Installing Ubuntu or Kubuntu Linux within windows with Wubi

The fact is people are just afraid of Linux due to many factors like setting up the hardware, installing software, configuring drivers, configuring network, and use of command prompt for most of the tasks, but the most popular debian based Ubuntu/Kubuntu linux has given the newbie users a lot of hope and courage by offering easy to use GUI based software and hardware installers, software updates and a lot more, all in all Ubuntu makes it easier for everyone and with Wubi installer it goes another step in introducing a thing which makes it much more easier for people to install and give Linux a try.

What is Wubi?. Wubi is an installer which actually lets user install Ubuntu or Kubuntu Linux within windows as a windows program. Yes it will install the Ubuntu as an uninstall able program in windows which can be easily removed later by using the windows uninstall feature. More importantly Wubi will automatically edit the windows boot loader to include Ubuntu as a second boot operating system making your system a dual boot machine and there is no need for the users to manually setup the partitions or boot loader at all.

Wubi is available as a separate installer from http://wubi-installer.org/ which will ask for some pre install setup configurations like your Ubuntu user name and password, installation size and language etc which you can configure according to your needs. Wubi is also included in all of the current Ubuntu distributions’ CD image files and upon mounting that iso image within windows, it will automatically pop up the setup window which is called umenu and from here you can click “install inside windows” button to initiate Wubi installer. The best thing about using this method is that you don’t even have to burn the iso image to a CD to boot from it and it can be mounted to any virtual CD/DVD drive you have in your system. (If you dont have any I recommend Daemon Tools).

During install what Wubi actually do is that it creates virtual Linux partitions within your system’s NTFS partition where you have given the Wubi installer the instructions to install Ubuntu. If you have downloaded the Wubi installer from the installer website, it will automatically download the appropriate Ubuntu version which you have selected and will begin the install once the download is complete. If you are running the Wubi installer from the Ubuntu installer CD itself, it will install directly without downloading. That’s how easy it is. 

So you get to install the Ubuntu or Kubuntu linux in your system like a piece of cake and none of your partition or boot record gets disturbed. You reboot and start testing and learning the Ubuntu Linux as much as you want and if anything goes wrong you can simply uninstall it. Once uninstalled the folder where the Ubuntu partition is will be deleted and your NTFS partition will stay intact. No harm done.

The Ubuntu Linux which is installed within windows using the Wubi installer easily read/writes to your NTFS partitions by default and without installing any third party software in Ubuntu however although there is a way of reading linux EXT2 and EXT3 partition in windows, windows would not be able to read any data of the virtual partitions of Ubuntu created by Wubi. Also in Ubuntu the NTFS portion of the partition where the Ubuntu Linux has been installed will not be visible.

So apart from few quirks I can say that Wubi is the smartest and safest way for the newbie Linux users to install and try one of the best Linux distribution and I recommend anybody to give it a try, most importantly for those who actually want to try Linux on their machines before they make the switch or simply for those who are afraid of getting into the Linux world just because they want to avoid the hassle of partitioning and dual booting.