Table of Contents
Many things work the same way in Xubuntu that they do in Windows®. But you may still need help understanding Xubuntu terminology and transferring your files to use in Xubuntu.
While using Microsoft Windows®, you will have probably stored a great deal of data, including documents, emails, photographs and music. The chances are that you will want to keep most of this information for use with Xubuntu. This section provides instructions on moving your data to Xubuntu.
While applications available for Xubuntu support most common file types, there are still many file types that are not supported. If you have files in an unsupported format, it is recommended that you try to convert them to a supported format before switching. This section covers some common, unsupported or only partially-supported file types and lists possible alternatives and methods of conversion.
Some types of files cannot be used in Xubuntu
Check to see whether the file types you use are supported
Convert unsupported files types
Many common audio formats cannot be played on Xubuntu without the installation of additional software. This is due to legal restrictions.
Unfortunately, due to legal restrictions and technical issues with some common audio formats, Xubuntu cannot play certain audio formats out-of-the-box. While support for certain restricted formats can be added after you have installed Xubuntu, it can be advantageous to convert audio files to a well-supported format. This is especially important if the files have been encoded using some form of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software, as DRM restrictions can render files unplayable in all applications but the one that they were applied.
The following major audio formats are proprietary and so are not supported by default in Xubuntu:
MP3
WMA
AAC
RealAudio®
For a well-supported audio format to replace MP3 and WMA, consider the Ogg Vorbis format. For a well-supported lossless (very high quality) format to replace AAC Lossless and WMA-VBR, consider the FLAC format. Both of these formats are open, and can be played in Xubuntu without the installation of any additional software.
There are many audio conversion applications for Microsoft Windows ® available for download, and some of these can be obtained free of charge. These applications are also sometimes referred to as audio (re)encoders . Your choice of application depends on the formats that you wish to convert from and to. See websites such as Download.com for a list of potentially useful applications.
It is still possible to add support for many restricted formats (such as those listed above) to Xubuntu after installation. See the Restricted Formats document on the Xubuntu community support website for more information.
Many common video formats cannot be played on Xubuntu without the installation of additional software. This is due to legal restrictions.
As with audio formats, due to legal and technical issues, many video formats are not supported by the default Xubuntu install. While support for some formats can be added at a later date, it is recommended that you convert important video files in unsupported formats to a format that is well supported in Xubuntu.
As with the audio formats, there are many video converter applications available as free-of-charge downloads for Microsoft Windows®. Consider converting your video files to a format that is well-supported by Xubuntu, such as Ogg Theora.
The following major video formats are not supported by default in Xubuntu:
WMV
RealVideo®
DivX®
QuickTime®
It is still possible to add support for many restricted formats (such as those listed above) to Xubuntu after installation. See the Restricted Formats document on the Xubuntu community support website for more information.
Xubuntu office applications can read most common office document formats without the need for conversion
The default word processing program of Xubuntu, AbiWord, supports very many office document formats right out of the box. These include many of the Microsoft® Office, Corel® WordPerfect® and OpenOffice.org™ formats. If you find that you do have files in formats that are unsupported, it is likely that your existing office suite or application will have the ability to save the files to a better-supported format.
Some file formats are specific to particular Windows-only applications, and so cannot be used with Xubuntu software
Many applications use file formats specific to them.
A good example is the
Adobe® Photoshop®
file format. Formats such as these are
generally able to store additional data compared to
widely-used standard formats and so are still useful.
You may find that applications exist on Xubuntu to convert
or use application specific formats. The GIMP
Image Editor is able to use Adobe .PSD
files,
for example.
If you are uncertain whether a format is application-specific or has a usable alternative, seek help from a Xubuntu support channel.
The Internet connection settings that are relevant to you will depend on the type and supplier of your Internet connection. Your supplier will generally be able to advise you of the relevant settings if you encounter difficulties in finding them yourself.
![]() |
|
If you connect to the Internet using a network or router, see the section called “Network Settings” for instructions. |
Below is a list of common settings that you are likely to need:
User name
Password
Dial-up telephone number
You may also require the following information:
Dial-out number
Dialing type (tone or pulse)
Authentication type
Below is a list of common settings that you are likely to need:
User name
Password
Dialing telephone number
Connection type (usually PPPoE or PPPoA)
It is possible that you may also require the following technical information, which should be available from your Internet service provider:
IP address and subnet mask
DNS server, gateway IP address or DHCP server
VPI/VCI
MTU
Encapsulation type
DHCP settings
If you connect to the Internet through a proxy server, you will need to make a note of some details of the proxy server in order to allow Xubuntu to connect to the Internet.
