Canonical is removing it starting with 13.04. http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/04/wubi-unlikely-to-be-in-ubuntu-13-04-windows-users-lose-out
Wubi is no more.
Archived thread 2131454 from Ubuntu, Linux and OS Chat. Markdown source: Ubuntu,_Linux_and_OS_Chat/thread_2131454_Wubi_is_no_more..md
We will miss Wubi.
Absolutely no love lost here.
I think it brought a lot of people to ubuntu/linux.
Within 3 months of having a computer and running vista, I requested and received a free disk and tried Ubuntu 8.04 with Wubi. Within 3 more months, I wiped the drive and installed only Ubuntu, and never anything else. I have fond memories of trying Ubuntu that way. Makes me sad that other computer noobs, who have MS installed on their new computers won't have the same easy chance to try Ubuntu in Windows. I know I wouldn't have tried dual-booting at that stage of my computer usage.
;p
Ubuntu is looking for someone to take over maintaining Wubi, please contact the release team if interested. The biggest problem, at the moment, is that it doesn't work with Windows 8.
No sadness here. WUBI, in my opinion, was highly unstable, and quite useless, as getting it to work is as hard as partitioning your drive.
No lost.It always bugs me when I hear people referring to a WUBI install as "dual boot". To my mind "dual boot" means both OSes have equal status, not when one is crippled and limited by being installed as a program in another.
it would be better to have some virtualbox portable that will launch ubuntu inside windows. something like linuxliveusb uses. u plug in the USB key and launch the vbox.
The sad part about losing WUBI is that is was a great gateway in learning linux without fully installing it. Now that goes down to just virtualbox
Perhaps someone will look at it again.
Or do something else.
Not sure how long wubi has been about - I know I'd not heard of it prior to 2007 - there was this then
Even though it never had been my cup of tea, I do recognize Wubi's advantages as being a very useful tool for Windows users with only basic computer skills, because of its convenience. No need to burn a CD or create an installing-USB, just download it from the Ubuntu homepage and install Ubuntu like any other windows application. Another benefit is that it's totally safe. New Linux users can freely tinker around and customize their system, without any fear, because with Wubi, Ubuntu is installed as an application so it's totally safe to mess around and if something bad happens, they just have to uninstall it and their data and Windows will still remain untouched.
codingman said: No sadness here. WUBI, in my opinion, was highly unstable, and quite useless, as getting it to work is as hard as partitioning your drive.
To all the people who think this,
You ARE doing it wrong :).
Shame wubi helped alot of people try before they switched.
mJayk said: To all the people who think this,
You ARE doing it wrong :).
Shame wubi helped alot of people try before they switched.
That may be true, but in the last five years virtualization has improved a lot and most computers can handle it without much trouble. Maybe Ubuntu should replace it with a qemu exe and a script to launch it painlessly.
cariboo907 said: Ubuntu is looking for someone to take over maintaining Wubi, please contact the release team if interested. The biggest problem, at the moment, is that it doesn't work with Windows 8.
And it seems like for WUBI's intended 'market', that's fatal.
As Wubi required Windows to be present at all times, it actually hindered people from removing Windows and going all-Ubuntu.
From a support point of view, Wubi was annoying.
- It often threw up error messages that nobody could help the victim to solve.
- Newbs would ask "How do I access my Windows partition?" and the helpers here would tell them that if the partition wasn't in the sidebar then they would have to add it to their fstab... and finally on page 3 they'd realise the OP had used Wubi.
- It was never communicated properly that Wubi was really only to try out Ubuntu before a proper install. Newbs would use Wubi, get everything set up the way they liked it, start installing programs and copying over files, and then bump up against the 16 gig limit and complain that Ubuntu was out of space even though there was a hundred gigs free on the hard disk.
- "I installed Ubuntu with Wubi and I got it just how I like it, now how do I remove Windows?"
- "My Windows stopped working and now I can't get into Ubuntu either?"
A nightmare to support, I'm glad Wubi is gone. I would only support its return if it created an actual partitioned dual-boot.
I started with Wubi and I hope someone picks up support , but I have read this before from the same source when 12.04 was about to be released.
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/03/wubi-installation-changes-mooted-for-ubuntu-12-04
Wubi was a broken concept. It would be much more helpful if it analyzed boot environment (like bootinfo script does) and assisted with setting up a regular dual-boot system.
Frogs Hair said: I started with Wubi and I hope someone picks up support , but I have read this before from the same source when 12.04 was about to be released.
http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2012/03/wubi-installation-changes-mooted-for-ubuntu-12-04
You know what they say,history tends to repeat itself.
3rdalbum said: As Wubi required Windows to be present at all times, it actually hindered people from removing Windows and going all-Ubuntu.
From a support point of view, Wubi was annoying.
- It often threw up error messages that nobody could help the victim to solve.
- Newbs would ask "How do I access my Windows partition?" and the helpers here would tell them that if the partition wasn't in the sidebar then they would have to add it to their fstab... and finally on page 3 they'd realise the OP had used Wubi.
- It was never communicated properly that Wubi was really only to try out Ubuntu before a proper install. Newbs would use Wubi, get everything set up the way they liked it, start installing programs and copying over files, and then bump up against the 16 gig limit and complain that Ubuntu was out of space even though there was a hundred gigs free on the hard disk.
- "I installed Ubuntu with Wubi and I got it just how I like it, now how do I remove Windows?"
- "My Windows stopped working and now I can't get into Ubuntu either?"
A nightmare to support, I'm glad Wubi is gone. I would only support its return if it created an actual partitioned dual-boot.
A hundred times this.
I understand how WUBI was 'helpful', but I think it hindered people a great deal - such as the above.
3rdalbum said: As Wubi required Windows to be present at all times, it actually hindered people from removing Windows and going all-Ubuntu.
From a support point of view, Wubi was annoying.
- It often threw up error messages that nobody could help the victim to solve.
- Newbs would ask "How do I access my Windows partition?" and the helpers here would tell them that if the partition wasn't in the sidebar then they would have to add it to their fstab... and finally on page 3 they'd realise the OP had used Wubi.
- It was never communicated properly that Wubi was really only to try out Ubuntu before a proper install. Newbs would use Wubi, get everything set up the way they liked it, start installing programs and copying over files, and then bump up against the 16 gig limit and complain that Ubuntu was out of space even though there was a hundred gigs free on the hard disk.
- "I installed Ubuntu with Wubi and I got it just how I like it, now how do I remove Windows?"
- "My Windows stopped working and now I can't get into Ubuntu either?"
A nightmare to support, I'm glad Wubi is gone. I would only support its return if it created an actual partitioned dual-boot.
Great summary of what I feel about WUBI.
I will miss you, Wubi. It was the first time I used any sort of OS besides Win or Mac.
I will miss it, I liked being able to show people how easy it was to use linux to see if they liked it with the wubi installer. And the simplicity of it being in the add/remove programs list was just perfect.
Bummer :(
mJayk said: To all the people who think this,
You ARE doing it wrong :).
Shame wubi helped alot of people try before they switched.
Then what makes you think a newbie could set it up and do it RIGHT?