Help installing & using a dual boot GUI Linux Distribution (e.g. Ubuntu's 'Windows' version)

Would like help/advice to routinely access and use a desktop Windows-style Ubuntu (22.04, if possible ) distribution.

P.S. : To clarify, my original goal was and I think remains, what's apparently called a "LiveUSB" boot device (with ample storage. To that end, I got a 2TB removable data storage device ("WD Elements")

I'm having some problems figuring out how to open and run a dual-boot GUI version of Ubuntu.

So far, as I understand it, I must effectively shut-down and re-start whenever I want to alternate from one platform to another. But I had not expected that this would require re-starting using the “ESC” or other function keys in tandem. I suspect that I haven't seen and understood some blockages in certain file-system files which are hindering the opening and start-up. I do get a command-line version to open so there is something installed already. But nothing I've tried has successfully started up the desktop “Windows-style” version. I have not done anything about setting the computer's graphic display fixtures to suit a second system's graphic display requirements.

Finally, I may have over-loaded the C drive by down-loading the distribution more than once; so I would also ask, in this appeal, if doing so doubles the space demands on the C –that is, does a second download simply over-write an existing download's content in this case?

If more inforrmation is needed, please let me know how I may help you help me

Some of the output from my most reccent efforts with

E: Invalid operation Xubuntu
(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ Xubuntu
Xubuntu: command not found
(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ open Xubuntu

Command 'open' not found, did you mean:

  command 'wopen' from deb gworkspace.app (0.9.4-2)
  command 'gopen' from deb gnustep-gui-runtime (0.27.0-5build2)
  command 'pen' from deb pen (0.34.1-1build1)

Try: sudo apt install <deb name>

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ Ubuntu --list
Ubuntu: command not found
(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ Xserver

Command 'Xserver' not found, did you mean:

  command 'kserver' from deb freewnn-kserver (1.1.1~a021+cvs20130302-7build1)
  command 'server' from deb golang-golang-x-tools (1:0.0~git20191118.07fc4c7+ds-1)
  command 'cserver' from deb freewnn-cserver (1.1.1~a021+cvs20130302-7build1)
  command 'jserver' from deb freewnn-jserver (1.1.1~a021+cvs20130302-7build1)

Try: sudo apt install <deb name>

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$

Here are the details of my laptop computer:

	TECH HELP WANTED 

	 Model, Device and System specs 

	Windows 10 Home	Version 2004  Installed 23/04/2021  
				OS Build: 19041.1288 
				Windows Feature Experience Pack 120.2212.3920.0

	Manufacturer:  		ASUSTek Computer Corp. (now out of  warranty)
					ACPI x64 based PC
	Processor:		  	Intel Celeron N4000  1.10GHz
	Installed Memory (RAM):	 4.0 GB (3.83 GB usable)
	System type: 			64-bit operating system, x64-based processor 
	Pen and Touch:		No Pen or Touch Input is available for this display 
	Computer name:		LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B 

	Disk drives:  		Windows 10 Home OS (C:) (Contains x
				USB SanDisk 3.2 Gen1 USB device (64GB) SanDisk DA4064  (F:)
				Microsoft Virtual Disk (noted as DVD but no phys. DVD) (?) (G:)
				KINGSTON SDXC card 256GB  (E:)
				WD Elements 2621 USB device (D:)
				
				Peripheral posts:
				1 micro USB port (Left side)
				1 2.0 USB port (Right side; damaged, out of service)
				Earphone audio jack (Right side)
				HDMI port (Left side) 
				SDXC micro card slot  (Left side) 

  Windows Computer Management (profile data) 
  Disk partitioning shown below (current is original state)

    Volume                                        |     Layout      | Type |  Filesystem  |  Status   

   Disk 0                                                Simple        Basic			Healthy
  Partition 1
  Healthy EFI System Partition 
  260 MB of 260 MB 100% free


  Disk 0                                                 Simple        Basic 		Healthy
  Partition 4
  Healthy Recovery Partition 
  650 MB of 650 MB 100% free


  KNGSTN 256GB(E:)                         Simple        Basic     exFAT 	`Healthy
  Active Primary Partition 
  205.98 GB of 249.96 GB 82% free


