# Wubi vs Virtualbox for Ubuntu on a WinVista Machine



## parabolate (May 30, 2005)

Hey all,

I was planning on dabbling around with Linux on my Windows Vista machine. I didn't want to partition my drive so I was originally going to use VirtualBox but then I came across this program called Wubi where you can basically install the OS like it was a Windows application.

Would you all recommened a Linux first-time user use VirtualBox or Wubi for installing on their Windows machine?

Thanks!


----------



## wmorri (May 29, 2008)

Hi,

I would recommend that you use Virtualbox over WUBI. Virtualbox will set up a virtual machine on your computer as I am sure you already know. WUBI creates a new partition and install the OS on your computer which I am sure you know too. The thing with WUBI is that it installs from a NTFS partition which can't be read from an ext2, ext3 partition which is what linux is installed on, so if you ever have to make any changes with some programs you will have to fiddle with your partitions to make it work and that is just a lot of trouble.

Cheers!


----------



## shuuhen (Sep 4, 2004)

Somewhat depends on your preferences and the specs of your machine. Slow machines without much RAM might not be a good option for virtualization (VirtualBox). In general I do like to virtualize my secondary operating systems (although Mac OS X, Linux and other Unix-like OSs would be my host OS in most cases). I like to be able to use my primary OS while I tinker with others, since my primary one is set up the way I want.

The website for Wubi says it installs everything to a virtual disk (instead of partitioning), but I previously thought that it did partitioning. It does mess with the Windows bootloader to give you the option of booting Ubuntu or Windows at startup.

How much RAM does your machine have?


----------



## jaog (Aug 30, 2009)

WUBI is the easiest way to put Linux on your hard drive. No partition changes needed - it creates a virtual file system inside a the Windows partition. Adds its entry to the windows boot menu. The main disadvantages - harder to fix when things go wrong - not many used it - forum support is rare too.

Just like the others if you have the cpu and ram to support it VirtualBox is way to go.


----------



## parabolate (May 30, 2005)

i'll be putting ubuntu on my laptop which has 4gb ram

think i'll give virtual box a go


----------

