Host windows with Ubuntu

mryerse

2[H]4U
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Jan 29, 2005
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Currently I have windows xp installed on my laptop with one large partition.

I know how to partition the drive and install Ubuntu with a dual boot configuration.

What I want to do though is install Ubuntu, boot to it, and then load my current windows install as a virtual OS with VMware or something similar.

I believe that this is only possible with workstation and not with server but am unsure. Also I was thinking in Windows I should create two hardware profiles. One for booting directly to windows, and one for running windows virtually in Ubuntu.

Has anybody here tried this? Are there any issues I should be aware of?

Thanks
 
You need a Vmware converter to convert to a vmware image and run Vmware server on Ubuntu and launch Windows from there. Get the starter edition. It is free. Enterprise is pricey.
 
I have a 160GB drive (140 usable). 57.8 GB is used. VMware converter says min size is 63.68. Free space is 82.5GB. I can create the image, but then will have no space to partition the drive for ubuntu. I'll see if I can free up some more space or maybe use a USB drive to hold the image on temporarily until I know it works.
 
Okay... one more question. VMware converter looks cool, however, what I would like to do it not create an image file to run windows from, but to actually load the current windows install virtually in Ubuntu, so that if I make changes while it's booted in a virtual, and I shut Ubuntu down, I can boot to Windows and see the change I made, because they weren't made to an image file.
 
I have a 160GB drive (140 usable). 57.8 GB is used. VMware converter says min size is 63.68. Free space is 82.5GB. I can create the image, but then will have no space to partition the drive for ubuntu. I'll see if I can free up some more space or maybe use a USB drive to hold the image on temporarily until I know it works.

Yea, make some space.
 
Okay... one more question. VMware converter looks cool, however, what I would like to do it not create an image file to run windows from, but to actually load the current windows install virtually in Ubuntu, so that if I make changes while it's booted in a virtual, and I shut Ubuntu down, I can boot to Windows and see the change I made, because they weren't made to an image file.

Yea, you can do that too. I haven't tested yet. Starting Vmware server 1.06, it let you mount a native partition. However, you have to create a multiple hardware profiles that you can choose during the boot. Both profiles will drastic different hardware settings.
 
Thanks, I'll give that a shot. I used spacemonger to shave off 20 more GB. Still have 9.5 GB unscannable files.
 
Got Ubuntu installed and I can still boot to Windows (didn't wipe it, woohoo). Will mess with vmware tomorrow.
 
Got ati drivers installed and dual display configured. Not too hard with ati's .run file and the "--buildandinstallpkg Ubuntu/8.10" option. Also got vmware server installed which was harder than I expected. Apparently vmware has not updated their package for the kernel version that Ubuntu 8.10 uses. Someone had a .pl script that fixed the problem and allows it to install.

One thing I noticed is that while vmware server is in my applications menu, clicking on it will not launch it. I have to run the command "sudo vmware" from the terminal. Normally clicking a program from a menu that needs rights would prompt me to enter my password, but this one doesn't. Maybe I need to edit the link or something.

Now to mount windows.... I've heard that in addition to creating a new hardware profile, you also need to tinker with the ide drivers, and/or hal.dll. Hope not.
 
I got the VM setup, but when I load the windows VM from within Ubuntu, and choose the appropriate hardware profile, it blue screens. I think I need to modify the hardware. I heard someone say vmware doesn't work well with sata. I hope that's not the case.
 
Okay, loaded the vmware scsi drivers to my vmware hardware profile in windows and now it boots. Funny thing though, I cannot log in by pressing ctrl-alt-del because pressing ctrl-alt released control of the VM. Heh.
 
Two options:
Click on Desktop to let VMware mouse take over. This means you need to install Vmware drivers for Windows.

VM---> INSTALL VMWARE DRIVERS

For now, VM--->SEND CTL+ALT+DELETE
 
Thanks, found that. Now I have to activate windows. I hope that when I do, and I switch back to normal boot, I don't have to activate a 2nd time.
 
Thanks, found that. Now I have to activate windows. I hope that when I do, and I switch back to normal boot, I don't have to activate a 2nd time.

I would research on the net for that answer. I guess you are using the Home version. The MS license clearly says, the license applies to per CPU in the same PC, so you shouldn't.
 
Yeah, some people are talking about making a boot floppy. Not sure exactly how that would help. Doesn't matter though, cause even though I told vmware to use NAT for networking, and have windows set to dhcp, the activation wizard is unable to establish a connection, so I cannot register within the VM. I went back to windows by booting directly and thought it was interesting that while there it did not ask to be activated.
 
