Ubuntu – Move WUBI installation of Ubuntu to a different partition in Windows

12.04installationmemory usage

I don't have a lot of space on my D: drive and Ubuntu is taking 15 gigs of it so I wonder, is there a way of moving Ubuntu from D: to C: while keeping the files that exists on Ubuntu?
Thanks

Best Answer

Make backup copy of all important data in Ubuntu into an external device. If the following does not work, you may lose all your data.
Copy the root.disk file from D:\Ubuntu\Disks to a safe place. You may put it in your "My Documents" for the time being.
Uninstall Ubuntu using Control Panel.
Reboot.
Install Ubuntu in C: using WUBI. Make sure when installing to C: that you choose the same Disk Size as the Disk you already have. This prevents errors.
Replace C:\Ubuntu\Disks\root.disk with the root.disk you had copied before.
Reboot.

One more step

See https://askubuntu.com/a/55029/14916 for details (Thanks to @bcbc for pointing out this part.) The following is taken from that answer:

e.g. if D: is /dev/sda2 and C: is /dev/sda1, then you'd hit 'e' on the first entry of the grub menu and change:

set root=(hd0,2) becomes set root=(hd0,1)

Delete the line - search --no-floppy xxx (as this overrides the previous set root command using the old UUID)

linux /boot/vmlinuz-xxxx root=/dev/sda2 ... becomes linux /boot/vmlinuz-xxx root=/dev/sda1 ...

This is a one-time override - hit Ctrl+X to boot, and make sure you run sudo update-grub after booting to fix the grub.cfg menu so it works the next time.

PS: There may be some variations. (hd0,2) could be (hd0, msdos2) or (/dev/sda, msdos2) depending on the version of Grub. Also root=/dev/sda2 may be root=UUID=xxxxx

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Ubuntu – Move the whole installed files to another partition

A1: no, it's not possible. The paths are fixed.

A2: if you want to move files to another partition, you'll need to use a Live CD. Please consider resizing partitions first which is much easier and less error-prone. This is only possible if you've enough space on one disk. Consider moving your /home folder as described here too, 8GB should be enough for / in most cases. If you want to use a second disk as root partition or wish to create a new partition on the current disk, please continue.

Make a backup (preferably with disk-cloning software like Clonezilla).
Boot into the Live CD, do not mount anything
Create a new partition using the Disk Utility or GParted. This partition must support Linux file permissions. Such a filesystem is ext4. Label it "UbuntuRoot" so you can find the partition easier, otherwise you'll have to remember the partition name (e.g. /dev/sdb1)

Open a terminal and run sudo blkid to get the UUID for your newly created partition. Example output, you'll need the last line:

/dev/sda1: LABEL="HDD" UUID="AD078BC9C024FCDD" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda2: LABEL="DATA" UUID="FDE43758913E70EE" TYPE="ntfs"
/dev/sda3: UUID="a88638ae-3cd3-45c0-ad06-2d56d89b19a0" TYPE="swap"
/dev/sda4: UUID="e3f848cb-5a05-4d2d-92e0-3eaf7b27338c" TYPE="ext4"
/dev/sdb1: LABEL="UbuntuRoot" UUID="1cdfadcf-0969-48ba-96a5-42557c23f8e9" TYPE="ext4"

Mount your old root partition (/dev/sdb1 is your newly created partition, /dev/sda4 was your old partition):
```
sudo mkdir /media/old
sudo mount /dev/sda4 /media/old
sudo mount /dev/sdb1 /mnt
```
Copy over the files (this may take a while):
```
sudo cp -prvT /media/old /mnt
```

Update /mnt/etc/fstab with the new UUID. Pick an editor at your choice:

sudo nano /mnt/etc/fstab
gksu gedit /mnt/etc/fstab

Find the line that looks like and replace the UUID of /dev/sda4 with the /dev/sdb1's UUID:

# / was on /dev/sda4 during installation
UUID=e3f848cb-5a05-4d2d-92e0-3eaf7b27338c /               ext4    errors=remount-ro 0       1

Save /mnt/etc/fstab and exit the editor. Next, GRUB needs to be updated to boot from the new disk and partition.
```
sudo grub-install --root-directory=/mnt /dev/sdb
```
Unmount the partitions to finish it:
```
sudo umount /mnt /media/old
```
Reboot to check the result.

Ubuntu – Install windows 7 and ubuntu 12.04 from the same usb

OK, so I found the best possible easiest solution there is. Simply download and install Yumi Multiboot installer in windows. Download here. Follow the instructions and keep your iso s handy. After installation of one OS installer is done, you may proceed to install another. This was probably the easiest solution I could find. And now I have a 4g gig pen drive with windows 7 and ubuntu 12.04 installer.

Cheers!

Best Answer

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