Within your Microsoft Windows environment, press
→ .If the Control Panel has a purple background, press
→ .If the Control Panel has a white background, press Internet Options.
On the Connections tab, press
.If the Use a proxy server for your LAN option is ticked, this means that you are connecting to the Internet through a proxy server.
Press
and make a note of the contents of the boxes on the screen that appears. These are your proxy settings.While Xubuntu is usually able to automatically detect the settings for your network, it is wise to make a note of relevant network settings in case the network you are trying to connect to cannot be handled automatically.
If you have a home network, perhaps connected using a router or switch, there are a few settings that you may need in order to connect to the network successfully. While most networks will be able to assign correct settings to Xubuntu automatically, some networks cannot.
Follow the instructions below to obtain a copy of the network settings that you may need:
Within your Microsoft Windows environment, press cmd.exe into the box labeled Open: and press .
→ and typeA black screen called Command Prompt will appear. In the screen, type
ipconfig /all
and press Enter. This will list a set of network settings for each of the networking devices you have installed. You may have one or several networking devices.
Now, type
ipconfig /all > C:\network_settings.txt
and then press Enter. This will
store the settings you have just seen in the file
C:\network_settings.txt
.
Locate and open
C:\network_settings.txt
in a
text editing program, such as
Notepad. Print out a
copy of the file if possible.
If you connect to a Microsoft Windows network, you may need some additional information in order to be able to see documents placed in network shares. If you connect to a network administered by another person, ask that person for the relevant information on connecting to the network. Otherwise, ensure that you have access to the information listed below:
Domain or workgroup name
Your username and password on the network
Active Directory master IP address (if applicable)
There are several important pieces of information that you should have to hand if you would like to connect to a wireless network. These are listed below:
Network name (SSID)
WEP encryption key or WPA passkey
There are numerous ways of discovering this information. If your wireless network is provided by a wireless router, you should be able to find this information from the configuration pages of the router. Consult the router manual for more information on where to find the relevant information.
VPNs or Virtual Private Networks are a type of network that allow you to connect to a remote private network using a public network such as the Internet. There are many different types of VPN, which have varying degrees of support under Xubuntu. If you must connect to a VPN, first identify the type of VPN that you are connecting to. If the VPN is supported under Xubuntu, it is possible that a document will be available from the VPN vendor's website that can help you to connect to the network.
Ensure that you have all of the VPN connection information that you think you may require.
If you use instant messaging (chat) software, you will have set up a user account on an instant messaging network. Xubuntu has excellent support for many instant messaging networks by default, so you should still be able to use your existing account after you have switched. Please ensure that you make a note of the following information about your instant messaging account:
User name
Password
Screen name or alias
If possible, also make a copy of your buddy or contact-list.
It is likely that you have many bookmarked websites in your web browser. This section helps you back them up.
To backup your bookmarks from the Microsoft Internet Explorer® 6 web browser:
Start Internet Explorer™.
Press
→ .The Import/Export Wizard will start. Press .
Select Export Favorites and press
.Select the folder that you want to export your favorites. Selecting the Favorites folder will will export all of them. Press
.Select Export to a File or Address and choose a filename. Press
.Completing the Import/Export Wizard will be displayed. Press
.Your bookmarks will have been saved to the filename you specified previously.
To backup your bookmarks from the Firefox® web browser:
Start Firefox .
Press
→ .Press
→ .Choose a filename. Press
.You can use the same email account in Xubuntu as you have done in Microsoft Windows. If you have a web-based email account you should simply be able to access it using a web browser as you would have done in Microsoft Windows. Otherwise, please note down the following information so that you can re-create your account settings on Xubuntu:
Email address
Password
POP3 or IMAP server
SMTP server
Authentication method
The instructions on exporting emails and email account settings are specific to particular applications. Instructions for some popular email clients are given in the following sections; users of other applications may find instructions relevant to their mail application from the Ubuntu community support website.
These instructions are intended for users of Microsoft Outlook® Express 6. If you are a user of a different version of Outlook® Express, you may find instructions specific to that version from the Ubuntu community support website.
Open Outlook Express ® and press → →
The Address Book Export Tool will start. Select the option Text File (Comma Separated Values) and then press .
Save the file in a memorable location.
Give the file a descriptive name, such as
mail_address_book.csv
,
and press .
Select the details from the address book that you would like to export. If you are unsure, tick all of the options. Then, press
.You should receive a message stating that the Address book export process has completed. Press
and then . Your address book should now have been exported successfully.Because Microsoft Outlook® Express is unable to export its mail messages to an intermediate format, you must install another piece of software in order to export your email.
