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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

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Can a Linux installation be run as a VM in Windows? (lemmy.dbzer0.com)

submitted 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) by Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/linux@lemmy.ml

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This might sound daft, but something similar used to work with live discs.

I've got Windows 10 and Mint 21.1 dual booting on my computer at the moment. Every so often I'll realise that I've missed something from my Windows installation. If it's important, I then have to boot to Windows to get the information, or the settings etc.

Is there a way to virtualise my Mint installation so that I can run both the OSs at once to make sure that I've got everything?

VirtualBox had a tool to do this with a live USB, but that was back in the MBR days, so it probably won't work with modern hardware.

EDIT: Sorry, I should clarify, Mint and Windows are on the same physical disk, and the plan is to remove Windows once I'm done.

Update: I'm giving up. It looks like it is possible if you have separate disks with separate boot partitions, but getting it to work with a shared boot partition is harder work than I'm willing to do right now.

VMware Player can use a partition or disk, but might be in read only mode, I couldn't get far enough to check.

Thanks for all the replies :)

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[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Sorry, yes, I know what VirtualBox is. My problem is that I want to access my existing Mint installation through my existing Windows 10 installation. Mint and Windows are on the same physical disc in separate partitions, and I don't want to have to reboot to do something like export my Thunderbird settings and emails from the Windows client if I'm in Mint.

It's a temporary stopgap solution while I switch because I have memory issues, and only tend to remember things when I need to use them (probably ADHD related, but that's another story)

[–] TheBigBrother@lemmy.world 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Not possible AFAIK.

[–] Tippon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 months ago

Unfortunately, it looks like you're right :(

I can get VMware Player to recognise the partition, but the boot info is on another partition. As that partition is already in use, I'm getting an error. It might be possible to create another boot partition, or put the relevant info onto the Mint partition, but that's just going to make things even more complicated, and it's not worth it just to save some time.