  WD Elements (D:)                             Simple          Basic     NTFS	 Healthy
  (2TB) 

  OS (C:) 	                                    Simple          Basic     NTFS 	 Healthy  (Capacity shows “Red”*)
 Boot, Page-file, Crash Dump
 Basic Data Partition 
 * 4.77 GB of 57.34 GB  8% free

  Disk 1WD Elements (D:)                   Simple           Basic    NTFS	 Healthy 
  Removable
  Basic Data Partition 
  1862.98 GB of 1852.88 GB 99% free 

  Disk 3  Kngstn 256GB (E:)                 Simple           Basic    exFAT 	Healthy
  Removable
  Active Primary Partition 
  205.98 GB of 249.96 GB  82% free

Basics first...........

Dual boot means that you install two or more different operating systems in separate partitions along with a compatible bootloader e.g. grub. When the system boots you select which O/S you want to boot from the grub menu. So, yes, you have to shutdown one O/S to boot the other.

Alternatively, you can use virtualization products, e.g. VMWare or (freeby) VirtualBox to run a base system with other operating systems "virtualized" in separate containers. This environment allows you to start and stop "guest" operating systems on the platform without stopping the others and just hot-keying between them.

So you need to decide what you are trying to do. From your quote above it sounds like you are undecided.

Welcome to the forum. We hope that you will get the help that you require here.

Thank you. To reply, practically, if I could load and open the Linux distruibution at boot-up, I'd expect it to become my mainstay of routine use--though I'd occasionally refer to MS-Windows if and when no better
alternatives exist. Ideally, I'd find no further need or use for Microsoft--no offense intended to those here
who are fans.

Still, so far, at system boot, no options are offered or available--without some intervention on my
part which I've not known to invoke. Yes, I'd take the opportunity to use some VM ware but,
having also tried to find, install and load/initiate it, that hasn't succeeded either.

I even tried to implement Microsoft's own dual-boot system (in a prepackaged box, so to speak)
but that, too, did not resolve the core obstacles. I'm looking for, if one exists, a kind of key-chord
initiated boot-up option which displays the dual boot choice which then loads upon being
selected--apparently the job of the Grub program but I'm not using it correctly since no such menu comes up. I'm part-way there but settings are still not complete and working as described in the
tutorials. I also installed a Grub program. I haven't found how it's invoked.

From your comment, "When the system boots you select which O/S you want to boot from the grub menu." this is part of my trouble. I have yet to do what's required to set up and find this Grub program.

thank you for answering.

You won't find too many Windows fans on here (although we are all forced to use it sometimes to run some particular app or other reason).

So, indeed, we are talking a dual boot configuration. So you need, right at the start, to decide which disks and/or partitions you are going to install with which operating system. Get that clear in your mind.

You don't usually "install" Grub independently but rather the installation of a Unix/Linux distribution will install it as its bootloader. It's just the software between a system hardware BIOS and handing control to a O/S. It has no other function apart from perhaps letting you choose which O/S to boot and from which partition.

The problem that we all live with (and it is a serious one) is that Windows as it installs thinks that it is the "only show in town" and wants to install its own Windows bootloader, commandeer all free disk space, etc. So many times we have Windows installation overwriting Grub thereby screwing up a Unix/Linux boot sequence.

Generally, Unix.Linux installation routines are more considerate than Windows and will prompt whether or not to install Grub, will usually look for other previously install O/S's and take them into account. Therefore, I think it is generally safer to install Windows first, and Unix/Linux second.

There is, however, a very handy free utility called Supergrub (or Supergrub2 for V2) that you can download and burn to a CD/DVD. Always have this in your toolbox. If you know that you have two O/S's installed on different partitions but something has screwed up Grub, then you can boot from that CD/DVD and it will search for O/S's, reinstall Grub if necessary, and allow you to configure a dual boot menu.

Hope that helps.

At this point, I fear for the C:\ capacity. There remains less than 5MB of space on the C drive.
Plenty of capacity on the WD Elements USB external drive, however. Yesterday, I downloaded the full
Ubuntu documentation (and I think I did the same for the XUbuntu version) so I suppose I have
a lot of reading ahead. Thank you for your follow up.

P.S. I learn from a tutorial on-line that "Hyper-V is not available in Windows 10 Home".

