Wow… Everything is… Free…?
Earlier, I did mention something about thousands of free programs just a few mouse clicks away. Want to install some? Nothing to it, just click on your Applications menu at the top left and select Add Applications. There are a plethora of options available here, so just select what you want, click Ok and let Ubuntu automatically install and configure it for you. That’s it! Seriously.
In addition to Add Applications, there are also thousands more applications and tools available in Synaptic (System > Applications > Synaptic Package Manager), so look there to to get pretty much anything you want. Just make sure you enable all the repositories (hint: in Synaptic go Settings > Repositories)!
What About My Windows Files?
Ubuntu should have detected your Windows drive and automatically placed a link (Linux equivalent of a shortcut) on your desktop. If for some reason it did not, lets go through how to do it. What we are going to do is “map” the contents of the Windows partition to a folder on your Linux install. This is called “mounting”. Lets walk through the steps to have your NTFS partition automatically mounted when you start Ubuntu. Don’t worry, it’s very easy.
- Launch a Terminal window by going Applications > Terminal.
- Now we are going to create a “mount point” (what Windows uses drive letters for) where we can access the files.
Enter this at the command prompt:sudo mkdir /media/windows
“sudo” means run as root, so whenever we preface a command with sudo, we are telling Ubuntu to execute the command not as the logged in user, but as root. This command creates a file in the /media folder called “windows”. You most likely will be prompted for your password, so enter it. If you were to try the same command without having “sudo” in front it would tell you your permissions do not allow it.
- Next, lets configure Ubuntu to automatically mount these files when we boot.
Enter this at the command prompt:sudo gedit /etc/fstab
The fstab file stores information about your mounted drives. Lets add this line to the bottom:
/dev/hda1 /media/windows ntfs ro,nls=utf8,umask=0222 0 0
This means is mount hard drive partition “hda1″ (you should know what this means by now) to the folder /media/windows which has an NTFS file system.
- Save the file and close gedit.
- At the command prompt enter:
sudo mount -a
You should now see an item on your desktop called “windows”. Double click it and behold your Windows files!
- If you have multiple partitions, simply follow steps 1-5 again except create a different mount point than /media/windows and list the appropriate partition, instead of /dev/hda1, in your fstab file.
If I completely lost you on the above steps, don’t be discouraged. I didn’t have a clue what any of that meant 4 months ago. Now it’s second nature. Be patient and you will feel the same way too!
Helpful Ubuntu Links
Before I leave you to explore your new system, I did promise to give you some helpful links. The best I have seen, and still frequent often are:
- The Official Ubuntu Forums (a huge community)
- The Official Ubuntu Wiki
- Ubuntu Document Storage Facility
Last thing… I promise! You should definitely check out a utility called Automatix developed by a fellow on the Ubuntu Forums known as arnieboy. This script gets you up and running on common applications and tasks, such as FireFox plugins, video drivers, and MP3/DVD decoders (make sure you read the notices though).
Have Fun!
Well, that’s it for this article. I hope you found this helpful and informative. If you have any questions or comments (good and bad), feel free to email me articles[at]132solutions.com. Perhaps if I get enough questions, I can write a follow-up to address them and get you deeper, and more comfortably, into Ubuntu. Experience is by far the best teacher, so get your hands dirty and let me know how it goes!
Until next time…
Jason Faulkner is the man who brings you our daily tips. He is based in Atlanta, Georgia.
if i install linux, will my windows xp remove ????
It will not remove your currently installed Operating System. However, as the article states (its 3 years old, btw) you would need to partition your hard drive.
Think about having only one large container; how do you put two different types of fluid in there without having them mix? For the purpose of the illustration, you put a divider in the container, so whatever you put in the sectioned off part of the container, wont mix with the rest of the containers’ contents.
Thats what partitioning a hard drive means. You section off part of your hard drive so you can do whatever you want with it, and it wont mess up (or mix) with the rest of the hard drives contents.
No, Linux will not remove XP. It will create a dual-boot setup. Just be careful when installing because it will ask if you want to remove the other partitions. Don’t–or do–if that’s what you’re going for.
thanks, i installed linux and xp did not remove!
