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

[Kenny Pepiton]

But the idea of Wubi in all truth was another means by which to bring 
Linux to the attention of Windows users.  The idea in most of these 
setups is not to really be permanent but give you a chance to play with 
Linux in a more robust situation than those shown in a LiveCD.

Kenny

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
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