Booting linux from within windows

[IBMan]

i know either vmware or MS VPC can utilize a physical disk

 

[The General]

lol msvpc is a joke

vmware bochs and qemu are the only way to go

 

[kewlman]

wait, cant VMware use a physical partition? (i believe it sasys for advanced users only or someting) but shouldnt it be possible to install linux on a physical partition, and then boot it from vmware? i know it wouldnt be possible vise versa with windows, because windows will get all screwed up if you boot with different hardware, but linux doesnt mind.

yes vmware can use a physical partition to boot into linux from windows.

 

[jee]

CoLinux can do the same I just found out.

 

[Nitestick]

if you search this forum you should find an old thread where i had a link to a program that can mount EXT2 and 3 partitions. it can't fully mount EXT3 it mounts it as EXT2 so you lose journalling but it works read/write. if you just want to run linux inside of windows qemu works well.

edit: as i recall i also found a program that worked for OSX as well, never tested it myself but macdude said it worked. i'll see if i can find my old thread.

edit2: linkage my friends. i don't know if you can still get the program but if not contact me and i should be able to send you an old version.

http://techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=75108

 

[jee]

I installed it from http://www.fs-driver.org/download.html and it works fine. I already new about another EXT2IFS driver: http://uranus.it.swin.edu.au/~jn/linux/ext2ifs.htm but I like the other one more.

Can I start/boot my linux partition using qemu?

 

[Nitestick]

not that i know of unfortunately. qemu can only run linux within windows. but i'm pretty sure the virtualisation is completely conrtained, in that the only filesystems you can access are the virtual filesystem created by qemu and any iso's you mount when you start qemu

 

[jee]

Yeay I tried it out, it looks the same like microsoft virtual pc

 

[T1junkie]

The best option would be VMware, which as previously mentioned can boot linux from a physical drive

there are versions of linux which are fat32 friendly so in theory they could be installed on the same partition as a windows installation about they both could not be booted simulatniously, I believe it has something to do with each OS wanting to lock the hardware for dedicated use

 

[Tyler1989]

MS Virtual PC is your answer.