So this tack won't work for me. Let me try a new new tack:
Does someone know of a variant of Hyper-V which may be used with Windows 10 Home version?

Could someone here help me step-by-step create and use the Hyper-V virtual machine function? I've tried following WIndows' users' guide to setting this up. Each time, there's an intermediary step--rather early in the process--where a reboot is called for. As a result, I find myself starting all over from scratch.

I did, however, in the process, open the Windows "turn on or off" features and activated the Hyper-V options and saved the settings. So, in some form or other, I suppose that there is some Hyper-V functionality at least theoretically available to set-up/open/use.

That's where I am and where I'd like to find some assistance from the reader audience. I'm much prefer to avoid if possible more or new cumbersome and space-eating downloads of yet more programs, packages, with their dependencies, unless, that is, I may be advised of those already downloaded for this udertaking which could first be removed as redundant to the proposed other downloads.

thank you all

Hello,

If you have a dedicated drive to install Linux on, then this should (in theory, at least) make your dual boot setup relatively simple. I've not personally done a dual boot install for many, many years now, but from some quick research this evening it seems the general picture hasn't changed too much. The order of events typically goes something like this:

1. Install Windows first. Install it solely to the internal drive, leaving the external drive untouched and unused.
2. Install Linux next. Be careful not to touch, delete or fiddle with the existing Windows partition(s) in any way. You want to create new Linux partitions and filesystems on your dedicated external drive, and leave your internal C: drive well alone.
3. At some point in the installation, you will be prompted to install a boot loader. The GRUB boot loader is installed by default by virtually all the main Linux distros currently in vogue, and it should pick up your Windows install, or at least give you the option to add Windows to the boot menu. The Ubuntu installer specifically has an "Install alongside Windows" option.
4. Now, on your next boot, GRUB should give you a choice between Windows and Linux.

It's important to install Windows first, since its boot loader is not at all Linux friendly, and will happily clobber GRUB (or whatever other boot loader you're using) and lock you out of your Linux system until you fix GRUB by one means or another.

Note that the above advice specifically applies to systems using legacy BIOS mode. For modern UEFI systems, any OS's you install should (again, in theory) register themselves with UEFI at installation time, and your computer should by some mechanism let you choose between them at boot time. I'd probably still go with Windows first and Linux after, just to be safe, but a UEFI system should make dual booting even easier - again, in theory.

Of course, if you want to play it as safe as possible, then download something like Oracle VirtualBox and set up a Linux VM whose hard drive and other contents live on your dedicated external drive. If you're running low on space on C: and can't do the Windows Subsystem for Linux approach as a result (which would be the easiest thing of all), then a Linux VM is definitely the next best thing, in terms of safety.

But you'll still need more than 5MB free on C, that's for sure - and indeed, if you really truly only have 5MB free on C:, then stop what you're doing, and do nothing else until you've got that situation sorted out and under control. Windows does not like running entirely out of space on its C: drive. You ideally want a few gigabytes free at least, at all times, depending on the size of your C: drive, of course. A good first place to start would be to run the Disk Cleanup utility in Administrator mode, which should let you remove old Windows update files, leftover Windows versions from previous upgrades, all manner of temporary files, and plenty else besides.

Hope this helps !

In fact I made a stab at doing that and it may have at least partially worked. There's now 7.94 GB (NTFS) (somewhere) available on C:\

Also, in general, I have a good deal of space available on USB or other plug-in storage devices (See the software/hardware specs in the IO above.) So, there's a download exectuted--I believe. But it isn't "seen" in the MBR and I don't understand why or how to rectify this; but it's sure to be due to my failure to do other things.

I'm confused by the repeated suggestion to install Windows first. MS Windows 10 (Home Ed.) is alrready on the latop as its original OS. There have been software updates since (date given of the Orig, OS and install above in specs.) but no other full MS Windows upgrade (e.g. to release 11).

Is the current Windows system installation not feasible? Am I obliiged to start over with a new Windows install? I'm not even sure I can do that. All I have is a rescue "disk" (or recovery utensil) in case of complete system failure. But, as for removable system disks, these no longer came with the device at purchase.

