Install Ubuntu ISO from Harddrive

Asked by DiggerP

Hi,
First of all my compliments for this great method of installing Ubuntu.
My question is:Can Wubi's installer be redirected to use an existing ISO file?
I already downloaded ubuntu-7.04-desktop-i386.iso independently from Wubi.
(Reason: I found the ISO before I found Wubi :)
Rather than downloading another iso,can Wubi use all or part of above iso
to install Ubuntu?
I could make an iso from essential parts if needed.

Thanks for any advice.

Pete.

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Agostino Russo (ago) said :
#1

Yes but not the Live ISO. Wubi requires an ALTERNATE ISO at the moment. To use the pre-downloaded ISO, simply place it in the same folder where you have the Wubi executable. Then run Wubi and it should detect the ISO and use it (it will spare you the download). The Live ISO will simply be ignored.

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DiggerP (dutchie) said :
#2

Thanks very musch for your advice,but unfortunately Wubi does not
give you the option to use anything but the download when you execute Wubi 7.04 test .exe.
So I ended up downloading the ALTERNATE ISO.OK,fair enough.
However, the subsequent installation of Ubuntu failed.
It defaults to install from CD.
Since I was stuck,I pressed Escape which then gives me other options
When I tried the option to scan for other isos,it seems these are not detected.
I'm afraid the install routine is not working for me.

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Best DiggerP (dutchie) said :
#3

OK,Im back'again.
The answer to my comments above turn out to be quite simple :)
I found it in the first part of this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=432808
Known issues:Does not work with FAT32 drives.

It so happens that the available drive is FAT32 for compatibility reasons,
so I won't reformat to NTFS just yet.

Since I already have the Ubuntu desktop (Live CD) version,
I'll install from that one.

Thanks for the help.

Pete.

Revision history for this message
Agostino Russo (ago) said :
#4

It's not that it does not work on FAT32, it does, but on FAT32 max file size is 4GB and you need to make sure that none of the virtual disks files is larger than that. New version will check that for you, but test1 version was unable to detect FAT (detection was crashing Wubi and was disabled) and you might have ended up with a virtual disk larger than 4GB (which is useless). You can select the virtual disk size in Wubi > Settings.

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DiggerP (dutchie) said :
#5

Hi Agostino,
Thanks for the feedback.
Actually,I did check the virtual disk sizes and they were all under 4GB,
although I had set one to 6 GB.

I know this is still a beta,so the following comments may well become redundant,but so far(at least for me) this is not an install without problems.
Some things to mention:
1.Silent install of Wubi.I know this is personal,but I thoroughly dislike
silent installs,no matter who makes them.
M$ is one of the worst in that regard.
It's just that I hate to hunt for stuff I just installed.
I like to see the details of an install.
2.No choice of install location.Basically an extension of the above.
i may have missed it,but I didn''t see Escape mentioned anywhere to access the install sources menu.
3.A good manual oulining the choices and procedures would be helpful.
Include this with the download of Wubi.
Notwithstanding my mild cricicisms above,
I have to say that the uninstall was absolutely flawless.
not a trace was left.
I only wish the install would have been as easy.

I'm sorry if I'm stepping on somebody's toes,but I'm just relating my experience.
I'm the first to admit that this may well be due to my lack of experience
with Linux,but I expected Wubi to bridge that gap to some extent.

Revision history for this message
Agostino Russo (ago) said :
#6

1. It looks like a silent install but it really isn't... Press alt+f4 if you want to see the gory details, alt+f2 will give you a full terminal where you can observe running processes, read files and what not... alt+1 to go back to progressbars.

2. you can select the installation drive when you run wubi (settings button), only drives with enough space are shown. The path cannot be modified, but that should not be a major issue. You need wubi-7.04-test1

3. There aren't that many choices that deserver an explanation: virtual disk size and installation drive. The rest is language, username and password. For the geeks there is also the advanced guide: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WubiGuide and of course the forum. The guide is mentioned in the support page of the website. If you feel something is missing from the guide feel free to add to it.

As for fat detection, that has been fixed and will be available in next build

Revision history for this message
DiggerP (dutchie) said :
#7

Hi Agostino,
Thanks for your detailed answer.
I will definite have to explore those options.
There is no doubt that my comments are born of ignorance :)
Nevertheless,it wasn't clear to me at the time that Wubi-7.04-test1
is a self extracting file.
When I executed it,all I get is the Wubi install window,which immediately
goes to dowload the Ubuntu alternate ISO.
In the mean time,Wubi was already (silently ) installed.
I'm not sure how else to phrase it .
Are you suggesting I use the r-click and extract method?

I did read the Wubi install guide and it mentioned the advanced settings in the installer but I couldn't find any details about this when I executed
Wubi-7.04-test1.
I know I'm a real noob at this,but I venture to guess that my experience
would be similar to others that lack the exposure to Linux.

Revision history for this message
Agostino Russo (ago) said :
#8

When you download wubi is not installed, you are simply downloading a 700MB file and that take some time, not much you can do in the meantime. The file is actually installed AFTER you reboot. Then you can press alt+f4 to see what happens.

When you run Wubi there are 2 buttons: "settings", and "install". The "settings" button will display another page with 6 dropdown lists. Those are the advanced settings.

Revision history for this message
DiggerP (dutchie) said :
#9

Hi,
I think we may be running into a slight misunderstanding :)
">When you download wubi is not installed, you are simply downloading a 700MB file<
Unless I'm wrong,you may have meant to say ...When you download Ubuntu....
I understand the sequence: run Wubi 7.04 test1.exe which gets installed
and subsequently downloads Ubuntu.Then you run Wubi to install Ubntu.
That's where the advanced settings come in.
All I'm saying is that the initial Wubi install is silent.
I can't see any other way to do it.
The subsequent install of Ubuntu with the help of Wubi can be customized.
Have I got that right?
Anyway, thanks for your patience and advice.

Pete.

Revision history for this message
Agostino Russo (ago) said :
#10

Download wubi-7.04-test1.exe
Run it
That will show you a window with 2 buttons: settings and install
If you press settings you see some further options (disk size, installation drive...)
If you press install it will first download the required installation files (700MB) unless it can find them in the HD
Then it will ask to reboot
Select Ubuntu from the boot menu
Then the actual installation of Ubuntu takes place
Then you reboot again and are select Ubuntu

Revision history for this message
DiggerP (dutchie) said :
#11

Thanks very much.
If this isn't clear enough,I don't know about me :)
I have to rearrange some drives and disk space and
will definitely give it another try later on.
In the mean time thanks for all your help.
I don't think I could ask for more .

Regards,
Pete.

Revision history for this message
DiggerP (dutchie) said :
#12

Hi Agostino,
Update.
Just wanted to let you know that I did a successful install of Ubuntu with Wubi.
After rearranging my disks ,I created a test install of XP on NTFS.
I also downloaded Ubuntu ALTERNATE iso separately.
I know that's not necessary,but I found it to be 4 X faster than when I did it through Wubi.In 15 min flat I got it down.
There may be all kinds of reasons for that,but to the end result it's not important.
After that it was a piece of cake :)
Installed Wubi,which found the Ubuntu alternate iso and then
 installed it with no problems.
Well maybe except for a dual monitor problem.
However,that''s for the Ubuntu forums.There seem to be numerous posts regarding that.

Otherwise the Wubi install worked like a charm.
Thanks again.
Pete.