# Replace windows 7 wuth Lubuntu



## yoshikun (Jun 20, 2015)

old laptop with windows 7- forget password, tried all recovery options, no good. Want to wipe windows and replace with Lubuntu. Is this possible and how?


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## 1002richards (Jan 29, 2006)

Hi and welcome!

It's very simple to do ... full guide with screenshots at link. Though it says 'Ubuntu' the same process applies to Lubuntu, Xubuntu etc. Remember though that it will overwite everything on the hard drive.

You could boot into the live CD and see if you can access with W7 folders and transfer any important docs. pics etc to external media (USB stick or external hard drive).

I'm not sure if you have Lubuntu as a bootable USB so here's a guide (again for Ubuntu read Lubuntu) 
http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

or if you'll use a DVD: http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

Install guide: http://www.wikihow.com/Switch-to-Ubuntu
Rescue data: https://danielzstinson.wordpress.co...-your-windows-computer-using-a-linux-live-cd/

Hope these help?
Richard.


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## lunarlander (Sep 22, 2007)

Hi,

There is an alternative to Lubuntu called LXLE. (http://www.lxle.net/) Like Lubuntu, it is a light weight distro based on Ubuntu. I like it better, because it includes Libre Office, which is perfectly usable on older machines. Don't know why Lubuntu doesn't have it. Note that LXLE is lightweight in terms of processor requirements, but not small in size and the download requires a DVD.


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

You can "burn" the ISO of LXLE Desktop to a USB stick and run it live. I do this to see if a distro works well with my hardware.
I'm currently running 2015.04-05 live.
Apparently this will be the last 32 bit version.
I'm archiving it because not all old computers can run a 64 bit OS!


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## Byteman (Jan 24, 2002)

So basically, if one boots a distro like LXLE Desktop off an USB drive to run it Live, nothing will install to change the bootmgr on any installed Windows version? ...in other words, it is a way to test things without wiping anything out? I have a lot of older but usable XP era laptops and so much old hardware I would like to pass on and this would work to test things like wi-fi cardbus adapters which have been sitting since that ONE time I needed one to fix an old windows XP laptop that had no wireless and Ethernet port was bad. (Before the handy USB wi-fi's came out).


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## plodr (Jun 27, 2014)

> So basically, if one boots a distro like LXLE Desktop off an USB drive to run it Live, nothing will install to change the bootmgr on any installed Windows version?


 Exactly!

Wifi might be a bit tricky in XP. I could never get it to work but that was years ago.
If you absolutely want wifi on old XP laptops, if might be easier to get a USB dongle. The drivers for those are probably included whereas things like PCMCIA cards aren't.


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## managed (May 24, 2003)

You may find that linux distros don't have drivers for a PCMCIA wireless adapter.


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## crjdriver (Jan 2, 2001)

> So basically, if one boots a distro like LXLE Desktop off an USB drive to run it Live, nothing will install to change the bootmgr on any installed Windows version? ...in other words, it is a way to test things without wiping anything out? I have a lot of older but usable XP era laptops and so much old hardware I would like to pass on and this would work to test things like wi-fi cardbus adapters which have been sitting since that ONE time I needed one to fix an old windows XP laptop that had no wireless and Ethernet port was bad. (Before the handy USB wi-fi's came out).


The only thing I have ever seen changed is the bios clock. Some [however not all] distros will change the clock to GMT or Zulu time; a few have reset it to the local time where the distro was developed. Not any big deal to change the clock back to local time.


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