I was wondering, and forgive my lack of knowledge on the subject, how possible would it be for virtualisation platforms such as VMWare and XEN to run just enough for windows (and other platforms) software to run without having to run the entire operating system?

I'm thinking along the lines of Java where it calls the required procedures on the particular operating system it is running on for the Java application to work. So it wouldn't necessarily be running the OS, just translating I guess.

For example let's take XEN and Windows. The Windows application asks to display a dialogue box. Now instead of Windows capturing the request and displaying the dialogue box, XEN would catch it and tell Linux to display the dialogue box and the app would be none the wiser.

Now I may be talking rubbish and I admit I don't really know what I'm talking about, but it's just a thought. In hindsight it may turn out to be easier and faster to actually run the entire OS.

EDIT: I don't mean things like Wine and Cedega as I believe they just provide the neccessary files apps expect to find and not everything works with them.

oh a local boy... hi.

well windows is famously infelxible. if you can find an option in control panel to remove the pointless crap then i'd love to know about it.

as for linux, i think you need to appreciate what consitutes a wholly valid linux operating system. Linux runs on routers, on phones, on toasters, on ... well... http://www.picotux.com/ is a great exmaple. now i assume you are referring to the operating system to including x windows and all that, which is a mistake.

also this really is unrelated to xen or other virtualization platforms. You have just as much reason to run a stripped down os on a physical maching as you would on a VM. your references to a hardware emulation knowing that the operating system wants to show a window also really makes no sense. it would be exactly akin your your own physical machine knowing this, which you would never expect to happen right?

I meant without running the entire OS that you want to virtualise. For example if I'm using Linux and want to run windows software, instead of using Wine, or instead of using XEN to run the entire Windows OS on, you'd use something that acted as a translator between Linux and the Windows application.

that's what wine does. It's a linux implementation of the windows API. Otherwise, you could look into emulators, and you will notice a slow down if that's the way you go.

if you don't see wine as a translator (or rather a compatability layer) what do you think wine actually is?

I think I understand whats he wants. He doesn't like wine because it doesn't run ALL the windows apps he wants. And he doesn't want to run vmware or some other virtualization software thats going to consume resources and give the added inconvience of having to switch back and forth between to between 2 radically different environments for just a few select programs. He wants the window or application to appear in his linux environment. There are actually is a in between solution. Its a bit ugly though.

The resource usage isn't too big a problem. Linux is an efficient multi-tasking operating system. And you should be doing decent speedwise, if you have kqemu installed. If neccessary you can force vmware or qemu into low priority or idle mode if the guest OS seems to getting too busy. But I guess the remaining thing this guy wants is for windows apps to appear on desktop. Well, I guess this is where qemu shines. It has built-in vnc. You could run qemu silently at startup. Install openssh or telnet on windows. Create a shortcut script to activate the vnc window, pass the command over to the windows guest os,(qemu also has built-in network cards), maximize the app and get rid of the vnc title bar and noone is the wiser right? Windows 2000 without explorer running should do the trick. Along with a handful of registry hacks. You can peruse the internet for trimmed windows installations or xp componitized pe boot disks if you like. Windows 98 SE lite edition might also look tempting as it can squeeze into 16mb of space. (don't be too tempted though, W+i+n+d+o+w+s+9+8 = 666)


You also have two sane options for transparent file sharing between the operating system.

A fat32 linux mounted raw image

Samba folders. (You'll need even more registry hacks for programs and documents files to install to the samba folder by defualt)


Ofcourse, theres still the add inconvience of having to actually switch over to windows in order to install the application.

You could either modify the wine server or mess around /etc/magic.conf in order to automatically pass execution over to the windows guest os. I do believe theres a qemu server out there that does a much for you. Wish I had the link.

but the hackerish way to do would to simply copy the exe over the shared folder use either openssh or telnet to execute it along with maximizing script to for maximum effect.

After you've come this far, you might start to worry about things like aesthetics. Even maximized with the vnc toolbar gone, your windows programs still stick out like a sore thumb. At which point you can study a nice thick book on windows gui programming. Write a daemon that monitors WIndows gui routines and a linux client thats translates them into windows that are compatible with your current desktop theme.


Now for the other, hopefully easier option. As the previous posters mentioned Wine is a windows to linux api translator. It actually seems like a decent amount of the kernel and gdi implemented. Enough to a point where minus a couple of deadlocks, alot of the problems that occur are because of missing or unregistered dependancies. While it might to take some time for wine developers to fix these little kinks, you might be brave enough to take matters into your own hands. And copy all the windows files into your $HOME/.wine/drive_c/windows folder and export the registry from you real windows installation. But I've tried as much or close to as much got only marginal improvement..but maybe with a different version of windows. Hmmm. Who knows.

Well good luck. Either of these "solutions" will taint your linux installation with Windows. (But in exchange run more windows programs.) Which is probably why you don't see to much in the way of automation for this. Not to mention, you still have to purchase windows. Its fairly elaborate too. From the user perspective dual boot is still much more practical. I have'nt actually tried either, yet. Maybe if I get bored enough one day. Would'nt be the first hare-brained scheme I've bothered with.