Wubi, installing Ubuntu 11.10 |
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| Developer(s) | Agostino Russo, Geza Kovacs, Oliver Mattos, Ecology2007 |
| Initial release | April 24, 2008 |
| Stable release | 11.10 / October 13, 2011 |
| Development status | active development |
| Written in | NSIS script, C++, Python |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Size | 2.37 MiB |
| Available in | Over 50 Languages |
| Type | Ubuntu installer |
| License | GNU GPL v.2 or later [1] |
| Website | http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/windows-installer |
Wubi (Windows-based UBuntu Installer) is an official Windows-based free software installer for Ubuntu.
Wubi was born as an independent project and as such versions 7.04 and 7.10 were unofficial releases.[2] Since 8.04 the code has been merged within Ubuntu and since 8.04 alpha 5, Wubi can also be found in the Ubuntu Live CD.[1]
The project's aim is to enable existing Windows users, unacquainted with Linux, to try Ubuntu without risking any data loss (due to disk formatting or partitioning mistakes).[2] It can also safely uninstall Ubuntu from within Windows.
It is not a virtual machine, but creates a stand-alone installation within a loopmounted device, also known as a disk image, like Topologilinux does. It is not a Linux distribution of its own, but rather an installer for Ubuntu.[1]
While Wubi does not install Ubuntu directly to its own partition this can also be accomplished by using LVPM, the Loopmounted Virtual Partition Manager, to transfer the Wubi-generated Ubuntu installation to a dedicated real partition, including a bootable USB keydrive.[1] The advantage of this setup is that users can test the operating system and install the drivers before they install it to a dedicated partition (and avoid booting and functioning risks).
Wubi adds an entry to the Windows boot menu which allows the user to run Linux. Ubuntu is installed within a file in the Windows file system (c:\ubuntu\disks\root.disk), as opposed to being installed within its own partition. This file is seen by Linux as a real hard disk.[1] Wubi also creates a swap file in the Windows file system (c:\ubuntu\disks\swap.disk), in addition to the memory of the host machine. This file is seen by Ubuntu as additional RAM.[1]
A related project, Lubi, uses Linux as the host system instead of Windows.[1] A version for the Mac OS as host, Mubi, "will eventually be supported."[1]
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Users can select the desktop environment within Wubi. But, because each desktop environment is also available as an application package, it is recommended that users install Ubuntu (default option) and from there install the other desktop environments. When users log in, they can choose the desktop environment to use.[1]
Compared with a regular installation, a Wubi installation faces some limitations. Hibernation is not supported and the filesystem is more vulnerable to hard reboots[1]. Also, if the Windows drive is unmounted uncleanly (Windows crash, power failure, etc.), Ubuntu will not be able to mount the Windows drive and boot until Windows has successfully booted and shut down. If the Windows system cannot be booted after the crash, the user also cannot boot Ubuntu.
Performance related to hard-disk access is also slightly slower, more so if the disk image file is fragmented, on a Wubi install compared to a normal one.[1]
Wubi relies on other open source projects: Debian installer, Migration-Assistant, Grub4Dos, NTFS-3G, NSIS and Metalink.[1][3]
The lead developers are Agostino Russo, Geza Kovacs, Oliver Mattos and Ecology2007.[1] The main development occurs at Launchpad and is led by the Lupin Team (Lupin is the loop-installer, handles everything that happens after reboot)[4] through the original Ubuntu blueprint page [5] and the new Wubi,[6] Lubi,[7] Lupin,[8] and LVPM[9] project pages.[1]
Both the i386 (32-bit x86) and x86-64 releases of Ubuntu are supported by Wubi and Lubi, although this was a recent change.[1] In versions before 8.04, only the x86 release of Ubuntu was supported.
A number of Linux distributions, including Red Hat Linux and Slackware's ZipSlack, provided a similar solution in the mid 1990s, using syslinux and the UMSDOS filesystem driver. Later, SuSE provided something similar using syslinux and loop-mounted disk images on FAT filesystems. During the late 90's BeOS used a similar system to install the OS in a folder in Windows.
The idea for Wubi was drafted by Agostino Russo taking inspiration from Topologilinux, which provided a loopmounted installation, and Instlux, that provided a simple Windows frontend. The idea[10] was to merge the two concepts having a Windows installer that would loopmount an image of Ubuntu. Geza Kovacs later refined the specification[11] and provided the first prototypes[12] to show that the concept was sound. Oliver Mattos wrote the original user interface in NSIS.
Agostino Russo then refined the loop-installation concept, moving from a simple loopmounted pre-made image file to an image created on the fly using a dynamically patched version of the Debian installer, thus providing an experience which was closer to a real installation while addressing several other issues of the early prototypes. Lupin project was thus born and Agostino Russo wrote and implemented most of its code with some contributions from Geza Kovacs.
Agostino Russo and Ecology2007 later redesigned and rewrote the current Windows front-end. Hampus Wessman contributed the new downloader and the translation scripts. Bean123 and Tinybit also helped to debug and fix bootloader issues. Lubi and LVPM were subsequently created by Geza Kovacs.[13]
The project has inspired the creation of other Windows-based Linux installers, such as Win32-loader.
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