Can I install ubuntu without using CD?
Yes you can, its called usb live cd.. You can use programs such as unetbootin.exe to install it..
Hello, Thank you for provideing the Tutorial on How to install Ubuntu & the Video. Downloaded Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop and Server Editions. Purpose is to make the best of my PC and i read in various Blogs of the Linux O.S in Particular Ubuntu & its Support. I upgraded my PC to 4Gb ddr2 Ram, CPU 2.8Ghz dual core & HDD SATA 500Gb Seagate 16mb cache. All this for Dynamips, a CISCO IOS emulator. Thank you and Regards.
No but if you install your windows over Linux then your grub(partition manger) of ubuntu will be overwritten by windows . A very good article is available at
http://www.newtrojansblog.com/how-to-recover-grub-when-xp-is-installed-over-linux
if you want to make it easy for yourself just install xp first then vista and or windows 7 and then linux ..linux will then give you the option for the rest and the rest for the earliest
b
I successfully installed ubuntu 8.10 in windows vista ultimate . But when i do a reboot, the OS selection screen was missing. My system booted automatically to windows vista so what you suggest and what is wrong ? PLZ email me ASAP as i get frustrated from repeated instalations in different ways ! the difficult part all the time was in partitioning step !!
MS
if you have your windows vista installed…install your linux fresh.. reboot pc with linux cd in cd player and install from there , not from inside windows
like…
make sure you have 7 partitions (haha)
install 98 from cd on bootup
then install 2000 from cd on bootup
then install xp from cd on bootup
then install server 2003 from cd on bootup
then instal vista from cd on bootup
then install windows 7 cd on bootup
then install ubuntu from cd on bootup and import all off above (it will ask you)
then when you bootup you will have the choice of ubuntu or longhorn
if you choose ubuntu it will boot to ubuntu, if you choose longhorn it will take you to a screen where you have to choose vista, win 7 or older …if you choose older you have the choice of 2000 xp and 98
best of luck
Thankx but you know my ubuntu now is not able to get my wireless internet and i dont think it reconizes the built-in wifi adaptor of my dell inspiron 6400
!! i tried to do whatever but it seems little bit non friendly ..i cant manage till now ..do you suggestions
Thankx but you know my ubuntu now is not able to get my wireless internet and i dont think it reconizes the built-in wifi adaptor of my dell inspiron 6400
!! i tried to do whatever but it seems little bit non friendly ..i cant manage till now ..do you have suggestions ?
So easy to partition when following the instructions above. Thanx Jason
Hello,
I have installed windows xp service pack-2 in C drive and now i want to install ubuntu 9.04 in partition G [total memory space is 20 GB] now problem is i have important data in remaining partition D, E and F. If i install ubuntu in partition G…will my data be lost? I want to dual boot my system.
Please help me.
“I have installed windows xp service pack-2 in C drive and now i want to install ubuntu 9.04 in partition G [total memory space is 20 GB] now problem is i have important data in remaining partition D, E and F. If i install ubuntu in partition G…will my data be lost? I want to dual boot my system.” if you dont format it and just install on drive g nothing can go wrong
barry
“You have the Ubuntu install disc, so pop in your spare hard drive (if you do not know how to do this, make a quick detour to the PC Mech Forums”
I go to there and i hav no idea how to ‘pop in my spare hd’… Exactly, wat u mean by that?? Make it bootable??
One more thing, my comp now has partition C and D. I install xp in C but most of the files r in D. Lets say i install ubuntu in D, will it erase my other files?? *my D partition has 70GB*
>‘pop in my spare hd’… Exactly, wat u mean by that?? Make it bootable??
That means you should have an external HD which you plug into your USB port. When computer recognizes this you can make this bootable in Ubuntu.
>One more thing, my comp now has partition C and D. I install xp in C but most of the files r in D. Lets say i install ubuntu in D, will it erase my other files?? *my D partition has 70GB*
Ubuntu will make another partition if you wish.
hey, if i have two hard drives will i have to partion both of them? or can i just use one of them for linux and one for xp?