And with that, friends and neighbors, I will mark this thread on " Are There Any Installers that Will Simply Fire Up Linux When You Click "Install" ? (like one old wubi I recall)" as "Solved", and find another way to aggravate LQ for awhile.
Before I go, I want to submit a synopsis of the situation, dedicated to The Magnificent Six and those of you who actually waded through 65 posts to get here.
The ANSWER is "yes", and "no".
Yes: Ubuntu 12.04.1, a free, full-blown version released August of 2012 was downloaded and installed, bing zip zam, on an old Pentium D3 with 1 Gig of RAM, by
the wubi at the bottom of the page at
http://old-releases.ubuntu.com/releases/12.04.1/. (The only wubi that was reported to actually work was the one suffixed "12.04.1".)
There are probably other versions with a wubi-style installer that actually works; one responder suggested doing a web-search for "wubiuefi" (up-to-date wubis for recent versions), but that's another quest.
No: Most versions of Linux, especially
current,supported versions, apparently do not have a wubi.exe or one-click installer that actually works or can be located easily.
If you're feeling froggy, you can have (perhaps) any version you like. The process is:
download an ISO file for the version you want...................
"burn" the ISO file to disk or USB (gotta use another program for this, you can't just copy
the file onto the chosen medium -- try
https://cdburnerxp.se/en/home for a CD,
or
https://unetbootin.github.io/) for a bootable USB stick...........
reboot, from the CD or USB, and (allegedly) you get an "install" menu. Maybe. Sometimes.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE MAGNIFICENT SIX:
Pay strict attention if you are lucky enough to get a response from one of these Linux gods/goddesses. While the majority of responders to my plaintive cries here at LQ were at least
trying to help, the members comprising THIS group are absolutely awesome. In order of appearance on my thread, they are:
>>>...
ardvark71..........michaelk..........NessieH..........John VV..........yancek...<<<
Honorable mention goes to:
rokytnji jpollard Ztooracat Chuck34207 and Habitual.
Wish I had had more time to interact with the HM's, but their contributions are appreciated anyway.
LQ is the primo lighthouse in the vast dark sea of Linuxlessness; kudos to the crew for the excellent job here! --- DAN