Why Wubi is the stupidest idea in Linux history...

[Eric Shubert]

wubi is a stepping stone. Not a good long term solution, but a way to 
get to the other side.

Jim March wrote:
> Quoting:
> 
> ---
> Wubi is an Ubuntu installer for Windows that lets you install and
> uninstall Ubuntu from a Windows desktop. Wubi adds an entry to the
> Windows boot menu which allows you to run Linux. Ubuntu is installed
> within a file in the Windows file system (a loopmounted partition),
> this file is seen by Ubuntu as a real hard disk. That way the hard
> drive does not have to be repartitioned before the Ubuntu
> installation. The resulting Ubuntu installation is a "real" Linux
> system, not just a virtual machine. Wubi makes it easy for Linux
> newbies to play around with Ubuntu.
> ---
> 
> Source:
> 
> http://www.howtoforge.com/wubi_ubuntu_on_windows
> 
> The problem here is that if anything goes wrong with the Windows
> bootloader process, both Ubuntu and Windows are toast.  And what do a
> lot of virii infest?  Yeah.  The bootloader.
> 
> Basically, a real Ubuntu dual-boot setup will protect against many
> forms of virus/malware that Wubi can fall victim to.  In the event
> that you're running Windows when it gets infected, it's *possible* the
> boot sector will get so fried that GRUB fails to load either Ubuntu or
> Windows, but in practice this is vanishingly rare.  In most cases
> Windows malware will choke on and be unable to affect the GRUB-based
> Ubuntu-altered boot process.
> 
> An even better option from a malware-protection point of view is to
> run a pure Linux system and then do a Windows virtual machine under
> that.  Hardware needs aren't that bad - most P4s with a gig or more
> can do it, and my $500-six-months-ago Best Buy special laptop (Dell
> 1525) with 2gigs RAM does great.  In this model it's Windows that sits
> on a file in the Linux disk structure, rather than exactly opposite as
> in Wubi.  If Windows gets itself hosed (again) just restore one file
> off backups and you're up again.  And via the internal networking
> between host Linux OS and guest Windows, you can store all your data
> elsewhere on the Linux disk so that if Windows is toast, you can still
> get to the same files within Linux.
> 
> Wubi is the worst possible implementation of Linux.  Period, end of
> discussion.  It uses the Windows standard boot process, so if you
> already have malware you're working off a portion of the system
> *likely* affected by malware and hence unpredictable as a crack addict
> with a bazooka.
> 
> Jim


-- 
-Eric 'shubes'