On Wednesday, 25. July 2012. 22.21.14 Claude Jones wrote:
> On 07/25/2012 10:01 PM, Matt Morgan wrote:
> > I have Windows actually installed on a separate partition. Can I run it
> > from inside Linux somehow? That is, without rebooting into Windows. I
> > looked at VirtualBox and Virtual Machine Manager (I'm completely new to
> > them) but it wasn't obvious that they could use a real installation of
> > Windows.
>
> You can't run your existing Windows installation 'inside Linux' as you
> ask.

On the contrary, yes it can be done. Basically, you point VirtualBox to your
physical partition which contains Windows, and let it boot from that.

The only problem is that virtual hardware detected by Windows will be different
from the host hardware it was installed on, and Windows will not like that, so
some extra steps need to be done (creating another hardware profile in Windows,
etc.). The OP should read all the details and caveats in the VirtualBox
documentation.

Also, I've done this only with Windows XP, don't know if other versions are
supported or not. The OP didn't specify which Windows he is running. In
addition, there might or might not be architecture-based problems, depending
on the 32/64bit installations of Windows, Linux and VirtualBox.

HTH, :-)
Marko