Amar Thakur wants to install Ubuntu on a PC without removing Windows 7. “How will I do that?”
- How To Install Ubuntu From Iso File In Windows 8
- Windows 7 Install Ubuntu From Iso
- Install Ubuntu From Disk Image
From Ubuntu you can format a flash drive as NTFS with gparted and make sure to set the boot flag on it. Then just copy the content from the ISO to the usb and boot to it. Then install.
Ubuntu offers three ways to launch the operating system without hurting Windows. Two of these options require a bootable Ubuntu CD or flash drive, so I'll first discuss how to set up those devices.
[Have a tech question? Ask PCWorld Contributing Editor Lincoln Spector. Send your query to [email protected].]
You need to download either the 32- or 64-bit version of the Ubuntu desktop .iso file. To turn the .iso file into a CD or DVD, simply double-click it. A program should come up to walk you through the burning process. If it doesn’t, install the free ISO Recorder and try again.
To create a bootable flash drive, you’ll need the Universal USB Installer--another free program. It’s pretty easy to use.
Option 1: Try before you install
When you boot from your Ubuntu media (whether it’s CD, DVD, or flash drive), you get two options: Try Ubuntu and Install Ubuntu.
Select Try Ubuntu. This loads the operating system directly into RAM, without writing anything to your hard drive. You can try it out, experiment with the bundled applications, and surf the web.
But remember that you’re booting from a static source. Any changes you make to the Ubuntu environment will last only until you reboot. It’s a limited version of the OS.
Option 2: Install Ubuntu inside Windows
This is the most convenient way to install a configurable version of Ubuntu and keep Windows. But it doesn’t work with Windows 8, or with computers that have UEFI firmware.
Instead of the .iso file, this option requires you to download and run the Ubuntu Installer program within Windows. After you fill in the requested information, it does the install, which includes a reboot into Ubuntu.
When the installation is done, booting will give you a boot menu with both operating systems. Windows will be the default.
And guess what? If you decide you don’t like Ubuntu, you can go into Windows and uninstall it through Control Panel, just like any other Windows program.
Install Ubuntu next to Windows
This technique will work on systems where the previous version wouldn’t. It creates a version of Unbuntu on its own partition that is not easily removed.
You’ll need to boot from the disc or flash drive I discussed above. Select the Install Ubuntu option. When asked later in the wizard, select Install Ubuntu alongside Windows 7 (or whatever Windows version you're using).
This creates a new Ubuntu partition, installs Ubuntu there, and rewrites your PC’s boot sector. Now, when you boot, you’ll get a particularly ugly menu that allows you to select your operating system. This time, Ubuntu will be the default.
Note: When you purchase something after clicking links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Read our affiliate link policy for more details.
Active3 years, 6 months ago
This question already has an answer here:
- Using a bootable live cd disk image mounted on the hard drive 2 answers
I don't want to burn a CD, DVD or USB memory stick. And I don't care about saving the existing operating system (Linux Mint). I want to install Ubuntu (actually Kubuntu 12.04 LTS) to the computer directly from the ISO image. The image is for the Kubuntu Live DVD (3.5 GB).
The computer is now booted into Linux Mint. A set of command line steps would be satisfactory. In my mind, I simply need to trick the existing system into thinking I inserted a CD/DVD, right?
I know there is a similar question already but it does not have a good answer. The answer basically says, 'see this link.' I reviewed the link and I decided that StackExchange needs a good answer to this question. Furthermore, most answers at other places on the Internet assume the user is coming to Ubuntu from Windows. So I think this question is one that needs a good answer here. Thanks
Braiam54.5k2121 gold badges146146 silver badges230230 bronze badges
MountainXMountainX3,6081515 gold badges5050 silver badges8181 bronze badges
marked as duplicate by Mateo, Ravan, David Foerster, Eric Carvalho, Luís de SousaDec 25 '15 at 8:54
This question has been asked before and already has an answer. If those answers do not fully address your question, please ask a new question.
2 Answers
I found this looking around on the net.
Grub2 is capable of directly booting ISO images for many Linux distros if the entries have been properly defined in the Grub2 configuration files.
The ISO image must be placed on a separate partition that does not have an operating system installed on it. For the sake of simplicity, we would place it inside a new directory under /boot (assuming it is on a separate partition).
- Create the new directory and copy your ISO image:Where
~/Desktop/name.iso
is the location and name of your ISO image assuming that the image is located at your desktop. - Add the Grub2 entry:The entry for the ISO image needs to be added to
/etc/grub.d/40_custom
file. Edit the file by:And replace the text in that file with this one:Where is:Kubuntu ISO
= The name you want to display in the Grub menu.boot/iso/kubuntu-12.04.iso
= The location and name of your ISO image.(hd0,8)
= The partition which contains the ISO image.- note: the
tail -n +4
means simply 'which line grub starts to read the configuration from as is'. the 4th line in this example is the first comment line, which is fine.
Grub reads the partitions in a different way than Ubuntu does. 'hd0' means first HDD which is read assda
by Ubuntu, and8
is the partition which is the same as for Ubuntu. So in other words, (hd0,8) means 'sda8'.To find out your partition, run this command in a Terminal:Suppose your image is contained in thesda1
partition, you'd change(hd0,8)
in the above line to(hd0,1)
and if the image is in thesdb1
partition, you'd change(hd0,8)
to(hd1,1)
. - Save and close this file and now run this command:
- Reboot and choose the new ISO entry from Grub menu this time. Hopefully, it will boot successfully to the desktop.Now, if you want to perform an installation from the same ISO, you'd need to unmount the ISO image first as it is mounted from a partition on your HDD (probably you've got a single HDD and want to install Ubuntu to the same HDD) and the installer needs to unmount any mounted partitions before it can make any changes.So, from the Live CD environment, go to a Terminal and run:
That's all. Now you can double-click the 'Install' icon at the desktop and proceed with the installation.
More info see Ubuntu Forums 1, and Ubuntu Forums 2
Source:TuxGarage
daka57544 gold badges77 silver badges1919 bronze badges
Mitch♦Mitch89.1k1515 gold badges182182 silver badges240240 bronze badges
How To Install Ubuntu From Iso File In Windows 8
I couldn't use Mitch's answer because I wanted to install Ubuntu minimal and the ISO image didn't work (there's no vmlinuz). So instead I adapted it to use NetbootInstall
I put the downloaded files into /boot/netboot and added the following entry to the grub config:
Windows 7 Install Ubuntu From Iso
I then forgot to run
Install Ubuntu From Disk Image
so I had to boot into the existing linux once again, but having finally updated grub the actual installation went very smoothly.
z7sgz7sg48311 gold badge77 silver badges1717 bronze badges