I’m trying to switch to linux but cannot do this ocmpletely because I use software (engineering stuff) that must use windows. First my question, then my problem.
Out of curiosity would running windows in a virtual machine in linux protect it from viruses windows is prone to (but linux is not)…eg, would linux act as a protective shell?
My problem is that in trying to install windows in Vmware or virtual box, it will tell me it is not meant for my system and will not install. The MCE xp os that I have is meant only for my HP dv2000t laptop (duo core) and should work, but the virtual machine is obviously not recognizing it. Is there any way to make this work?
Will a VM of windows be safer than a full OS? Probably not, unless you
set it to use NAT and then the networking itself is safer since routing
TO the windows box is not possible without an outgoing connection in the
first place, which is a good start for windows in general. windows is
not only vulnerable because it exists on the network, though; it is
vulnerable because file extensions alone govern actions (.exe for
executable being the biggest issue). It is vulnerable because users are
Administrators by default, and most software thinks it needs this as
well and fails otherwise. It is vulnerable because various applications
inside it are vulnerable to things like vbscript, etc., and then as an
admin the entire system can be trashed because of somebody opening
e-mail or using IE to visit a webpage. So will virtualization, by
itself, help you? Not really, though snapshots are a lot easier with
virtualization so rolling back to a previous point in time is easier.
Good luck.
outdoorsman567 wrote:
> I’m trying to switch to linux but cannot do this ocmpletely because I
> use software (engineering stuff) that must use windows. First my
> question, then my problem.
> Out of curiosity would running windows in a virtual machine in linux
> protect it from viruses windows is prone to (but linux is not)…eg,
> would linux act as a protective shell?
>
>
> My problem is that in trying to install windows in Vmware or virtual
> box, it will tell me it is not meant for my system and will not install.
> The MCE xp os that I have is meant only for my HP dv2000t laptop (duo
> core) and should work, but the virtual machine is obviously not
> recognizing it. Is there any way to make this work?
>
> Thanks for any help in advance,
> Justin
>
>
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How about purchasing a copy of Vista, even home basic, and running it on VirtualBox on Linux. I have been running XP like that for over a year. I expect if I can ever get Vbox to install properly on Suse 11 64 I will do that but for now the only version that seems to install without locking up my PC is the OSS version available from the install software app and it has no USB support.
As already stated above, if Windows is exposed to the Internet the risk of infection is the same. If the applications you use don’t access the net, or can be very strictly limited in network access (e.g., only updates to your application and secure file transfer between machines), then the risk is very low. Understand that the primary attack vectors now are browser related, so if you keep personal identity information in that virtual machine and you surf the net without all the usual Windows protections, you will eventually get nailed.
As far as doing an installation, you must have actual install media. It appears you have an OS “image”, or a copy of what was installed at the factory. It can only be copied to disk, not installed. And often, there are checks to ensure that it is only used on the machine is was licensed to. That’s what you are running into.