Install ubuntu without flash drive or CD?

[Shadow_Storm56]

I know there used to be wubi.exe to install ubuntu from inside windows but this apparently is no longer a thing so considering I lost all my flash drives and have not used disks in years what can I do to install ubuntu from inside windows?

[karsnoordhuis]

Windows store or vm. The vm is the least amount of hassle from what i have heard.

Otherwise go grab yourself some new usb sticks. They aint that expensive anymore.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

14 minutes ago, Shadow_Storm56 said:

I know there used to be wubi.exe to install ubuntu from inside windows but this apparently is no longer a thing so considering I lost all my flash drives and have not used disks in years what can I do to install ubuntu from inside windows?

A 16GB USB 3.0 drive is less than 10 bucks. 

[Shadow_Storm56]

1 minute ago, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

A 16GB USB 3.0 drive is less than 10 bucks. 

Cost is not the issue I literally am curious if there is still a way to install from inside windows.

[Vanbockryck]

I did some research for this past weekend, I was wondering if I can install GNU/Linux on a fresh machine (i.e. one with an empty SSD) without attaching a screen.

 

The most elegant solution seems to be to dd a suitable image to the SSD before installing that SSD in the machine.

 

But you are talking about creating a dual boot machine after you have Windows installed.

I'm sure you could do that by creating a new partition on your drive, taking that drive out, doing that dd thing and then proof you are a true wizard by fixing the booting/grub stuff by hand afterwards.

[Fleetscut]

If you have access to windows, you can use that to place the image onto its own partition on the disk, or a different hard drive, then just boot from that. Theres technically no difference between a usb and an HDD from the computers perspective. you just need to make sure you have enough space on the disk for all these partitions.

[wasab]

Partition your drive and install Ubuntu on that partition. It will be dual boot pretty much. 

[Linus_torvalds]

I have an old laptop. It was released in 2000 Dell c600. It can't boot from USB and i have lost CD ROM. So i had to install linux from existing OS. I installed arch linux. It's so easy to install arch from arch (he says in the video 9:31) :D. You just mount the drive wherever you want and install arch. Here is video you can follow

 

[wasab]

7 hours ago, mate_mate91 said:

I have an old laptop. It was released in 2000 Dell c600. It can't boot from USB and i have lost CD ROM. So i had to install linux from existing OS. I installed arch linux. It's so easy to install arch from arch (he says in the video 9:31) :D. You just mount the drive wherever you want and install arch. Here is video you can follow

 

of course it is easy, you just need to have the patience and watch this whole 51 minutes of tutorials for your first time. Please explain why anyone wont wish a simple GUI installer that needs you just click on the install button? 

 

Funny fact, distro hard to install deters many with limited patience and before any linux elitists start n00b shouting, watch what linus torvald has to say on the matter.

 

 

[Sauron]

On 16/4/2018 at 9:55 AM, Shadow_Storm56 said:

Cost is not the issue I literally am curious if there is still a way to install from inside windows.

Yes. You can create a partition on your hard drive, pass it to a virtual machine as a physical drive, run the live image inside the vm and install ubuntu to the physical drive. This could cause driver issues, but if you use mesa graphics drivers it should survive a reboot.

 

Then you'll have to mess with the boot loader though.

[conowizard]

if you have two drives in your system, you should put it on the drive that does not contain windows and boot into it through the boot menu.

 

[Wild Penquin]

On 17.4.2018 at 3:52 AM, wasab said:

of course it is easy, you just need to have the patience and watch this whole 51 minutes of tutorials for your first time. Please explain why anyone wont wish a simple GUI installer that needs you just click on the install button? 

I don't want to intervene your discussion, but I have a few differents points to make. First is that video tutorials suck for mostly anything related to computers (or, anything else that requires step-by-step instructions, for that matter). For example, they might have redundant information, i.e. something the user already knows, and it is then very dfifficult / almost impossible to skip that bit (since, how could one know, when does it end?). Also, if the user forgets something and needs to refer to the guide it again - good luck finding it in the video! Sometimes a page with text is a way better guide.

 

That being said, Arch Linux is the most easy distribution to install from the network only last time I checked. It needs just some method of running a executable (from here) and - after a while - BOOM! - you're in a command line of a functioning Linux shell (waiting you to do the actual installation)!

 

"Easy" is a matter of taste. For someone who is comfortable with command line, or if the user wishes to make something more advanced,  a GUI can be more time-consuming and sometimes even not applicable (because the maker of the GUI never thought of the options the user need). For the John Doe who has a USB key handy and wants a basic installation, that is indeed the way to go. But what the OP here asked is quite a bit advanced, and working outside a GUI should be something to be expected. Also, the user said:

On 16.4.2018 at 10:55 AM, Shadow_Storm56 said:

Cost is not the issue I literally am curious if there is still a way to install from inside windows.

In that case looking at a long tutorial might actually make sense. Depends how curious he is :-).

 

About installing from VM: I doubt any of these can install the bootloader? That has not been covered, and seems like the most difficult part in this puzzle, provided it is desired to be able to boot into the OS after installation. The OP has not told if he/she is using BIOS, EFI (or possibly even Secure boot...) .

[securemanure]

look up how to set up a PXE server so the ISO is transferred from the PXE server to the computer that is booting. Just need a connection between the two