How to install ubuntu - no cd/usb

Question

So basically as it stands I have a laptop which has no cd/dvd drive, and I don't have a usb drive.

The laptop has windows 7 installed with ubuntu 11.04 installed through wubi.

What I want to do is remove windows completely, and make ubuntu the only OS installed on the system.

Is there a way to do this without re-installing ubuntu? (i.e. can I take my wubi install away from windows?)

or is there a way to from inside ubuntu have it run the ubuntu iso somehow so I can just wipe the system and install it fresh? (even if it means I need to have an e.g. 2gb partition just for the image to reside in).

Answer 1

1. Use Windows 7 to shrink one of your partitions (you can shrink a mounted partition while running Windows). If you already have 4 primary partitions you'll need to remove one of them first.
2. Boot wubi and install GParted and create an extended partition in the free space you created, and then 2 logical partitions, one an ext4 partition large enough to contain your Wubi install, and optionally 1 swap partition (> size of RAM).
3. Migrate wubi to the partition, installing the grub bootloader at the same time
4. Boot the migrated Ubuntu and format the Windows partition, which you can then reuse as a separate /home or you can use the same migration script to move the migrated Ubuntu to it.

This solution doesn't require a live CD/USB (although it's always a good idea to have one.

Answer 2

If your laptop supports it, you should be able to do a net install using PXE. Most laptops will allow you to "boot from the network" at startup. You might have to hit ESC or something like that during boot to get in the right menu.

This does require you to do a bit of setup on another machine in your network, which will serve the Ubuntu installation media. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PXEInstallServer

Answer 3

If you have an Ethernet connection to the machine, and it supports it, you may be able to network boot/install. That is, use the drive on another machine to install Ubuntu over your local network.

Check out the Ubuntu community doc for it over here.

Edit: Wow, jelmer, beat me to it while I was typing.

Answer 4

Please make a backup before testing this because I'm not 100% sure it will work flawless.

I think the way to do it is something like this (untested):

1. Format one partition that will be your destination for the installation (I suggest you to choose the ext4 format)

2. Copy the your files and folders from wubi to the new partition

3. Make sure you have a folder named /boot/ with at least two files like initrd.img-2.6.38-10-generic and vmlinuz-2.6.38-10-generic

4. Than you will have to install grub:

These instructions were adapted from: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Grub2#Recover

"METHOD 3 - CHROOT

This method of installation uses the chroot command to gain access to the broken system's files. Once the chroot command is issued, the LiveCD (in your case the wubi installation) treats the broken system's / as its own. Commands run in a chroot environment will affect the broken systems filesystems and not those of the LiveCD.

1) Boot to the LiveCD Desktop (Ubuntu 9.10 or later) (Open Ubuntu at Wubi). Please note that the Live CD must be the same as the system you are fixing - either 32-bit or 64-bit (if not then the chroot will fail).

2) Open a terminal - Applications, Accessories, Terminal. 3) Determine your normal system partition - (the switch is a lowercase "L")

sudo fdisk -l

If you aren't sure, run

df -Th 

Look for the correct disk size and ext3 or ext4 format.

4) Mount your normal system partition:

Substitute the correct partition: sda1, sdb5, etc.

sudo mount /dev/sdXX /mnt  

# Example: sudo mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

5) Only if you have a separate boot partition: sdYY is the /boot partition designation (for example sdb3)

sudo mount /dev/sdYY /mnt/boot 

6) Mount the critical virtual filesystems:

sudo mount --bind /dev  /mnt/dev
sudo mount --bind /dev/pts  /mnt/dev/pts
sudo mount --bind /proc /mnt/proc
sudo mount --bind /sys  /mnt/sys 

7) Chroot into your normal system device:

sudo chroot /mnt 

8) If there is no /boot/grub/grub.cfg or it's not correct, create one using

update-grub 

9) Reinstall GRUB 2:

Substitute the correct device - sda, sdb, etc. Do not specify a partition number.

grub-install /dev/sdX 

10) Verify the install (use the correct device, for example sda. Do not specify a partition):

sudo grub-install --recheck /dev/sdX 

11) Exit chroot: CTRL-D on keyboard 12) Unmount virtual filesystems:

sudo umount /mnt/dev/pts
sudo umount /mnt/dev
sudo umount /mnt/proc
sudo umount /mnt/sys 

13) If you mounted a separate /boot partition:

sudo umount /mnt/boot 

14) Unmount the LiveCD's /usr directory:

sudo umount /mnt/usr 

15) Unmount last device:

sudo umount /mnt 

16) Reboot.

sudo reboot 

"

Answer 5

Move the hard disk to another computer and install it, then move it back.

Answer 6

Well, theoretically, if you already have more than one partition on your disk or some unallocated space, you could boot Ubuntu using wubi, create a new partition from there, install Ubuntu on that partition, reboot, remove the Windows partition.

The point is - you can't modify partitions or install Ubuntu on a partition you booted from, so you need more than one. Wubi does not count as a separate partition - it resides on the Windows partition so you can't touch that.

But, honestly, USB drives are very-very cheap these days - make a small investment and save you some time :)