Mat,
I have this exact same setup running right now. It's relatively
painless. I've also used VirtualBox with Windows XP as the host O.S.,
and an Ubuntu VM.
Mat> In other words, I want a primary linux systems with on demand
access to XP apps, without having a separate XP system.
You might want to play with the "seamless" mode. Instead of giving
you a VM window with XP running in it, the "seamless" mode will run your
applications and display them directly on your Ubuntu desktop (as if
they were native apps).
For step 3, "Install XP", I used a CD-ROM disk image in the ".iso"
format. I can't speak to installing with a physical Windows install CD-ROM.
Two gotchas to watch for: First, you'll need your valid Windows XP
license key during the install. Second, VirtualBox won't run if you
have the "kvm" kernel module loaded. If you get an error when starting
your VM, try something like
sudo rmmod kvm_intel
sudo rmmod kvm
...and retry.
I use KVM for all my server VMs, but I use VirtualBox for my
workstation / GUI because it handles the trivial issues like creating a
disk image, etc. with a nice little GUI.
--Derek
On 04/13/2010 12:00 PM, Mathew D. Watson wrote:
I would like to try running XP inside of VirtualBox, but I am having
difficulty visualizing the process of building the system. Please set
me straight if I have this wrong.
1. Install latest Ubuntu desktop system (my favorite linux flavor).
2. Install VirtualBox (as part of step 1?).
3. Install XP.
Part of my motivation is to learn about using virtualization. The
other part is that I have to use XP only applications, and I am hoping
that virtualization will allow me to perform most of my administration
using linux (e.g. file systems and backup). In other words, I want a
primary linux systems with on demand access to XP apps, without having
a separate XP system. It will be fun to see if this works.
Mat