I'm grateful for your tips and hope you can clarify for me what I need to do next. Also, in case you need other system/machine data or profile info, please let me know. I'd like to just try your suggestions per command-line entries in the Ubuntu 22.04 text version--which does work. It's the GUI I haven''t been able to get, install and open and use.

hope to hear more from you (and others) because there's been some progress, at least.

P.S.

Here's more recent output from some system calls:

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(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ man -k systemd-analyze

systemd-analyze (1) - Analyze and debug system manager

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ systemd-analyze

System has not been booted with systemd as init system (PID 1). Can't operate.

Failed to connect to bus: Host is down

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ boot

bootcfg.exe bootctl bootim.exe boot.sdi bootsect.exe bootstat.dat bootstr.dll bootux.dll

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ bootsect.exe --info

bootsect {/help|/nt60|/nt52} {SYS|ALL|<DriveLetter>:} [/force] [/mbr]

Boot sector restoration tool

Bootsect.exe updates the master boot code for hard disk partitions in order to

switch between BOOTMGR and NTLDR. You can use this tool to restore the boot

sector on your computer.

Run "bootsect /help" for detailed usage instructions.

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ bootsect /help

bootsect: command not found

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ bootsect --help

bootsect: command not found

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ help bootsect

-bash: help: no help topics match `bootsect'. Try `help help' or `man -k bootsect' or `info bootsect'.

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ bootsect --info

bootsect: command not found

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$ man -k bootsect

bootsect: nothing appropriate.

(user-name)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$

WWIN

I also wonder, as a newcomer, which is preferred: Is it customary here to address correspondents by their (provided) real names?

If that is the case, I advise you to consider booting only your favorite Linux distro (Ubuntu?) and running Windows in a container / VM on your Ubuntu setup.

There are a number of ways to accomplish this. You @WhichWayIsNorthQMark may find this tutorial on VirtualBox helpful:

There are other options, so it might be a good idea to do your own research.

Hello,

The sequence of instructions I provided is the general procedure to follow if you're setting up a dual boot system from scratch - i.e., if you're starting from bare metal with no OS installed at all, then in that situation you install Windows first, and then install Linux. If you already have Windows installed, then you don't need to worry about installing Windows - but if you were wanting Linux and Windows to share the same drive, you might need to shrink your Windows partition to make room for your Linux install, if you hadn't planned ahead to leave enough room for Linux.

And that's the scenario in which, at the moment, you would run in to problems (if you were wanting the two OS's to share a drive). It's almost a certainty that Windows is using the whole of your existing internal hard drive, as things stand, since it's the only OS you are running right now. In an ideal situation (or if you were starting from scratch), you'd create a Windows partition that was exactly as big as Windows needed, and have left the rest of the space on the drive un-partitioned for use with your Linux install. You would then create your Linux partitions during your installation of Linux in that empty space, and both OS's would end up using as much space as you intended them to use.

So if you are installing Linux after the fact, and if you also wanted or needed both OS's to co-exist on the same physical drive, the first thing you'd have to do would be to shrink your Windows partition. And in a Windows partition like yours, which is almost entirely full, you'd probably find that to be impossible. Under perfect theoretical conditions - that is to say, if your partition was perfectly de-fragmented with no un-movable files and all the empty space in one nice big contiguous block at the end of your partition - the most you could shrink C: by would be 7.9GB, which wouldn't be enough for Linux, and would leave you with zero bytes free for Windows, again.

But, in your situation, you're not going to be touching the internal C: drive at all, if I've understood you correctly - or at least, the only change you're going to make is the installation of the Linux distro boot loader in the bootblock (again, assuming this is a legacy BIOS system and not UEFI). In that situation, where all your Linux partitions are going on a dedicated external drive, you should be good to go. You shouldn't have to worry about how much space you have free on C:, now that you at least have some space free. You can just carry on installing Linux to your dedicated drive, and you should be fine.

So in your case, the installation procedure should pretty much be:

1. Boot the installation media of your Linux distro of choice
2. Run the installer
3. Install Linux to your dedicated drive, being sure not to wipe or change anything on your internal/C: drive
4. Install your boot loader or set up your boot environment
5. Reboot, and choose which OS to boot at either your GRUB or UEFI prompt, as appropriate

That's pretty much that. From what you've told us here, it should be a pretty straightforward setup, with nothing too complicated to get in the way. As long as you are careful not to touch your existing Windows drive, and all your Linux partitions and filesystems get created on your dedicated drive, the install should just work, unless there is something else to the contrary to get in the way.

