[olug] Virtualization Question

[Dan Linder]

On Fri, Apr 25, 2008 at 12:31 PM, Joe Gulizia <jrguliz at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Can I use the restore disks from the XP side in
> VirtualBox or some other virtual OS instead of having
> to re-boot?


If I understand your question, you're wanting to have 100% Linux running on
the hardware, and only have the WinXP virtual system around in case you go
to an IE-only site?  If so, using the restore media will depend on how it
was setup by the manufacturer.  My old Compaq laptop restore media
complained quite bitterly when it didn't detect that it was running on
Compaq hardware.  For a long time the "Windows Genuine Advantage" star came
up and wouldn't let me download updates for it (I was running it under
VMWare workstation on the laptop).  About 18 months ago WGA stopped
complaining and it has been happy ever since.

If your asking about giving the VirtualBox system direct access to your XP
partition to re-install WinXP onto that partition without rebooting Linux,
well...  I've done that with VMWare workstation years ago and it worked - I
would assume that VirtualBox would allow for direct hardware access for
WinXP.  Your biggest issue might be when you try to reboot back into the
WinXP partition directly -- Windows is going to see quite a bit of changes
in hardware and will probably complain.  But it should hopefully correct
itself.

Dan

-- 
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?" (Who can watch the watchmen?) -- from the
Satires of Juvenal
"I do not fear computers, I fear the lack of them." -- Isaac Asimov (Author)
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