Please explain how you did this. I am currently using Vista and VBox with 9.04
and would like to know of another option. I tried dual boot and did not care for
that.

I think the method used is probably "Wubi", available on the Ubuntu website.
It is a Windows programme that installs your choice of K or X etc. Ubuntu.
It's an alternative to the conventional install, but ends up being a dual
boot. In other words you can't minimize it and use windows without a reboot.

Thanks for the info. Dual boot is NOT acceptable!

Just upgraded to 9.04. Yes, I used Wubi in the installation of 8.10.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wubi

I am now dual booting with Windows Vista.

Why isn't it acceptable? Many people do it. I have had my computer for five
years and installed hundreds of distributions on it in that time and I still
have the same Windows XP on it that came with the computer. I don't ever
user Windows, but it has never suffered due to Linux's presence. It is the
same as it was the last time I used it. I boot into it every six months or
so and stay long enough to remember why I don't use Windows.

If you want to run Windows and Linux programmes at the same time WUBI does
not help. You need a VM to do that.

That's how I feel.

All the microsoft windows instances I use are confined to a virtual
machine in linux.

For the microsoft app I use most (visio) I don't even bother with a VM,
but just run it under crossover office instead.

You can either insert an Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu CD in the drive while in
Windows or can download the installer from http://wubi-installer.org/

WUBI stands for Windows UBuntu Installer. It creates a folder on your CD
drive and creates an image file for Ubuntu or whatever flavour of
Canonical's distributions that you want. It is a large file so you want to
defragment your drive before installing. You can remove it from the Windows
control panel when you don't want it.

When you re-boot you will see a brief menu. Windows is the default. If you
select Ubuntu then it will complete installing Ubuntu OS inside the image
file and mount the image as if it was a drive. No Windows is used to run
Ubuntu. Inside the image file you have a Linux file structure. You can
install Linux applications and access your Windows drive. You cannot run
Windows applications, though. It works just like the real thing. The only
limitation is that suspend does not work and it will slow down if your
Windows drive becomes fragmented. It is also subject to viruses and
destruction if you cold re-boot while in Windows. The larger the file the
greater the risk and these files are large, 8 GBs or more. You can set it
for whatever you want.

I tried WUBI but prefer VirtualBox or dual booting. In VirtualBox I can run
both Windows programmes and Linux programmes at the same time and drag and
drop files. With seamless mode I can even share the Linux desktop with
Windows (it gives two panels, Ubuntu on top and Windows on the bottom on the
same desktop). I can clone the VM and copy it as often as I wish and can
even run without an AV programme. If it becomes damaged I just create a new
one from the cloned copy. You can't copy Windows from one physical drive to
another, but you can do this with VMs.

The only way to run a VM IMO is to run Windows in Linux and not the other
way around. You gain the security of Linux and can contain the problems of
Windows to the VM. Linux becomes like a server for Windows that never needs
re-booting, never needs defragmentation, and can be hardened as much as you
care to.

It is nice to have WUBI as an option. It is not as good as the real thing,
but it is a close second.

Great tips. Now I am learning.... thanks for sharing.

Just upgraded to 9.04 then to 9.10

I think I will have some fun with Ubuntu and will enjoy discovering its
hidden gems.

Your positive attitude towards learning a new OS will open up a new world
for you! There are many people that you can lean on as you move forward. All
it takes is a willingness to try and people will be willing to mentor you.

But isnt it the case that with wubi running within windows you cant access
the windows MyDocuments folder etc,
whereas with dual boot you can read and write all the NTFS data on your
computer,
therefore (for me) wubi is unacceptable!

You can access the Windows folders from within Wubi installed Ubuntu. It
is found by going to places, computer, file system, host. Items can be
transfered either way.