Can I boot into my windows drive while on my Linux Mint

[sosaudio1]

OK so here is my issue...I have an iPhone that I want to keep up to date. The only way to do that involves using windows. I have two drives. Drive one Linux Mint 8. Drive two has Windows XP.

Would VMware running on Linux Mint be able to boot the XP drive? Of course you would need to mount the XP drive on Mint...but could I boot into my Windows OS inside my Linux Mint OS?

Rich

[deleted]

VMWare says is can. It' all about how you create the vmdk. You can (tho I've never done it) create a vmdk that points to a partition and you can boot and run it in the player...
But if you are going through the trouble of a VM, I'd suggests using vmware's "export" tool where you can boot into Windows and export your physical machine to a vmx (machine description) and vmdk (the hardrive).

This is what I did. I had a Windows 7 pc. I used gparted to partition it for Linux. I installed Linux. I booted into Windows and exported the image to say an external usb drive. I then booted back into Linux, installed vmware player, copied the files off the external drive and it (the Windows image) came right up. After getting comfortable with the VM, I deleted my old Windows partition.

I use this Windows VM daily. I develop software on as well as synchronize my phone, using bluetooth, with outlook. The only downside I see is if you are a Windows gamer. The virtual video driver provided by VMWare may not be responsive enough, but you won't know until you try. I can, for instance, watch a High Definition rebroadcast of a TV show (from a website) through a Windows only player, that is playing in my Windows vm. There is no lag. This is using Windows XP Home guest configured with a single processor and 2 gigs of ram. The host machine is a AMD Phenom 4 with 6 gigs of RAM (and a 1 gig nVidia card)... Pretty generic.
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

NICE!!! Thanks! I guess what I want to do....spelled out....is just mount the Windows HDD in Linux, open a VMware and boot windows within Linux so that I can make sure to keep up with my syncs with iTunes and such. Sounds like it will do just that....

Rich

[deleted]

The "tricky" part is is if you want to create a vmdk using your "real" partition. I stabbed at it a couple of times, but punted and used:

http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/

to export the XP installation.

It's a little trickier tho, for Vista and Windows 7.
I had to first export the installation using:
VirtualPC http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtua ... fault.aspx
to create a VHD
Then the vmware converter would convert it (the VHD) to a vmx and vmdk.
Then after getting comfortable, blow away the real partition.
BTW.. VMPlayer has Unity where it can host only the application (ie, you won't see a Windows desktop if you don't want to)
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

The "tricky" part is is if you want to create a vmdk using your "real" partition. I stabbed at it a couple of times, but punted and used:

http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/

to export the XP installation.

It's a little trickier tho, for Vista and Windows 7.
I had to first export the installation using:
VirtualPC http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtua ... fault.aspx
to create a VHD
Then the vmware converter would convert it (the VHD) to a vmx and vmdk.
Then after getting comfortable, blow away the real partition.
BTW.. VMPlayer has Unity where it can host only the application (ie, you won't see a Windows desktop if you don't want to)
-Hinto

Will VirtualBox do what I am wanting to do??

[deleted]

VirtualBox will read vmdks.
From my experience (no benchmarks) VMPlayer out performs VirtualBox and is much easier to configure for bluetooth, usb, etc.
I also don't know if VB supports "Unity".
VMPlayer is free, too, just like VB.
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

VirtualBox will read vmdks.
From my experience (no benchmarks) VMPlayer out performs VirtualBox and is much easier to configure for bluetooth, usb, etc.
I also don't know if VB supports "Unity".
VMPlayer is free, too, just like VB.
-Hinto

Cool and VMPlayer will do what it needs to out of the box right?? Or are there any steps that I need to do before I get there?

[deleted]

If you want to read your original partition, (in either VB or VMPlayer) you'll have to create the vmdk (using something like qemu).
If you want to export your original machine description, then you'll have to use vmware's converter. (if it's Win7, you have to start with VirtualPC to get a vhd, then convert that to vmdk)
If you want to make a "fresh" install, VMWare (and VB) will create a new, empty virtual disk (there's a wizard) and you install into that.
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

If you want to read your original partition, (in either VB or VMPlayer) you'll have to create the vmdk (using something like qemu).
If you want to export your original machine description, then you'll have to use vmware's converter. (if it's Win7, you have to start with VirtualPC to get a vhd, then convert that to vmdk)
If you want to make a "fresh" install, VMWare (and VB) will create a new, empty virtual disk (there's a wizard) and you install into that.
-Hinto

Dude....You Rock!!! IS there ANYTHING I need to use caution with?

[deleted]

Just curious which are you going to choose to create your vmdk?
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

Just curious which are you going to choose to create your vmdk?
-Hinto

Not sure...I guess the app that you suggested....qemu....do you have any other options?

[deleted]

Quemu will work (tho I didn't really recommend it). You'll need to read up on how to make the vmdk. But I'd suggest after making the vmdk, use VMWare Player. The performance is better.
-H

[sosaudio1]

Quemu will work (tho I didn't really recommend it). You'll need to read up on how to make the vmdk. But I'd suggest after making the vmdk, use VMWare Player. The performance is better.
-H

I am going to use the VMWare Player for sure. Qemu will do the vmdk in Linux environment right? Or....do you have another option?

