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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

What you're asking is if you can run the existing Linux Mint on your drive within Windows running on the same drive?

Yes, exactly this. It used to be possible with live usb keys years ago, where you could boot the key normally and have a persistent live disc, but there was a Windows tool that would virtualise the key, letting you access the persistent disc from within Windows.

The reason I want to do it is for programs like Thunderbird, where you have to export your settings, email, etc. to be able to import them on the other OS. As far as I'm aware, this can't be done by just copying files, you have to export them first.

I have memory issues, so I often forget about a program until I need to use it, and if I'm already in Mint, it means that I have to stop what I'm doing and reboot, and then lose track of what I was doing in Mint. If I can access both OS at the same time, like with a virtual machine guest and host, I can just grab whatever I need until I've got everything transferred over.