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Virtualizing Windows on Ubuntu



On Fri, 2008-11-14 at 01:15 -0500, David Kramer wrote:
> So let's say I have a dual boot laptop (and I do), and I'm tired of half
> of it being used by an OS that I boot up maybe three times a year (and I
> am).
> 
> What would I have to bring to the Installfest to get a virtual copy of
> Windows running under Linux, so I can fire it up on demand without
> rebooting?  This would mostly be for using IE, and business apps, not
> gaming.  In a perfect world, I would be able to sync to my Windows
> Mobile phone with the VM, but I'm not sure that it can do that.  Can it?

Yes.

> I do not have enough knowledge of the various vm options, so any insight
> would be appreciated.  I am more interested in getting it working than
> in getting the ultimate in performance.
> 
> I know the chipset matters, so I'll mention that my Dell Latitude D820
> has a Core 2 Duo T7200  @ 2.00GHz.  cpuinfo flags are "fpu vme de pse
> tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts
> acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs
> bts pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr lahf_lm"

While I've heard VirtualBox mentioned, you've got a cpu that supports
kvm, which I *highly* prefer myself on a box that supports it -- no out
of tree kernel modules that might break on the next kernel update
required. (Though VirtualBox has been a lot better about keeping up
w/the latest upstream kernel than VMware has of late).

Hey, you can even point kvm at your hard disk (the other possibly too,
actually), and have it attempt to boot your existing Windows install --
it won't successfully boot all the way, Windows being a bastard about
hardware changes and whatnot (kvm's emulated hardware won't be the same
as the physical hardware).


-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org







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