If you are having a specific or particular problem during the Linux install itself, then if you can let us know what that problem is, along with any and all relevant error messages, warnings, or anything else out of the ordinary that crops up, then we may be able to assist further.

Hope this helps !

Kevin, Thank you again.

(Neo, thank you, too. I'll be following up your suggestion as time permits. But if I could get a Linux bootable version to work in a GUI, that's what I'd prefer, keeping your recommendation as a possible fall-back option.)

this fairly well sums up the situation correctly:

Blockquote "in your situation, you're not going to be touching the internal C: drive at all, if I've understood you correctly - or at least, the only change you're going to make is the installation of the Linux distro boot loader in the bootblock (again, assuming this is a legacy BIOS system and not UEFI). In that situation, where all your Linux partitions are going on a dedicated external drive, you should be good to go. You shouldn't have to worry about how much space you have free on C:, now that you at least have some space free. You can just carry on installing Linux to your dedicated drive, and you should be fine

Blockquote

and these were also my working assumptions and my expectations from the Linux docs I'd read concerning downloads and installations.

except in one respect--which may and I suspect does matter here.

I have actually downloaded a distribution --or even two of them, since, when I'd gotten nowhere in actually booting up a GUI form of it, I tried another--so, when I look at what the resident Windows system shows as available "apps" I find shown among themboth of the following , described (under WIndows' menu) as clickable icons, "recently installed"

(first) "Ubuntu on Windows" and, iimmediately beneath that, "Ubuntu LTS (22.04)

and clicking on either executes a command opening a command-line text window, the same for either of the "two"--so perhaps in fact they aren't different at all although there are two separate icons showing.

Blockquote

Welcome to Ubuntu 20.04.4 LTS (GNU/Linux 5.10.102.1-microsoft-standard-WSL2 x86_64)

• Documentation: (link shown)
• Management: (link shown)
• Support: (link shown)

System information as of Tue Jun 7 15:26:18 BST 2022

System load: 0.0 Processes: 15
Usage of /: 1.7% of 250.98GB Users logged in: 0
Memory usage: 3% IPv4 address for eth0: (address removed for this example)
Swap usage: 0%

11 updates can be applied immediately.
11 of these updates are standard security updates.
To see these additional updates run: apt list --upgradable

This message is shown once a day. To disable it please create the
/home/hermes-actual/.hushlogin file.
(my user-login here as designated at the time of download & install)@LAPTOP-8VCTCE8B:~$

Blockquote

so if I'm not mistaken, there's at least an accessible text-version of Ubuntu (22.04) installed but it doesn't load or boot from the MBR. I invoke (so far) only after having launched Windows 10, as you've correctly understood, the only as yet bootable OS apparent in the boot record.

And, yes, again, you're correct in understanding my objective has been as you put it,

Blockquote ..."you're not going to be touching the internal C: drive at all, if I've understood you correctly - or at least, the only change you're going to make is the installation of the Linux distro boot loader in the bootblock (again, assuming this is a legacy BIOS system and not UEFI). In that situation, where all your Linux partitions are going on a dedicated external drive,...

Blockquote

If I've seemed wary, it's because I dare not screw up this laptop's lamentable Windows OS in the process of attempting to arrange a Linux-flavor OS which, for one reason or another, I find I cannot make work because, in that case, I'm screwed. Many years ago I tried to do essentially the same thing when Red Hat first came out. In the process of trying to put it on a desktop workstation (the old box-y things of the late 70s to mid-80s) I wound up with nothing but a text-editor command-lind window under Red Hat and no further usable Windows system at all. Thus, I lost all GUI capability. Period. I have to avoid repeating that fiasco which put me, where Linux is concerned, in the place of the cat which has been burned by a hot stove and has wary of all stoves. Meanwhile, tyring to bear Windows' incessant udate demands and down-loads--which, for many months now, I've either refused and prevented, or, failing that, I've manually uninstalled them via its "add/remove a program" has become just too much. I don't really even know what effect, if any, successfully avoiding ever having to boot/"open" a Windows OS would have as far as Windows' push-y updates are concerned. I'd of course continue to frequently be logged in online via (usually) some WiFi internet connection and, thus, in some respect, the ubiquitous Windows may in some sense "see", "detect" the machine presence and carrying on attempting to propose up-dates; my computer savvy doesn't extend so far as to know whether that would be the case. I just look forward to never having to refuse Windows up-dates or remove them when they are imposed anyway.

