Dear Linuxians,
I have been an Ubuntu user (now 12.10) since November. I did a side-by-side install. I only alocated 20G to Ubuntu while left about 100G for my native Windows7 (Home and Business). I am interested now in removing everything from the disk (after backing up of course) and installing Ubuntu as the sole OS and run W7 via Oracle VirtualBox. What are the caveats? For instance, when I bought the laptop I bought a bunch of propietary software (Photoshop, MS Office, Acrobat) but with no CD's. Should I assimilate the loss? Or is there a way of keeping them? What happens with all the Lenovo applications that scan the Laptop? Do I still need Norton antivirus (and if yes, how to install it)?
As you can see is a complex question but hopefully is a situation that someone has come across.
Thank you and be well...

Hi!

As long as you have your registration info for those win apps, you should be able to install and use them in Vbox.

may still work, depending unpon their function (HardWare - Software comms)

Check very carefully if the version (of virtualbox) you choose is usb2 enabled (could be just winXp).

Historically, the Free opensource version had no usb, I used the amd64 proprietary version, free for non-commercial use.

You will only need antiviri protection if you connect to the internet. Install it the same way you install any other software in win7.

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The problem with using an OEM install of W7 is that it won't run in a VM. OEM versions authenticate with the real hardware and won't work in a vm.

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Hi,
I (have for a long time) run Windows(starting with NT) in either vmware or vbox (I have Slackware installations but that is just my eccentricity).

I use vbox downloaded off the virtualbox.org site. USB support just works provided the user invoking vbox is a member of the vboxusers group.

I currently have Windows 7 OEM version installed on three different machines using vbox. The only caveat that I have found is that it will not activate over the network. You have to call the magic Microsoft Activation number. This is a purely mechanical process (no warm body involved) but thus-far it has always worked for me (I use the product key off the COA on the machine I am running on).

As always YMMV

cheers
pete

pete hilton
saruman@ruvolo-hilton.org

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks for your help and encouragement. Another question on the same line...After I backup everything important from Win7 and Ubuntu, wipe my main SSD drive, and install Ubuntu as my primary OS. What happens to my Linux identity? I already have a username and root password. Can I continue using the same? I am not concerned about Ubuntu One because that is a cloud entity.
Thanks again!

Hey,
Before you blow away your current linux setup, backup (onto a USB key?)

your home directory

Also you could backup
/etc/passwd
/etc/shadow
/etc/group

After you have installed your new linux, restore your home directory
(now you have all your stuff from before).

Check your entry in the /etc/passwd you backed up .... note the uid/gid numbers
and login shell and create a new user and group with these id numbers

Myself, using Slackware, I just copy the above files onto any new system I install
so my userid, groupid, shell are all continued as from the previous install. However
Slackware uses standard UNIX authorisation. If your system uses PAM then that approach does not
necessarily work.

So basically backup everything you want to preserve and restore into your new system

cheers
pete