Please see the section called “Preparing Email For Export Using Thunderbird” for instructions on importing your email into the Thunderbird® application, which will allow the exporting of your messages.
These instructions are intended for users of Microsoft Outlook® 2003. If you are a user of a different version of Outlook® , you may find instructions specific to that version on the wiki.
![]() |
|
This method may be unreliable and should be used for backup purposes only. |
Open Outlook and press →
Select the Mail Setup tab and press
A screen called Outlook Data Files will be displayed. Select the first file in the list, make a note of its name, and press
A folder will open. Find the file you just selected. If
you have difficultly finding the file, it should be of type
Office Data File or have the file extension
.pst
.
Copy the file into the location you are using to store your exported settings.
Repeat this process for all of the files that were listed on the Outlook Data Files screen.
Open Outlook and press →
The Import and Export Wizard will start. Select the option Export to a file and then press .
Select Comma Separated Values (DOS) and press
Select the Contacts folder and press
. Then, choose where to save the file and press .A screen listing Actions to be performed will be shown. Press
to export your contacts to the location you selected in the previous step.Open Outlook and press →
The Import and Export Wizard will start. Select the option Export to a file and then press .
Select Comma Separated Values (DOS) and press
Select the Calendars folder and press
. Then, choose where to save the file and press .A screen listing Actions to be performed will be shown. Press
to export your contacts to the location you selected in the previous step.Because Microsoft Outlook® is unable to fully export its mail messages to a usable intermediate format, you must install another piece of software in order to export your email.
Please see the section called “Preparing Email For Export Using Thunderbird” for instructions on importing your email into the Thunderbird application, which will allow the exporting of your messages.
Because some mail clients (such as Microsoft Outlook® and Microsoft Outlook® Express) do not store their mail messages in a standard format, an additional piece of software must be used to convert the mail before export. Thunderbird is a free, open-source application that is able to do this.
The following instructions explain how to obtain Thunderbird and then use it to prepare mail messages for export:
Open a web browser and navigate to the Thunderbird website. Follow the link to download Thunderbird.
Once the download has completed, run the installer package. Follow the instructions to install Thunderbird.
Once the installer has completed, start Thunderbird. You should be greeted with the Import Wizard. Follow the instructions to import all settings - this should import your mail and some other data.
If the Import Wizard does not appear, press → and choose the Mail option. Follow the instructions to import your mail.
Once all of your mail has been imported, you must now make a copy of it for exporting. Please see the section called “Exporting Email Messages From Thunderbird” for instructions on how to do this.
These instructions are intended for users of Thunderbird and users of Outlook and Outlook Express who imported their mail into Thunderbird (see the section called “Preparing Email For Export Using Thunderbird”).
Press %AppData%\Thunderbird\Profiles\ into the box provided, and then press . A folder will open.
→ , typeIn the newly-opened folder, you should find another folder with a name made up mostly of random characters, for example fyhsxlr3.default. Open this folder.
Within this folder, locate a folder named Mail
or ImapMail
. Select this folder and copy it to a safe
location.
When you switch to Xubuntu, make a back-up copy of the folder you just made a copy of. This folder contains all of your mail folders from Thunderbird, in the mbox format.
Once you have collected together all of the files and settings you might need, you must create a copy of them that can be stored safely while you initially install Xubuntu. There are many ways of storing a copy of this data, and which method you choose will depend on your particular circumstances.
![]() |
|
After you have made a copy of your files, it is very important to test the files to ensure that they have been copied successfully. If you have many files, at least check the most important files and randomly check other files where possible. This will help to protect you from data loss. |
If you are installing Xubuntu onto a different computer than the one on that your data is stored, you can leave the data you collected on that computer and can safely transfer the data across once Xubuntu has been installed onto the other computer.
When ready, you can transfer the data between the computers using a network connection.
A common and reliable way of backing-up data is by using a recordable CD or DVD. CDs and DVDs can be used by almost all computers and are relatively cheap. However, your computer must have a CD or DVD recorder drive installed and you may have to use several CDs or DVDs if the data you have collected is larger than the capacity of a single disc.
If possible, use DVD discs as these have a larger capacity and so you will require fewer discs to store all of your data. CDs typically have a capacity of 650-700MB while DVDs can normally hold up to 4.5GB of data (roughly equivalent to 7 CDs).
In order to store data on a blank CD or DVD, you must use a CD writing application. Microsoft Windows XP® includes such an application by default, although other such applications are capable of storing your data just as well.
