Greetings all,
I've done a bit of searching and can't seem to find what I'm looking for. If it exists, please link me to it. Subject indicates this is a n00b question - if you aren't mature enough to leave an honestly helpful response, please don't leave any at all.

I have a dual-boot system - Kubuntu 9.04 and Windows XP. Each install is on its own hard disk - no partitioning mess.

What I want to do is load the Windows install into a VM session under Kubuntu. I have VMWare installed. I just have no idea how to proceed from here - how to configure the VMWare session to load Windows and let me run a virtual machine with that OS.

I'm trying to get this up and running for work (so I don't have to reboot my OS every time I need to do some work from home).

Not sure how to do that with vmware, though it might be possible with KVM, by simply providing the disk on which the windows is installed as hda=<mountpoint>

this however has two problems:
1. you will have to make that disk bootable as well, or the VM will not boot. That will mean at least trashing the dual boot configs IMO
2. Hardware between a VM is physical is different, most probably you'll get a BSOD due to different physical vs virtual disk controllers, not to mention the rest of the hardware differences.

So, in short, it makes a lot of sense to run a second OS as a VM, especially if your host can run VMs, but you cannot choose whether to start a second OS as a VM or via dual boot, only one of these is possible for the same installation of an OS

First off, I want to express my sincere gratitude for a rapid response. It is greatly appreciated.

Okay, I'm a bit confused - lost. What is KVM? I thought it was the switch that I used to access different boxes using the same Keyboard, Video and Mouse. How difficult is it to get up and running?

Okay, I can back up the dual boot configs (provided it's just the stuff in my /boot directory) and let them get thrashed. But will I be able to restore them later, if I decide I need them more than the KVM install?

In short: create a new VM guest of type mcrsft wndws, add disk but choose physical, choose the one your wndws install is on, (advanced) select partitions, finish. To be safe: have backups of the wndws harddisk before you start, edit the VM properties, select the HD and choose non-persistent (advanced?) or at least create a snapshot.



What has happened before that you feel you need to explicitly state this?

First off - this is not the only forum I read (although it is the one I read MOST). So I can't say for sure that my experiences have come from this forum. And I can't say for sure that they do not.

BUT, that being said, I've had issues and read others' threads, where some people feel the need to bash the "effin' n00bs" and "put them in their place" for asking a question out of ignorance. In my opinion, if I didn't have a certain level of ignorance, or desire to help others in that situation, I'd have no reason to come to the forums. It has been my experience that, on some forums (I don't recall which ones), others feel differently.

I believe that LQ is probably the most helpful community of users and moderators available on-line. Which is why this is where I come to find and offer answers. Yet, in the 7 years that I've been working with Linux, I've encountered some less-than-helpful attitudes. Especially when delving into a more technical area where my ignorance screams out in the posts I make - in an attempt to reduce my ignorance. Some people just have a "you're too stupid to run..." (name their area of personal attitude). IT was not my intention to offend, I just didn't want to have to wade through a bunch of flames about my ignorance.

Now, THAT being said, I want to reiterate my appreciation for the community (as a whole) of this site. It is my preferred site for finding answers, and posting those I've developed. I can only say that, regardless of the negative experiences I've had over the past 7 years, this site is by-far the most agreeable and helpful group of people I've dealt with - on- and off-line.

Ah. OK. I see. BTW, what about my short VMware instructions? Think you can work it out from here?

KVM is Linux's virtualization module. free, opensource and widely used

RHEL5.4 and higher all have it built in - all you need is to run `yum groupinstall "Virtualization"`

Then use the virt-manager GUI to create VMs. It will require you have Intel VT or AMD SVM in the host of course.

there's more to dual boot configs than /boot - you will have to have a bootable flag set on the windows drive, and also to explicitly state in the BIOS that the Linux drive is the first one to boot from, otherwise, you might end up with a single windows and not linux boot

Actually, I found a site (HowtoForge.com) that seems to have pretty simple instructions to do what I'd originally intended. If that ends up not working for me, I believe your instructions are my next shot.

Thanks for the reply - and the concern.