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0e1f616
(Get the code!)
@Kate Stewart, Erick asked me to comment on this. I can't speak for the particular issue he is having deleting the startup option, but I know enough to point out some flaws in this approach.
1. When Ubiquity detects that there are 4 primary partitions already used and there is also an existing Windows install detected, it then offers the option to "Install Ubuntu inside Microsoft Windows <XP Home Edition>". ( http://
2 When you select this it copies the wubi.exe from the CDROM to the Windows partition and instructs the user to reboot (more or less, the screen is a little confusing: http://
3. The next time the user boots into Windows, it automatically runs wubi.exe.
Problems
======
a. Wubi.exe has been copied into the Common Startup folder so it runs for all users each time you boot into Windows.
b. If you choose, not to install Wubi, it will keep prompting you each subsequent time you boot into Windows
c. If you choose to install Wubi, it will run again and prompt you to UNINSTALL/Reinstall the next time you boot Windows.
This goes on until you physically find and delete the entry. For XP the actual entry is in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\
You can either browse to that location to delete it, or run Microsoft's msconfig utility. But in Erick's case he had some permissions issues and it would not let him uninstall (that part I am unclear on the exact reasons).
But even if the user can remove this entry easily there are some additional problems:
1. It doesn't inform the user that by inserting the Ubuntu CD in the drive, it will use that image. If the user does not put the CD in, wubi.exe will instead download a new image. (If the user put the CD in while running Windows, it would prompt to install Ubuntu anyway).
So in summary:
Wubi.exe will run each time the user boots into Window prompting to install Ubuntu each/time or prompting to Uninstall/reinstall Ubuntu (if already installed) until the user physically finds and deletes Wubi.exe. This may result in some confusion.
The locations that wubi.exe may be copied to are:
For Windows 7
For Windows XP
'Documents and Settings/All Users/Start Menu/Programs/
For Windows NT
A better solution, would be to add wubi.exe to the Windows registry as a RunOnce entry. Then it would only run on the first boot into Windows after the attempted Ubuntu install.