Ensure that your CD- or DVD-writing drive contains no discs. Eject any discs currently in the drive.
Press
→ . Locate your CD or DVD writing drive - it will likely have a name such as CD-RW drive.Double-click on the icon of the drive. A blank folder should open, with a heading called CD Writing Tasks shown in the blue panel to the left of the screen.
Leave this folder open and then open the folder containing the files that you have collected together.
Select as many files as you are able to fit onto the disc that you will be using. You can check the size of the current selection by right-clicking any selected file and choosing Properties from the menu that appears. The Size field on the General tab gives the size of the current selection.
Copy the selected files into the CD- or DVD-drive folder that you opened earlier.
Press CD Writing Wizard will start.
, which can be found in the blue panel. TheFollow the instructions given on-screen by the CD Writing Wizard. This will write the selected files to a blank CD or DVD.
Once the disc has been written, eject it and then re-insert
it into the drive. In My Computer
, open the drive and
check that the files you just copied to the CD are visible there. Try opening
a few of them just to make sure.
Repeat this procedure until all of the files you collected together are safely stored onto CDs or DVDs.
Once you have stored your data onto discs, ensure that the discs are well protected and labelled correctly. If you scratch or otherwise damage a disc, you may lose some of the data stored on it. Labelling discs also helps to avoid confusion and will allow you to quickly find data when the time comes to transfer it back onto a computer.
If you have access to an external hard-disk drive or some other removable storage device of a great enough capacity, then you can simply copy the files you have collected onto this device. When ready to transfer the files onto your Xubuntu installation, you may simply connect the drive and copy the files from it again.
Removable storage devices such as external hard disks will have a certain type of file system. For use on removable devices, the best supported filesystem for Xubuntu is FAT (also called FAT32 or vfat). While other file systems (such as NTFS and HFS+) are usable, they may require additional steps to allow you to use them with Xubuntu. If possible, try to use the FAT format for your removable disk.
You can discover the format of an external disk by right-clicking it in
My Computer
and selecting Properties.
The format of the disk is shown in the General tab under
File system.
If your computer is connected to a network, you may be able to temporarily store the files that you collected together on another computer on the network.
Ensure that a computer on the network has sufficient disk space to allow you to copy your files onto it.
Ensure that you are able to copy files onto the other computer from your computer. To be able to do this, the computer must have at least one network share/shared folder and you must have write privileges for that network share.
Open the network share on your computer. This can normally be accessed by pressing
→ → and then finding the network share or the computer that provides the network share.Copy the files you collected into the network share. This may take some time depending on the size of your files and the speed of your network connection.
If you have a second partition available on your hard disk, or have two hard-disks, then it is possible to copy the files you have collected onto this second drive.
![]() |
|
You must be very careful not to over-write the partition that you have stored your data. It is recommended to make additional back-up copies of your files onto CDs or DVDs in case of this. |
Simply copy the files you have collected onto the second drive as it appears
in My Computer
. Ensure that this drive (or partition) is
not the one that you intend to install Xubuntu on to.
Use Ubuntu Software Center ( → ) to install applications from Xubuntu’s software library, or to remove existing applications from your computer. Use Synaptic Package Manager ( → → ) for more advanced tasks.
Settings that affect everyone who uses Xubuntu on this computer are found in
→ . Settings that just affect you are accessed from → → .To manage the files and folders on your computer, start by choosing an item from the
menu.Use Firefox® has , which are equivalent to Favorites in Internet Explorer®.
for easy access to commonly-used folders.You can use Firefox® Web Browser to search the Web and visit Web sites: → → .
To close all your programs and leave the computer ready for someone else to log in, choose
→ , then .Equivalent items to those in the “My Computer” window are found in various places in Xubuntu.
To see the disks and storage devices connected to the computer, choose
→ .Inside your home folder (
→ ), you can arrange documents and other files in whatever folders you wish.Open
→ → to set up printers. Xubuntu does not support faxing.The Trash works much the same way as the Recycle Bin. The Trash is almost always at the bottom right corner of the screen.
To put your computer into a power-saving mode until you resume using it, choose
→ , then Suspend or Hibernate. (Hibernate requires no power at all, but is slower, and is not available on some types of computer.)The two menus at the top left of the screen —
and — contain most of the same things as the Start menu in Windows.To see or halt currently running programs, or to track processor and memory usage, choose
→ → .Programs that play music and movies, and rip music CDs, are available from
→ .To check for updates to Xubuntu, open
→ → .