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I have installed ubuntu (as a dual boot) using wubi (Windows-based UBuntu Installer) installer for windows, and have been working in linux since then. Now that I have many projects with many dependencies, I'd want to install the same ubuntu to other machines, so that I don't need to install Ubuntu first, and then each and every project and it's dependencies. There is a folder called ubuntu in my windows drive, which was created by wubi and which contains all the ubuntu stuff.

Other machines have only windows 7 installed and have the same configuration.

Is there any way to install the same ubuntu I am using on the other machines ?

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this is the method I use...

  1. install Ubuntu using WUBI on target PC and copy your Wubi ROOT.DISK file to the same location in the other PC and replace it.

  2. next you have to use a ubuntu live cd.boot from the live cd then mount the windows partition (if your Ubuntu installation is in windows partition)

    sudo mkdir /win sudo mount /dev/sda1 /win

    Replace sda1 with the appropriate device (a = disk, 1 = partition number), then mount the virtual disk therein (use fdisk -l" or Disk utility for the device number)

    sudo mkdir /vdisk sudo mount -o loop /win/ubuntu/disks/root.disk /vdisk

  3. Now the content of the virtual disk will be visible under /vdisk

  4. Now edit the grub.cfg file gksu gedit /vdisk/boot/grub/grub.cfg file and remove all lines above the first “menuentry”.

  5. Done !!!

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Remastersys should do the trick - it will create a livecd with your current package selection in distribution mode, or a livecd including your own files in backupmode.

You can probably run the installer from that to do a linux install. I've not checked to see if the windows installer/wubi will work though.

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  • So my filesystem will remain intact ? i mean the files and folder and installed applications will still be there ?
    – rajat
    Oct 4, 2012 at 9:44
  • Yeah, and you can check this by booting into a disk. I converted a running install into a live USB this way.
    – Journeyman Geek ♦
    Oct 4, 2012 at 9:45
  • That's great :) , Thanks . Will still keep the questions open to see if there is any other better way .
    – rajat
    Oct 4, 2012 at 9:48
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From Can I copy my wubi install between machines? :

  1. Make sure you haven't got custom drivers installed (or remove them if you have)
  2. Make sure you installed the same Ubuntu release on the new machine

  3. Load the install on the new machine, when you see the grub menu press 'e' on the first entry and note xxx and yyy:

    set root=(xxx) e.g. (hd0,msdos2)

    linux /boot/vmlinuz.... root=yyy (e.g. /dev/sda2 or UUID=nnnnnnn)

  4. Copy the root.disk over to the new machine

  5. Boot into Ubuntu but only as far as the grub menu

    Press 'e' on first entry and change the values you see with the xxx and yyy from your new install. Also delete the line starting search --no-floppy .... Then press Ctrl-X to boot.

  6. After it boots, drop to a terminal (Ctrl-Alt-T) and run sudo update-grub to fix the grub menu.

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If its a wubi system you can probably just copy the virtual hdd file over to all the other machines? not quite an elegant idea but might work

Install via wubi on other machines and then replace the disk file

Another possibility is doing it the same way as a backup on linux mint (skip to section D for relevant info) is supposed to go. There must be other softwares similar to mint backup which take a list of installed packages and reinstall on a fresh machine. And after that copy over the /home dir as well..

But Journeman Geek's solution does seem the most elegant.

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  • Are you sure copying the virtual hdd file will work ?
    – rajat
    Oct 4, 2012 at 11:14
  • im not sure to be honest, i think ive done something similar once, but its quite a while since ive played with Wubi installs. Its not that hard to test though.. just install on a different machine and replace the virtual disk and see if it boots
    – Karthik T
    Oct 5, 2012 at 8:36
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Just copy the virtual HDD. It contains the Ubuntu file system, complete with all the settings and files. You'd still have to install Wubi manually, though.

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  • Can you give more details on how to do this?
    – bwDraco
    Oct 8, 2012 at 4:54
  • @DragonLord virtual HDD? WUBI is installing Linux within windows but it is still a dual boot(well technically it's loop-mounting).There is no virtual HDD involved. It does not make the OS a VM.
    – Gutsygibbon
    Oct 11, 2012 at 15:17

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