Yeah, some people are talking about making a boot floppy. Not sure exactly how that would help. Doesn't matter though, cause even though I told vmware to use NAT for networking, and have windows set to dhcp, the activation wizard is unable to establish a connection, so I cannot register within the VM. I went back to windows by booting directly and thought it was interesting that while there it did not ask to be activated.

Start off with bridging. It should be easier for you. If you don't understand how routing works, just set to bridge. It is like setting multiple IP addresses on the same nic.
 
Bridging would require my network to utilize dhcp, which it does not. I am in a vlan with static IP addresses, so I must share the static IP used by the host OS. I suppose I could bring the laptop home and try with bridging there.

The big question is, if I get this activation to work, I am committing to running windows in a VM only? The point of creating a VM from a physical disk is so you can switch between running from vmware or by booting directly as I wish. If I have to activate each time, that is a problem.
 
Bridging would require my network to utilize dhcp, which it does not. I am in a vlan with static IP addresses, so I must share the static IP used by the host OS. I suppose I could bring the laptop home and try with bridging there.

You probably haven't set the NAT correctly during the install. You probably aren't routing the virtual nic with the real nic. I don't know your background, so I am offering an easier option which is use the bridge. Are you a IT guy or user? Static VLAN to user's desktop seems like a tight security. Government or banking?
 
IT. We use static addresses for firewall rules. So you're saying my host OS is probably not setup to allow routing from the guest OS. I think I have a linksys router here I can use by putting a static front interface with dhcp on the back if I need to, but I'd prefer to setup NAT.

Please see my (edited) concern about activation above. I've heard about instructions for virtual box that setup your system so no matter how you boot (virtual or direct) Windows does not try to re-activate you. I don't want to burn any unnecessary activations.

Thanks for your help btw.


edit: I think I'll give this a shot.
 
I don't know if it's loaded with an OEM license or not. I would think we are using an enterprise license. The activation code on the sticker on the bottom of the laptop is for Vista business even though I have XP loaded.
 
From what I know, if you use OEM, you need a work around. This is very known issue. You have to dig some information off the web. For now, backup your .wpa file.
 
confirmed that it's oem. I don't have the product key so this is going to fail unless I can get it.
 
By adding the following line to the .vmx file, Windows is no longer asking me to activate:

SMBIOS.reflectHost = "TRUE"

That tells the VM to look at the actual BIOS for manufacturer name. Now windows thinks the hardware is close enough to original.

However, I'm having a hard time getting networking to work. I got a spare address on our subnet and tried bridge, and also tried nat. With nat I can get a dhcp address but the gateway the dhcp server is assigning seems wrong (172.16.151.2, when it seems it should be 172.16.151.1). I can ping 172.16.151.1 but not gateway of the host machine. I didn't try to ping the IP of the host machine although I should have. Now when I reboot the VM it hangs at "running startup scripts". I might need to delete and re-create the hardware profile in Windows and start over.
 
Okay, got networking to work. I think there was some type of caching problem causing a duplicate MAC or something. Rebooting fixed that. Then adding the correct nameservers in dhcpd.conf got the networking working. Sweet! Now hopefully installing VGA drivers does not cause windows to want to activate again.
 
Now I am trying to install vmware tools in the VM menu, but nothing is happening. Almost there!
 
Now I am trying to install vmware tools in the VM menu, but nothing is happening. Almost there!

You probably have autorun disabled or you haven't enabled your cdrom device in VM. If you have enabled CDrom in VM, just go to my computer, your CDrom drive will now have VMWARE icon. Just run the setup.
 
Two more questions I hope someone can help with:

1) Do you know why the arrow keys and delete keys do not work in the guest OS? They didn't work from the beggining (grub), and still don't work with vmware tools installed.

2) My host OS resolution is 3200x1600 (2x lcd @ 1600x1200 each). How can I set my guest OS to 1600x1200 on one of my host OS screens? I am using vmware server, and when I click maximize, it maximizes across both screens (3200x1600).

I suspect both of these issues might require vmware workstation. I am trying to avoid incurring costs though since budgets are tight here now.

Thanks. After these final two hurdles I think I will be happy with this config.
 
1. it could be your computer. I never had that issue.

2. It seems like you want autofit window.
Edit --> preference --> autofit (check both)

Vmware Server and Virtualbox are probably the most basic tool for virtualization out there.
 
For 1 it seems to be a bug with vmware on my host (ubuntu 8.10 64). There is a fix here I'll try out.

Thanks, autofit works great. Not quite 1600x1200, but 1588x1135 is close enough (due to top and bottom bars).

Edit: Added the line xkeymap.nokeycodeMap = true to /etc/vmware/config then ran /etc/init.d/vmware restart and now the kb works.
 
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