Greetings. New to Linux. I have a dual boot with Suse11.1.x32 and Win XP. I am happy with Linux (in fact it does run much better than Win XP) but still have a few programs which I need to run under Win XP. What would be the best way to “incorporate” Windows into Linux. Do I have to install Win XP into Linux again or is there anything that would allow to run existing Win XP from Linux something like under Mac?
I don’t know of any way to run your existing Windows installation directly with Virtualization, but VirtualBox has instructions on transferring an exsiting installation into a vdi. I haven’t done it, and it looks risky so you should definitely backup:
See this page and look at the “4. Import a native installation from a physical disk partition” section.
kkravch wrote:
>
> Greetings. New to Linux. I have a dual boot with Suse11.1.x32 and Win
> XP. I am happy with Linux (in fact it does run much better than Win XP)
> but still have a few programs which I need to run under Win XP. What
> would be the best way to “incorporate” Windows into Linux. Do I have to
> install Win XP into Linux again or is there anything that would allow to
> run existing Win XP from Linux something like under Mac?
There are (at least) 2 ways to run XP apps under Linux.
-
The most complete implementation is to run XP in a virtual machine. It is
possible to migrate an existing installation but XP is not a simple one to
migrate - too much hardware specific integration in the install - but it is
possible for the adventurous.
PRO:
Considerable isolation from the web.
Runs pretty much anything native XP will run .
Faster loads than a reboot.
CONS:
Takes a lot of disk space.
Requires considerable runtime memory - you likely need 2GB to be happy.
Emulated video will ruin your gaming day <g>.
Programs using hardware directly may be a problem. -
Use wine to run apps.
PRO:
Native execution - Win calls are mapped to Linux APIs
Uses less disk space that a VM
CON:
Limited support for apps. See winehq.org for applicable apps.
Limited support for some Win APIs may be a problem. -
Run programs under mono which is written to support .NET apps. I haven’t
used this so I can’t comment on how well it works.
Best overall is the VM approach. I use Sun’s VirtualBox and have no real
problems with anything I run.
–
Will Honea
I agree with Mr. Honea 100%.
If you’re new to virtualization, there is a nice OpenSUSE introduction to it here.
Thanks. I will definitely look up references posted above on how it works.
It looks like VM is the solution. I do have 4g RAM and 80g HDD with second 250G HDD for documents and archives. And I don’t think I need to move my existing XP into VM.
Which VM solution would you recommend? (
Personally I use suns Virtualbox though I had issues with it with Opensuse.
Ditto. Virtual Box
See how it looks:
http://thumbnails19.imagebam.com/3190/0ae8d031895608.gif](http://www.imagebam.com/image/0ae8d031895608)
Third for Virtualbox. It’s able to interact with all the usb hardware I throw at it.
queequeg wrote:
>
> I don’t know of any way to run your existing Windows installation
> directly with Virtualization, but VirtualBox has instructions on
> transferring an exsiting installation into a vdi. I haven’t done it,
> and it looks risky so you should definitely backup:
>
> See ‘this’ (http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=1966) page and
> look at the “4. Import a native installation from a physical disk
> partition” section.
Now that is what I call a really helpful answer! Wish I had seen it before
I spent so many hours trying to “salvage” an OS/2 image. It needed a few
more prep steps to get it onto a AMD x86-64 host but the article was a gold
mine. Thanks for the link.
–
Will Honea