From another comment I made
A linux installer for windows that works just like a normal installer on windows. You download the
.exe, double click it, it opens a wizard you can walk though, and by the end of the process, after it reboots, you’re in a linux distro.
How could something like this be implemented?
My idea:
Best case scenario where multiple data partitions exist and can accommodate the user data stored on C:/ + there’s a swap partition -->
- download a linux iso
- deactivate swap
- replace swap partition with ISO contents
- modify contents to auto install linux with settings from wizard
- add boot entry to boot from old swap / modified ISO
- reboot
- install linux with a nice progress animation
- move user data from C:/ to other partition
- replace C:/ with linux
- install alternatives to programs found on windows (firefox for edge, gimp for paint, inkscape for …, libreoffice for MS office, etc.)
- move user data to
/home/$username - configure DE with theme (gnome for macos look, kde with theme for windows look)
- other customisations
- reboot into linux
Dunno if this is feasible in the best case scenario.
Not sure why, but a lot of other distros did something just like this in the past (see the comments about WUBI) and no longer do. Q4OS still has a .exe installer though.
I couldn’t find the source for Q4OS’s exe installer 🤔 They’re on github and sourceforge, but neither have the source for it. Am I looking in the wrong places?
Anti Commercial-AI license
IIUC, Q4OS only shares its source code on request. Furthermore, the Windows installer is a fork (or somewhat based on) WubiUEFI.
TIL. This is pretty cool. I wonder how much effort it would cost to make this a viable option for most of the popular distros.