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Re: [PLUG] Story and warning about wubi and ubuntu
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On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 9:52 AM, Art Alexion <art.alexion@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> So wubi installs ubuntu on the existing NTFS filesystem?
>
Yep. FWIR, it creates a disk image file on the NTFS filesystem,
formats the image file as ext3, and installs Ubuntu into it. Wubi
modifies Windows' native bootloader to "chainload" out to the ext3
image file. I forget if it uses Cygwin, or even if Ubuntu is
installed from within Windows. IIRC, everything needed for the
installation is copied to the image file from within Windows, but the
install isn't actually initiated until after the machine is rebooted
into the ext3 image file. After that, when they boot into Linux, the
user has access to all the files in the NTFS partiton (music,
documents, cheesy vacation photos...)
I find it very clever.
One other problem I remember is if the NTFS filesystem becomes dirty.
Linux won't mount it, and the user needs to boot back into windows to
run FSCK. Of course, the user never knows how to fix it without
asking someone, because Ubuntu "just won't open", with no explaination
on what to do next... or, at least that's how it used to be. Has that
issue been rectified in any way?
--
James Barrett
Somebody, please correct me if I'm wrong!
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