[Discuss] Converting Windows to Linux

[Betsy Schwartz]

You want to p2v the windows box. I think this is easier to do with
VMware converter. You can verify that you have a fully working VM
before you trash the original install.
You can convert the vmware vm into OVM if you want, afterwards

On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 11:18 AM, Greg Rundlett (freephile)
<greg at freephile.com> wrote:
> I bought a new HP Pavillion with Windows 10 pre-loaded.  I want to run
> (Ubuntu) Linux full time, but have the ability to use Windows 10 in a VM
> when necessary (rare).
>
> The HP Pavillion has 12 GB of RAM; an SSD drive (128GB), plus a 1TB disk.
> There is a "recovery" partition (Drive E:) on the second disk.
>
> Specifically, this is what Windows 10 Disk Management reports:
>
> *Disk0* 119.23 GB
> -  260 MB EFI System Partition
> -  118.01 GB NTFS Windows C: (Boot, Page File, Crash Dump, Primary
> Partition)
> -  980 MB Recovery Partition
> *Disk1* 931.51 GB
> -  920.01 GB NTFS Data Primary Partition
> -  11.5 GB NTFS OEM Partition (Recovery)
>
>
> I used Disk Management to shrink the 920.01 GB NTFS Primary Partition on
> Disk1 down to ~50GB
>
> I plan to install Linux to the SSD Drive, and then add a VM in VirtualBox
> that runs Windows10 (installed to the 50 GB partition on the regular HDD).
> I don't know whether I can use the recovery partition to install Windows
> into the VM? I do know that using a Windows10 install media ISO, I can do
> this [1], and I just made a Windows 10 DVD just for the heck of it (the
> machine has a DVD-RW drive).  However, I find an interesting option to use
> "raw disk access" to run the OS from an installation in it's own partition
> [2].  Does anyone have experience with "raw disk access" and opinions on
> whether it's advisable?
>
> The Windows 10 Home Edition is already "activated" on the OEM equipment.
> I'm assuming that I will need to call MIcrosoft to activate it once I
> install it in it's new virtual environment.  The license states that I can
> only use one instance of the software.
>
> Of course the recovery partition is not an "installation" but rather a
> weird 10GB folder that I might be able to use instead of an ISO.  On this
> point, I'm not sure, since I have almost no experience using Windows or
> recovering it.  I'd guess that it's "pre-configured" or limited in such a
> way as to only be usable to install Windows 10 to the primary disk.  I plan
> to blow away this recovery partition once everything is up and running
> because I would rather have the Win 10 DVD in a jacket and use the 10 GB
> partition for additional storage.
>
> Plan
>
>    1. Download Ubuntu 17.10.1 -> burn iso to CD/DVD disk
>    2. insert Linux boot media
>    3. reboot
>    4. install Linux to SSD drive, choosing Ubuntu to manage the Boot Sector
>    5. [DONE] partition 1TB regular disk drive to give Windows 50GB (NTFS)
>    6. and format the rest as EXT4, ZFS
>    <https://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/02/16/zfs-is-the-fs-for-containers-in-ubuntu-16-04/>
>    or BTRFS
>    7. install VirtualBox
>    8. create Windows10 VM;
>    9. install Windows10 into the VM using a) ISO or b) raw disk access
>    10. add VB Guest Additions for all the VB bells and whistles
>    11. Test drivers (Internet, Print, Host partition R/W access)
>    12. Snapshot
>    13. Reformat Recovery partition to ZFS
>    14. Create nightly cron to sync "home" partition from SSD to "recovery"
>    partition on HDD
>
>
> Any suggestions or gotchas that I should know about?
>
> [1] https://itsfoss.com/install-windows-10-virtualbox-linux/
> [2]
> http://greenash.net.au/thoughts/2016/02/running-a-real-windows-install-in-virtualbox-on-linux/
>
>
> Thanks,
>
> Greg Rundlett
> https://eQuality-Tech.com
> https://freephile.org
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