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I have a small laptop currently running XP(home/sp3) as my primary OS and I wanted to try Ibuntu,

I downloaded and installed using the windows installer wubi.exe. it did the partiton for me and I just went along with a install guide and left the sizes and allocations as default.

So now when I start my laptop I have the choice of OS but ....is there a way please to run both OS's side by side or have I gone about it wrong and should I have just downloaded an image file to use in a virtual machine ?

many thanks in advance :)

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Yes, if you want to run them side by side (or technically, one inside of the other), you'll need to install Ubuntu in a virtual environment as a virtual machine (VM).

There are several virtual machine applications that you can use to install Ubuntu. In my opinion, a quick and free way is to use VirtualBox.

There are, however, limitations when running virtual machines, because they actually do not have access to the hardware, so don't expect to play games smoothly and all that. Nonetheless, an Ubuntu virtual machine is a great way to get acquainted with it.

If you're looking to remove the Ubuntu you installed, then you're in luck, because it's easy. Since you've installed Ubuntu using Wubi, you can easily uninstall it by going to your Add/Remove Programs in XP and uninstalling Ubuntu from the list, just like you would uninstall any other program.

Note: If you decide to go with VirtualBox, don't forget to install Guest Additions in your Ubuntu virtual machine, because without it, your Ubuntu might be very slow. If you go with VMware, don't forget to install VMware tools.

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  • The virtual machine does not have access to PCI devices, however it can be given "direct" access to USB devices (which may include some devices that are inside the laptop).
    – ignis
    Jun 15, 2013 at 9:20
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Dual booting means having the option to choose which OS you want to use at start-up. And you can do this via Wubi though this is no-longer recommended or by installing from boot media such as DVD or USB drive.

You can't really have two Operating Systems running at the same time one must be in charge. What you can have however is a virtual machine and install a guest OS inside that.

The guest OS does not have full access to the hardware however: only what the virtual machine wants it to have. Consequently the guest OS will run slower. Depending on what you are using it for this may not matter.

If you want to run one OS inside the other take a look at Virtualbox It's a popular free virtual machine and you can install it from the software centre if Ubuntu is your host OS or from here if using Windows as your main host OS.

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  • thats great advise thank you warren in my mind thats not what dual boot meant thank you for putting me straight :) im now off to conquer the great broadcom wireless lan driver issue thanks again Jun 3, 2013 at 14:14

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