Now, and, to come to the end of your reply, and the status quo:

Blockquote ..." you should be good to go. You shouldn't have to worry about how much space you have free on C:, now that you at least have some space free. You can just carry on installing Linux to your dedicated drive."

Blockquote

again, so far, no attempted auto-download and install, followed to the best of my understanding and ability, has produced a working, openable GUI of Ubuntu LTS. I can only open and use the text-window version since there's no boot option produced and present on the C:\ drive's boot-sector which makes a Linux OS an option at boot-up.

I hope I've helped clarify the situation and you can see, if not what's going wrong, at least what I've done so far and how I might proceed to try to modify the C:\ boot partition to include the Ubuntu OS at start-up.

I recognize I'm very lacking in the kind of computer-knowledge which is probably taken for granted as basic and typical of the readership at a site such as this. But becoming advanced in using and writing code just is not high on my list of priorities. I've known personally and quite well some extraordinarily gifted computer programmers and I marvelled at what they were able to do without, of course, understanding it in any deep way (FORTRAN, COBOL, BASIC, LISP, C, C+, C++) , . We are and were very different kinds of people.

I think the hang-ups are at Nos. 4 & 5. : installing the boot loader / setting up the boot environment since, at reboot, there's no choice of OS apparently available (whether by or through a GRUB or UEFI prompt, though I may not understand exactly what the UEFI prompt is/looks like.

Hello,

Ah, I think we're finally getting to the bottom of what's going on here. Now, if I understand you rightly, you have installed Linux distributions via the Microsoft App Store to use them with the Windows Subsystem for Linux. That isn't what dual-booting means. Essentially, what you are doing here is running a version of the Linux kernel at runtime inside Windows, which allows you to access Linux command line applications semi-natively as apparently-normal Windows applications. So you cannot run your Linux OS without first booting into Windows. In reality, you are effectively running the Linux kernel as an app inside Windows, and you are not natively running Linux at all - though the end result is, arguably, largely the same, in that you do have access to "real" Linux applications at the end of it all.

This also explains where all your disc space went. Since what you are in reality doing is (as far as Windows is concerned, at least) installing an app from the Windows app store, everything will be going on your C: drive. You don't have an option to install Linux anywhere else, because you're not really installing Linux, per se. You're running it within a built-in virtualization layer inside Windows, and so everything goes wherever Windows puts its App Store apps.

So, if you want to run Linux natively, what you need to do is firstly download the ISO or USB stick filesystem image for the installer of your Linux distribution. You'll get this from the Web site of the Linux distro - so ubuntu.com, centos.org, whatever it may be. You'll then either burn that to a CD, DVD or USB stick using the software of your choice, something like Rufus or whatever you prefer.

Next, you reboot your PC, and boot it off of that freshly-created CD, DVD or USB filesystem. That then boots the Linux kernel directly and natively from that device, and will start the Linux installer. At this point, you are running Linux, and not Windows. Windows is not involved in installing or running Linux normally, unless you are going down the WSL route or something else like it.

And now, you can install Linux for real. You'll be presented with a graphical installer running under X Windows or Wayland, and you'll be able to go through the installation routine of your Linux distro. That will then let you follow a procedure like the ones given by myself and others here, and end up with (hopefully, if all goes well) a computer that can either natively run Windows, or Linux.

Hope this helps ! If this doesn't seem to be appropriate or if I'm still getting the wrong end of the stick here, do get back to us and we can take things from there.

Kevin,

Thanks for that ---and, for any part I've had in being less than clear about these matters from the very first, my sincere apologies. I really do want to and am trying to help those here who are trying to help me with this--and i appreciate them!

