Wubi Fails
 

Tried to give Ubuntu a second chance after not used it for years so I went to http://wubi-installer.org/ and installed Wubi.

It ended up sitting on 'installing bootloader.ini-orsomethinglikehat" for an hour. Cancelled it. Rebooted and when trying to re-install it detects an installed version. When trying to un-install it now gets stuck on 'Removing bootloader".

I'm running Win XP on this particular machine.

Unfortunately this does remind me about the quality of Ubuntu the last time I gave up on it.

Oh well, now I got 800 meg I can't get rid of. Reading up on their bugforum there seems to be a fair bit of issues with the dual/multi boot loader.

Anyone got any clever ideas before I resign completely to not trying out this and to continue to see Ubuntu as a hokey bit of failprogram? :)

Re: Wubi Fails
 

Usually I'm able to find SOMETHING to do with these problems but I couldn't find anything about this. When you boot the computer, do you get the grub menu at all? (Maybe try holding down shift during the POST and before the OS loads to see if GRUB is set to skip the menu like it is in most of the newest Linux distributions by default).

Re: Wubi Fails
 

Actually I don't get the dual boot option at all and looking at the boot file itself I can't see that it is even touched:

Looks like this:
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOW S
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Micro soft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect /NoExecute=OptIn /sos

So not sure why both the install - and now the uninstall hangs at the bootloader. Darn, wanted to try this out.

Re: Wubi Fails
 

You need time :
1) Had you waited more maybe Wubi would have been better
2) Had you waited more it might had finished installing/removing (take your time and choose) the bootloader
3) Had you waited more Ubuntu's quality would have finally met your standards (or your pc's HD's)
4) Now take your time and read some more google (or maemo) tips about multi booting XP+Ubuntu

With time I've come to prefer Vista's bootloader+EasyBCD. Of course you only use vista's BL not the OS.

If you have time, have fun.

Re: Wubi Fails
 

It takes over an hour for the install/remove to do the bootloader? Wow, ok, that I didn't know.

Re: Wubi Fails
 

I wouldn't think so.. but then I've never used Wubi.

I always repartitioned the drives so that each OS had it's own dedicated partition.

If you try and re-install it doesn't ask you to just over-write the current installation? (again, never used Wubi)

Re: Wubi Fails
 

Nah, it detects it was 'installed' (even though it failed) and wants to start off with removing the old install - and the "remove bootloader entry" window comes up and sits there..and sits there...

Tried removing from the Control Panel as well with the same result.

Re: Wubi Fails
 

...ok...more seriously...
Really if you just want to try why not use virtual box + straight install of ubuntu. Any average XP machine can run both.
Dual booting is not dark science but might get tricky (obviously did in your case). So unless you're desperate for a "real machine" install why not try the virtual route first. And if ever you're convinced, you can always setup a real machine.
One trick : In Ubuntu's partitionning you must choose to put Grub on the right spot (HD vs Ux partition) depending on wether you want to boot with XP BL or Grub's. This is done by pressing the advanced button JUST BEFORE launching the install.

I hope you didn't take my other post too bad...(if applicable, sorry)

Re: Wubi Fails
 

I don't think Wubi actually gives you this option... I could be wrong though.. it was my first thought too but then I looked at Wubi's page again and it basically just says to put in a password and "install".. with no further interaction.

Re: Wubi Fails
 

Ach ya....Wubi...maybe not an easy setup after all.
Final word then : Virtual Machine