing Ubuntu from your existing ISO/CD instead of letting Wubi download a new one. If you have an image on CD,physical CDs will be detected automatically, pre-downloaded ISOs should be placed in the same folder as Wubi.exe. Please note that Wubi 8.04.1 requires the Desktop 8.04.1 CD/ISO, while Wubi 8.04 requires the 8.04 CD/ISO. The DVD and Altrenate CD/ISO will not work. You can find the 8.04.1 ISO here. If Wubi does not find an appropriate ISO/CD and/or if the ISO/CD is corrupted, it will automatically download a new ISO. It is recommended to let Wubi download the ISO for you.

If you ever wish to uninstall Wubi, you can uninstall it as any other applications. In Windows go to the control panel and select “Add or Remove Programs”, then select Wubi/Ubuntu and uninstall it. You can also use the uninstaller that you find in the installation folder.