Author Topic: Installing Linux alongside W7 without a cd or thumbdrive?  (Read 952 times)

I've heard bad things about Wubi, I wouldn't use it unless you're looking forward to a broke as hell install of Ubuntu.
I'm using WUBI-Ubuntu as the main OS (school supplied Windows 7, but the IT guy okayed dual-booting) on my school computer with no problems.

It my have been what crashed my pc, but that was a year later.
Seriously doubt it, the only impact WUBI should have on the Windows boot is that it adds it's GRUB to the BCD (configuration file for the Vista+ boot loader), which you can rebuild using BootICE (included on Hiren's Boot CD, I recently had to do this after a failed conversion of my Windows install to UEFI).

I'm using WUBI-Ubuntu as the main OS (school supplied Windows 7, but the IT guy okayed dual-booting) on my school computer with no problems.
Seriously doubt it, the only impact WUBI should have on the Windows boot is that it adds it's GRUB to the BCD (configuration file for the Vista+ boot loader), which you can rebuild using BootICE (included on Hiren's Boot CD, I recently had to do this after a failed conversion of my Windows install to UEFI).
Grub was error.

Grub was error.
A broken GRUB installation shouldn't break your Windows boot if you used WUBI. Did you manage to install it to your MBR?

A broken GRUB installation shouldn't break your Windows boot if you used WUBI. Did you manage to install it to your MBR?
Mbr?

Doesnt matter, too late now.

Mbr?

Doesnt matter, too late now.
The thing that tells your BIOS what partition on the drive to boot from.

I've heard bad things about Wubi, I wouldn't use it unless you're looking forward to a broke as hell install of Ubuntu.

Umm, No?

After all, I don't think Ubuntu distros would supply it with their ISO files If it gave you a broke as hell Ubuntu install.
And you dual boot with Wubi by default. when you launch wubi a window should come up asking how much space you want it to use.

You can't. You have to boot to Linux directly, which means it has to be booted off some kind of removable media.

If you've got a spare floppy disk you may be able to fit Damn Small Linux on it depending on the size.

A floppy holds 1.33 MB.
Damn Small Linux is somewhere around 64MB.

Wubi works, you can try it OP. On some computers it doesn't install the bootloader and it just boots into Windows. If this happens then you can just delete the Linux installation and forget about it.

Mbr?

Doesnt matter, too late now.

Your master boot record
« Last Edit: January 02, 2013, 12:23:50 PM by Steve5452 »