Hey all, is there a way to boot up Windows from within Linux (Debian Squeeze) in a normal dual-boot environment? I've tried Googling this and all I can find is how easy it is to dual-boot with Linux. Yeah, I could go with VMware but I'd prefer something native to Linux if that's possible.

Thanks,

Joe B

VMware or Oracle Virtual Box are two ways to do it. Windoze code is not executable directly within linux. Some apps can be run with Wine, however that is time consuming to set up, and not all windoze software will work that way.

I use V-box by Oracle to run my flatbed scanner, since the linux support is not there yet.

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A common way to run a virtual machine is from a single file that the VM treats like a virtual hard drive.

It is possible on many vm's to use a partition instead of a file (or group of files). That would be an advanced and not really supported way of running the VM.

The problem is that windows is installed per system and can't easily be moved around from system to system. If you boot to windows directly it will present the host's hardware to the OS. If you then boot that partition to the virtual machine it will be a different hardware. Windows will complain and you may have to then re-activate xp.

You can also use a p2v app to convert it permanently.

Running xp's installed apps under wine may cause some issues. One can install an app to xp then copy the files and registry keys to a wine installs sometimes to get it working better. All pretty advanced tasks.

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Ok. I have used VMware a little so I guess THAT'S the direction I'll be heading.

Thanks for the information,

Joe B