I discovered “Portable Ubuntu for Windows” by accident. It was linked in an odd thread on the Ubuntu Forums : Can’t run native Linux applications in XP, PLEASE HELP. (See post # 45 ) The home page is here : Portable Ubuntu for Windows (sourceforge) No, this is not dual booting Ubuntu from a flash drive, it is portable virtualization the runs in user space (no administrative access required). Portable Ubuntu for Windows is CoLinux with an Ubuntu 8.04 (desktop) image and Xming. Colinux is bare metal (low overhead, no fancy gui or management tools) virtualization for Windows. Xming is a X server for windows (cygwin would be an alternate X server).