Has anyone tried running Windows on Dell Ubuntu Linux?

Question

If you have an old copy of Windows 2000 or XP (possibly even Vista), and you have an AM2 Athlon64 or Athlon64 X2 processor (or a recent Intel processor which is VT capable for which BIOS allows you turn on hardware virtualisation), you should be able to run Windows and windows applications in a windows on Ubuntu Linux using the Kernel Virtualisation Module. The only Windows applications you won't be able to run are some applications that interact directly with hardware and 3D accelerated games (which will run very slowly because DirectX will be emulated in software). Also Vista may require 3D features to be turned off, although I haven't tried this. Unfortunately I live in UK, so I can't buy any of the Ubuntu Dells yet, but I have installed and run Windows 2000 pro using KVM on Ubuntu Feisty 7.04 on an AM2 Athlon64 X2 with no problems. I think this is the solution for the few legacy Windows applications you may have that don't run on Linux. There is also the added advantage that you can backup and restore the Windows installation as a file. You can also isolate the virtual Windows machine from the Internet by using a private network to share data between the Linux host and the virtual Windows installation, and start it from , so Windows doesn't get viruses. Also you can start Windows from a Copy on Write file with an overlay file, so you can start Windows every time from a fixed snapshot - no viruses, malware, Windows genuine advantage/registration messages will ever show up. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QEMU http://blogmarks.net/user/mfaure/marks/tag/qemu

sultanaofpersia · Answer

You can also use VMWare and Virtualbox. I have Windows XP set up in VMWare on my (older) Dell. Works like a charm.

hotshotDJ · Answer

I've installed my full-retail version of Windows 2000 using VirtualBox. Works like a charm (although, I'm probably going to remove it... I installed it "because I can" -- the only thing I've run in it is Windows Update :))

DON'T try this if you have less than 1 Gig of RAM installed. Running a guest operating system on top of a host operating system requires MUCH RAM!

UK101 · Answer

Does VMWare or VirtualBox do hardware virtualisation (native speed) and do they have free versions that do this?

hotshotDJ · Answer

Both VMWare and VirtualBox do hardware virtualization -- thats the whole POINT of virtualization software. I'm not familiar with VMWare, but I believe they have a free version. I personally use VirtualBox -- see HERE for all the information you could possibly want.

mariomiy · Answer

Yes. My computer is not from Dell. It was assembled from independent parts: ASUS motherboard with AMD 32-bit 1.25 MHz 750MB RAM 80 GB hard drive.

I am writing this message on Firefox on CentOS 5 GNU/Linux distribution on VMWare hypervisor on Ubuntu 7.04 OS, and it is quite fast; the overhead is not much felt. Sounds and images play OK.

Currently I have 13 different OSs built on virtual machines, and one of them is Windows XP SP2!

It is a fascinating experience to have all this power and versatility on a single personal computer, if you compare to how it was when IBM created VM to help in migration of mainframes. It was big deal, involving hundreds of thousands of dollars. I have on my desktop many times more power than the Tubarão Steel Plant, Serra, ES, Brasil, in 1984, where a Fujitsu mainframe with 10 megabytes of memory ran steel production on a online database. I consider this as one of the greatest advances of business computing of the last decade.

I believe that a setup like the one I have is able to run the operations in a regular business or government agency, independent from the need to "upgrade" to Windows Vista, for an undetermined length of time, without the discomfort of malware and the advantages of GNU/Linux to run all things that do not depend on Windows, without disrupting the activities that depend on Windows-only applications.

mariomiy · Answer

Does VMWare or VirtualBox do hardware virtualisation (native speed) and do they have free versions that do this? VMWare can be downloaded free of charge for personal use. I have an installation howto on Ubuntu written. Send me a message to miyojim@gmail.com and I will attach it in response.

hotshotDJ · Answer

mariomiy wrote: I have an installation howto on Ubuntu written. Send me a message to miyojim@gmail.com and I will attach it in response. Rather than sending it to the OP via private email, could you post it here (or link to it?) so it can become part of the public record for others who may also benefit from it? I'm sure it would be very much appreciated by all!