Now, about

Blockquote ..." So, if you want to run Linux natively, what you need to do is firstly download the ISO or USB stick filesystem image for the installer of your Linux distribution. You'll get this from the Web site of the Linux distro - so... (your cited examples here)... whatever it may be. You'll then either burn that to a CD, DVD or USB stick using the software of your choice, something like Rufus or whatever you prefer." ..

and I do want to run Linux natively and have had this objective from the start. True, I did try--in a bout of desperation--to see if the lamentable Windows version to which you refer would serve. But that was far from and never my first intention. No, I downloaded and have tried to install (first, via "Rufus", which hasn't succeeded) Ubuntu from direct or indirect (mirrors) suppliers of native Linux. This was to--I almost forget now these details--either an external (USB) peripheral or, otherwise, to a file-folder on C:\ (perhaps just the resident Windows "Downloads" folder) and then copied or "moved" to a USB thumb-drive (in one case) and/or a much larger 2TB (USB) storage device. In either or both cases, I've made repeated tries to run

"sudo apt install (Ubuntu version)" (that, admittedly, was in the text-editor window running, yes, "under auspices of" the Windows OS; but, really, until I get, download and install (somewhere) a distribution, I am, by necessity, "running/ operating" under Windows in some manner or other) and sort of successfully (as mentioned above) gotten the text-based (only) version to open. You're right, this is while "in Windows" , however, I had also tried to faithfully follow Rufus instructions in order to see that, during an "original download-and-install", so to speak, the downloaded distribution was correctly placed in a boot-sector so that, at start-up, i.e. before Windows 10 loads, there's a boot option provided which permits Ubuntu's starting (in any form, text or graphic) at the boot-up. Still, to no avail. When I examine (via Windows' "Administration Console") what the boot partition "looks like", there's no indication anywhere in it of any sort of what we want, yes: a native Linux distribution--which is what Rufus was supposed to help me achieve, I'd thought.

So, I've been disappointed in the actual working use of Rufus in my personal case here. And it was only then that I even considered other alternatives--which have included resorting to other major Unix/Linux sites or users' help fora for places where alternative auto-run installation or advice might be found.

Indeed, I very much want to get and stay (to the fullest extent possible) completely away from ever having to run Ubuntu or any other distribution as a dependency of an overlaid and operatively live and priority Windows OS; that would not be my idea of a really satisfactory solution. A genuine native Linux was always the objective rather than some rinky-dink WIndows look-alike version of it. And I quite understand your crucial points about there being essential differences in these.

Again, thanks for reading and responding,

Russ

Right. But I'd already understood that much at least.

true enough--I see that and see it better when you put it that way; however I hadn't been interested in doing this, much less looking for a way to accomplish it.

Hello,

Can I ask what exactly went wrong when you tried to use Rufus to create a bootable USB stick ? Did you receive an error ? Or alternatively, what went wrong when you tried to boot from the stick that Rufus created ?

Thank you, Kevin,

Yes, bearing in mind what we've established, that is, from within this text-based Windows-10-dependent Ubuntu-window, the attempts returned error codes-- here are the details

I'll try and repeat the process and append them to this answer---
But, first, let me describe what's on the USB's (undifferentiated) contents:

1. (disk image) ubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64.iso (size: 3,569,294 KB)
2. ubuntu-server-guide.pdf (330 pp. doc)
3. (another (downloaded) hard-disk image file which I denominated "BLACK.vhd) size: 4,060KB (this is because I'd suspected that successfully installing a virtual hard drive might be a work-around. But I don't see that it has helped.
4. finally, a RUFUS instller .exe file: "rufus-3.18.exe"

   ---

Simply, at re-boot, there's no re-direct (or otherwise); no options appear other than a direct boot of the resident Windows-10 boot image. Once there, of course, I can "launch" the Ubuntu icon's text-based package. But, returning to the point made above about native Ubuntu-Linux, there's nothing of that available that I can see. Now, maybe I'm missing something crucial in the initial start-up such as specifying a required key-chord at the time I initiate a re-boot.

