Getting creative: Installing from Windows?

rsw · 2014-06-14 04:18:02

Good day everyone.

I'm enthused at the opportunity for enjoying Linux and it's various distributions again (Arch being my favorite; not to mention the best, obviously). To the point besides.

This emachine dated 2005 has been gifted to me recently and suffices as my only computer. It's running XP Media edition, in a sad state, with nonfunctional disk drives and no USB boot option in the BIOS. So far I've succeeded in installing Ubuntu 12.04 using Wubi, which has been discontinued as far as I know. To save the uninformed from extraneous research, Wubi is a Windows executable for partitioning the disk and installing Ubuntu. Seeing as how the outdated (and then bloated) Ubuntu is undesirable, I'm seeking similarly creative ways for installing other distributions, specifically Arch, from within XP and without using physical media. I'm envisioning a partitioning scheme, some possible Grub install (will ask about manipulating the Windows bootloader someplace else, unless luck has it someone on these forums could say), and facilitating the OS install via virtualbox. Obviously it's an involved project and a learning experience of my own.

So this topic's purpose is for drawing upon the community from interested and experienced individuals for the knowledge of how this could be accomplished the best possible way. Comments concerning expected difficulties as well as reasons why it might not work at all are also most desired. Thanks for reading and for the support.

EDIT: I have to make a correction. Wubi doesn't partition the disk. I don't know what the method it uses is called.

I've accumulated a few links to howto's topically related, skimmed through them, plan on giving them a try in the next couple days:
http://marc.herbert.free.fr/linux/win2linstall.html
http://www.opensourceforu.com/2009/03/i … om-an-iso/
https://www.archlinux.org/

Last edited by rsw (2014-06-14 06:12:04)

Darkcloud · 2014-06-14 08:29:13

Although there is no USB boot option in the BIOS, have you tried getting a boot menu (via F12 according to http://support.fixmestick.com/hc/en-us/ … S-settings)?
Your USB device may be listed there (if it's plugged in at that time of course).

I've had a similar situation where there was no USB boot option in the BIOS but I was able to boot the USB device just fine with the boot menu.

tomk · 2014-06-14 11:48:10

As you've already installed Ubuntu, use that to install Arch: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/In … ting_Linux

Gusar · 2014-06-14 12:02:52

Plop to the rescue! Use plpbt4win to add Plop to the Windows bootloader (ntldr), then you can boot an USB stick from there. Plop can also easily be started from linux bootloaders (grub, syslinux) which is useful once you'll have Arch installed.

Slithery · 2014-06-14 12:10:43

A few more options for you...

Switch the HD to another machine to perform the initial installation before switching it back again.

Boot over the network by either setting up a machine as a PXE server, or if your NIC supports it you could flash the boot ROM with the Arch iPXE image so that it automatically downloads and boots from the latest install media over the internet.

Use unetbootin to copy the Arch install media to a bootable partition on your machine.

Last edited by Slithery (2014-06-14 12:11:06)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-06-14 04:18:02

Getting creative: Installing from Windows?

#2 2014-06-14 08:29:13

Re: Getting creative: Installing from Windows?

#3 2014-06-14 11:48:10

Re: Getting creative: Installing from Windows?

#4 2014-06-14 12:02:52

Re: Getting creative: Installing from Windows?

#5 2014-06-14 12:10:43

Re: Getting creative: Installing from Windows?

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