CruelladeVil · Answer

I guess you guys are doing this just because you can. However, in my case, the whole point of buying a Dell laptop with Linux pre-installed was to actually use Linux. :-D

mariomiy · Answer

First, I brought up a text terminal by clicking Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal. All command lines are given on this terminal.

Typed on command line:
echo "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu feisty-commercial main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
(This command appends to file /etc/apt/sources.list the text /echoed. To avoid typing mistakes, select the line above with the mouse, move the mouse pointer (arrow) into the terminal area, click the mouse middle button and press the [Enter] key. Your user password will be required at this point. The echoing of the text on your terminal acknowledges that it was written in the file.)
I registered (gratis) at http://register.vmware.com/content/registration.html and asked for a serial number, which appeared on the browser window. I selected that number with the mouse and typed on the terminal:
cat > vmware-serial-number.txt
pressed [Enter] key, clicked the middle button of the mouse, then typed [Enter][Ctrl-D]. That way I saved the serial number for later use in a text file.
Typed line command:
sudo apt-get update
Typed line command:
sudo apt-get install vmware-server
Then apt-get downloaded about 85 MB of files. After installation, 143 MB of disk space was taken.
In the installation process I was prompted to accept the EULA, which I did.
The vmware-server installer then asked for the serial number that I had saved; on the already open terminal I typed
cat vmware-serial-number.txt
which echoed the 20-character code on screen. I selected that number with the mouse and clicked the middle button in the prompt field. OK.
When the installation ended, I went to Applications -> System, and found the vmware server square symbol at the bottom of the pulldown menu. Success!

I clicked on that symbol, and I was greeted by the Connect to Host dialog box, where I clicked on the Connect button.

The VMware Server Console popped up, waiting for orders.

I then needed an installation disk, so I went to the Linspire site and downloaded the .iso file for the distribution into my /opt/downloads/
directory.

The second part is full of pictures, so it results in a tar.gz file of more than 3 MB.
The full article will be published in a few days at ReallyLinux.com
Cheers.

hotshotDJ · Answer

@CruelladeVil wrote:
I guess you guys are doing this just because you can.

LOL. Yes indeed! I've been using Linux for over 5 years now, so almost everything I do, I do using Linux. However, there is one very specialized program that I have no choice about that I must run in Windows. It works (somewhat) using WINE, but since I still have my fully licensed retail version of Windows 2000, I saw no reason not to use it -- just keep it segregated in its own little virtual machine should be safe. Within the next year, I'll be retiring that program and will have no need whatsoever for Windows virtualization.

But, yeah... sometimes I do things for no other reason than because I can. :)

mariomiy · Answer

Therein lies the power of open source.

Microsoft is now trying to discredit all the work done by the worldwide open source community by hijacking the wimpy GNU/Linux distributions, such as Suse (Novell) and Xandros, but there are still 384 distributions (distrowatch.com), and some of them are very healthy, resistant, and respected, such as PCLinuxOS, Ubuntu, RedHat, Fedora, CentOS, SimplyMepis, Mandriva, Debian, Knoppix... It is very easy to create a new distribution nowadays. That is what Microsoft fears.
We can create the KillWin distribution. I simply can't understand why Suse and Xandros did not raise their price skyhigh, since they were selling their reputations, through a poison pill clause, like PeopleSoft did against Oracle. Suse and Xandros could have asked for 10 billion euros, for example. At least, they would die rich. Open source has value.

If we start running Windows 2000, and XP, and 98 under virtualization around the globe, what can Microsoft do to stop us? Perhaps it will run Ubuntu under Vista. Ha!

We have the power. What does not kill us, makes us stronger.

Linux General

Has anyone tried running Windows on Dell Ubuntu Linux?

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