A detailed analysis of the distribution of conductances P(g) of quasi-one-dimensional disordered wires in the metal-insulator crossover is presented. P(g) obtained from a Monte Carlo solution of the Dorokhov, Mello, Pereyra, and Kumar (DMPK) scaling equation is in full agreement with "tight-binding" numerical calculations of bulk disordered wires. Perturbation theory is shown to be valid even for mean dimensionless conductances <g> of the order of 1. In the crossover regime <g> <, similar 1, P(g) presents a sharp feature at g=1 which is different from that observed in surface disordered wires.