Double-clicking on the filename, "ubuntu-22.04-desktop-amd64.iso" just opens a file folder with these contents:
(ff="file folder not drive letters; this syntax is my own for purposes of this discussion)

(ff) ".disk"
---> (subfiles) "base_installable" (0 KB)
"casper-uuid.generic" (1 KB)
"cd-type" (1 KB)
"info" (1 KB)
"release-notes-url" (1 KB)

(ff) "boot"
(subfiles) (folder) "GRUB" )
(BIN file) "memtest86+.bin"
(GRUB folder's subfiles) (folder) "fonts"
(folder) "i386-pc"
(folder) "x86_64-efi"
(CFG file) "grub.cfg"
(CFG file) "loopback.cfg"

(ff) "casper"folder holds:
........................... "filesystem.manifest" (57 KB)
"filesystem.manifest-minimal-remove" (3 KB)
"filesystem.manifest-remove" (4 KB)
"filesystem.size" (1 KB)
"filesystemsquashfs" (2,443,676 KB)
"filesystemsquashfs.gpg" ( 1 KB)
"initrd" ( 116,494 KB)
"vmlinuz" (10, 815 KB )

(ff) "dists"
(subfolder) "jammy"
......................................("Jammy" 's subfolders/files) (ff) "Main"
(ff) "restricted"
(file) "Release"
(GPG file) "Release.gpg"
(ff) "EFI"
---->(subfolders) "boot"
---> (subfiles (EFI)) "bootx64.efi"
"grubx64.efi"
"mmx64.efi"

(ff) "install" ("This folder is empty")
(ff) "pool"
(subfiles/folders) ---> (ff) "main" (containing many "sub-libraries")
(ff) "restricted" ---> "b" ---> "bcmwl-kernel-source_6.30.223.271+bdcom0ubuntu8_amd64.deb" (size: 1.47 MB)
"restricted" ---> "l (letter "L")" ---> 4 subfolders:
"linux-restricted-modules"
"linux-restricted-modules-oem-5.17"
"linux-restricted-signatures"
"linux-restricted-signatures-oem5.17"
---> "letter "n" "
(subfolders) ---> (8 various) "nvidia-graphics-drivers" folders
(numbers) 390, 430, 440, 450, 455, 460, 470, 510

"preseed" ---> "ubuntu.seed" (SEEDfile (1 KB) )

(CATALOG) "boot.catalog" (2 KB)
(text file) "md5sum.txt" ( 26 KB)

(this completes the downloaded file sets' contents)

If, for example, I double-click on "grub.cfg" I get a Windows dialog window asking me "How do you want to open this file?" -- and I presume this is the invariable return on these executables. Infuriating!

Hi,

OK, from the sounds of things, you haven't actually managed to make a bootable USB stick. If, when you insert your stick into a USB port on your PC, you see a Windows Explorer window with the ISO file and other things, then that means that these files have just been copied to the Windows-formatted filesystem on the stick, and the stick does not contain a valid bootable Linux filesystem.

Try following the instructions here to actually make a bootable stick:

Create a bootable USB stick with Rufus on Windows

Essentially, you have to write the contents of the bootable USB image bock-for-block, directly onto the underlying physical device that is the USB stick. On Windows, software like Rufus takes care of that for you, since there's no easy or straightforward way to do it yourself. Once the USB stick has been entirely overwritten at the block level with the contents of the bootable USB image that you download from Ubuntu, you should find when you reboot your PC with the stick inserted that it lets you boot from that stick, and start the Ubuntu installer.

Thank you so very much. It's late in the day where I am and I've about reached my computer stamina limit for the day. So, since connectivity issues require it, I'll return to the matter Monday when I can again get a safe, reliable internet connection and take up the task--since, if I understand you, I'll need to re-do the distrib. download and try to do it correctly this time to the USB. And there are/may be a few things I'd put on it in the interim which I'd like to save elsewhere so that this re-download (which sounds like it's similar to re-formatting the USB in its effect on the contents) shall eliminate whatever is/was on the USB in the process. That prompts me to want to confirm this Question with you: I gather that once this is done--and assuming it works--that USB won't be available or useful for any other storage or purposes apart from the sole task of use as an external boot-drive with which to load up the Ubuntu (or whatever) distrib.: am I correct in assuming this?
Back (I hope and intend) on Monday.

Many thanks for all your time and attention and that of the others who've offered their support and replies.
Russ.

If I understand your question correctly, no, you don't ruin a USB stick by formatting it as a boot drive. You can reformat it and use it for other purposes at any time.