Putting this out to anyone and everyone else that wants to chime in

Rich

[deleted]

http://www.robertpeaslee.com/index.php/ ... -for-free/
qemu-img convert -f raw /dev/hdc3 -O vmdk boot.vmdk
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

http://www.robertpeaslee.com/index.php/ ... -for-free/
qemu-img convert -f raw /dev/hdc3 -O vmdk boot.vmdk
-Hinto

Saw that!!!!!

Bout to go try that

[deleted]

That being said, remember to back up your Windows partition.... Also since you're going to run in a VM anyway consider just exporting the partition to a vmdk and vmx (using vmware convert) if you have the disk space. You can always share to/from the real partition with the vm if needed. (I assume you want to keep the dual boot).
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

That being said, remember to back up your Windows partition.... Also since you're going to run in a VM anyway consider just exporting the partition to a vmdk and vmx (using vmware convert) if you have the disk space. You can always share to/from the real partition with the vm if needed. (I assume you want to keep the dual boot).
-Hinto

I have moved the Windows drive into a 2.0USB HDD enclosure and Qemu says it can't open dev/sdc1 which is the windows drive....

Haven't set up for dual boot....

Wish I had more space on the linux drive.....Dual booting...maybe what we have to do for now...

What is an easy way to dual boot with two separate drives and two OS's already installed?

[deleted]

HMMM...
I had assumed you had Windows and Linux already installed.
If it were me, I'd boot into Windows.
Delete your Windows page file and then defrag it.
Export your Windows partition to the vmdx and vmx with VMWare converter (to say, an external drive).
Boot a Linux LiveCD (Mint?). Fire up gparted and shrink the Windows partition as much as possible.
Then, install Linux (if you don't already have it). Install Vmware Player (if you don't already have it). Either copy the vmdk/vmx to you internal drive (or keep it on the external, it doesn't matter)
Fire up vmplayer and point it to your vmx. Then it will boot Windows, just like a real machine.
-Hinto

[sosaudio1]

HMMM...
I had assumed you had Windows and Linux already installed.
If it were me, I'd boot into Windows.
Delete your Windows page file and then defrag it.
Export your Windows partition to the vmdx and vmx with VMWare converter (to say, an external drive).
Boot a Linux LiveCD (Mint?). Fire up gparted and shrink the Windows partition as much as possible.
Then, install Linux (if you don't already have it). Install Vmware Player (if you don't already have it). Either copy the vmdk/vmx to you internal drive (or keep it on the external, it doesn't matter)
Fire up vmplayer and point it to your vmx. Then it will boot Windows, just like a real machine.
-Hinto

Well, I do. I have a windows HDD and a Linux Mint HDD. The plan was to boot into Linux mint, start up a VM app and boot the windows HDD within the Linux mint environment....probably gonna go reinstall mint with windows. Setup the dual boot from there to be fresh to make GRUB happy

[sosaudio1]

HMMM...
I had assumed you had Windows and Linux already installed.
If it were me, I'd boot into Windows.
Delete your Windows page file and then defrag it.
Export your Windows partition to the vmdx and vmx with VMWare converter (to say, an external drive).
Boot a Linux LiveCD (Mint?). Fire up gparted and shrink the Windows partition as much as possible.
Then, install Linux (if you don't already have it). Install Vmware Player (if you don't already have it). Either copy the vmdk/vmx to you internal drive (or keep it on the external, it doesn't matter)
Fire up vmplayer and point it to your vmx. Then it will boot Windows, just like a real machine.
-Hinto

Well, I do. I have a windows HDD and a Linux Mint HDD. The plan was to boot into Linux mint, start up a VM app and boot the windows HDD within the Linux mint environment....probably gonna go reinstall mint with windows. Setup the dual boot from there to be fresh to make GRUB happy

OK so the latest....no need to reinstall Mint...not when you have two separate drives.

The way I did it was to first make sure the drives are happy....aka...they boot on their own....pretty simple right? But why? In the moving and shaking I wanted to make sure their MBR's were still intact. They were so we proceed. First test, Windows as primary Mint as secondary. Windows of course booted and had no idea about this second HDD. No bother... Now let's see if switching the cables and making the Mint system be primary and Windows secondary. Boot, booted Mint and oh wow there is the HDD for windows on the desktop that I had made from earlier HDD storage drive...this drive now lives in an enclosure that was discussed earlier...OK so now for the fun.

I went here:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2 ... m%20LiveCD

and followed the info at Method 3 starting at step 8. Notice where it says if the cfg is missing or is wrong.... so I did the update-grub command, it found the windows drive, I then reinstalled GRUB to sda and ran the double check and stopped there. And for sanity I did a gedit to the grub boot grub.cfg to see if I saw anything related to the windows drive and there it was.....

After a shutdown/restart, I had the screen to switch OS's. I booted first into Windows and let the system run for a while, then I shutdown/restarted into Mint and all is good.....

Thanks for the help.

Rich