Hi :) VirtualBox gives an option to either create a virtual-drive or use an iso. The virtual-drive would then be a large file sitting on your real hard-drive.
You can then use the menus at the top of VirtualBox to set-up the Windows installer Cd to be read by the Virtual Machine either directly as an iso (as a virtual cd/dvd-drive) or by reading the real world cd/dvd-drive attached to the physical machine. It might be that it prefers .img rather than isos but both are pretty much the same, just different formats for the same thing. I think VirtualBox can handle both but may make it easier to use one rather than the other. Also VirtualBox can use various types of virtual hard-drive. There is an internationally agreed one that works on many different vms but, of course, Oracle prefer that you use their own format. I tend to use their own one. In terms of hardware in times gone by people have been able to use one Windows licence as part of their dual-boot, and then re-use it on a virtual machine. The standard argument was that "it is the same hardware". Now that virtualisation is more mainstream the licensing people at Microsquish might not be quite so bamboozled but it really is the same hardware and you are only using the licence once. Another successful argument used to be that it was just a reinstall to the same hardware and just not even mention virtual-machines at all because it's a technicality that they don't really need to know about. If using Virtual Machines is still new then it might be a good idea to set-up a virtual machine and install Fedora, or Ubuntu, or Mint to it - or try running a "LiveCd/Dvd" session in the virtual machine. Then you can build and destroy quite a few virtual machines without having to deal with licensing issues. A few "distro hoppers" use virtual machine to test-drive distros that they have never used before or to experiment and play around. It's a good way to learn and then installing Windows should be a fair bit easier. It's what i do each time i try using virtual machines because i never use them often enough to be really comfortable with them. Good luck and regards from Tom :) On 7 December 2016 at 13:22, Philip Jackson <[email protected]> wrote: > On 07/12/16 10:12, Felmon Davis wrote: > > On Wed, 7 Dec 2016, Cley Faye wrote: > > > >> 2016-12-07 9:10 GMT+01:00 Mike Scott <[email protected]>: > >> > >>> A windows licence might be tied to hardware, for example. So if I need > >>> occasional windows use (eg to update my satnav - grrrr!) but > >>> otherwise use > >>> linux, dual-boot is a necessity. Such a licence probably wouldn't > >>> work in a > >>> virtual machine. > >> > >> > >> There's always this possibility: > >> https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/ > > > > also this which I am about to try: > > <http://lifehacker.com/how-to-dual-boot-and-virtualize-the- > same-partition-on-y-493223329> > > > > > > "Once you're finished, you'll be able to reboot into your secondary OS > > and run it natively, or run it in your favorite virtualization program > > without having to reboot. You'll get the best of both worlds and you'll > > never have to decide between the two again." > > Thanks Felmon, Cley and Mike - I'll look into the links. > > I have Windows 10 (was Windows7) on a separate hard disk and I've hung > on to it because I occasionally want to use a couple of applications > that don't run under linux (or even very well using Wine, judging from > comments on the web). My linux is on its own hard disk and is my > default boot - if I need Windows, I just have to hold F12 on bootup and > select the Wind drive from a menu supplied by the motherboard. > > Would virtualbox (or other) be able to get Windows running on its own > hard disk ? It doesn't have an iso file - just a working version > (licensed) of Windows10. > > > -- > To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] > Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to- > unsubscribe/ > Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette > List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ > All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be > deleted > -- To unsubscribe e-mail to: [email protected] Problems? http://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/mailing-lists/how-to-unsubscribe/ Posting guidelines + more: http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Netiquette List archive: http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/users/ All messages sent to this list will be publicly archived and cannot be deleted
