cannot reinstall ubuntu 10.04. needs password

had to reinstall windows 7 because of problem updating ubuntu. now nothing linux works.

Sorry, where is this happening? Can you describe your problem a little further - - as far as I can tell, somewhere you are getting a password dialog -- if you still have ubuntu installed.

Also, how did you do the reinstall?

I had to recover windows 7, wiping everything clean. in essence a factory install. then, after downloading ubuntu 10.04, burning a disk then running it, the first thing it asks me is if i want to run wubi.exe. after saying yes i was asked if i wanted to install it inside windows. i answered yes. then a box pops up asking for a username and password, among other things. tried no password, and a new password. nothing works. as far as I know i did not put in a password when i redid windows 7.

Sounds like you user you are using isn't an administrator.

I suggest you DON'T use Wubi and use windows7 to resize its partition and make free space. You can now do a TRUE install of ubuntu which will not only run be easier to fix, it will run better as the ubuntu data will not be stored on ntfs which is prone to fragmentation.
Wubi is fine as a try before you buy but as a long term solution it is pretty poor

i am administrator and wouldn't know where to start with what you suggest. ubuntu 10.04 did install properly the first time. guess it must have something to do with windows. the popup says choose a username and password but no matter what i type it says passowrd doesn't match.

I think it is windows asking you for an administrator password.

This is not ubuntu -- without knowing how your windows machine is set up, it is hard to give you the correct answer.

Is this a shared computer?

not shared. have made sure i as administrator do not need a password. do i need to run wubi.exe with any special credentials?

You just have to run it as admin. I suggest you download the desktop iso, mount it with magicdisk or daemontools and install it that way

with windows 7 it appears one needs to be super administrator.
cmd
right click
c:\...\system32
c:\net user administrator / active:yes
crickey (my word)
anyway ubuntu is no loaded
thanks everyone