If there is some reason that you still want to use the Windows OS while still using Ubuntu it will not be that hard to do. There are two programs out there that will emulate Windows OS very easily VirtualBox and VMware. Both programs will work with Windows, Apple (Mac) and Linux machines.
Now I will take a look at VMware and why I find it a stronger program to run a virtual operating system. Now VMware has two versions for desktop users the free version VMware Player this version is a stripped down version. VMware also has a Workstation version. I am going to be covering the Player version in this write up. To get your hands on this version you will have to register and download a copy off the VMware website.
To install this program will take a little bit of work. Go to were you downloaded the program. Right click on the file and go to properties. Go to the Permissions tab and click on the Execute box. Then close the box and then you should move the file to your Desktop if it is not all ready there. You will then have to open up your Terminal program. Once the program is up you should be able to get to your Desktop by just typing in cd Desktop and then press enter. You will have to then type sudo sh and then the whole file name. Terminal will prompt you to put in your password to install the program. You will then just have to follow the prompts until it is installed. When it is done installing you will have to click on your Ubuntu icon on the top left and do a search for VMware.
When the program opens up you will want to right click on the Home icon and select Create a New Virtual Machine. Here is a list of operating systems you can install Windows, Linux, Novell Netware, Sun Solaris, MS-DOS and FreeBSD. Now I am not going to be covering all the installs but I will cover Windows a little bit. The other operating systems should be pretty straight forward if you are use to them. Now depending on what Windows version you are installing there will be things you can enter to help the installation. Depending on the install you can put in a system password and put the product key code in. You will also be able to install the operating system into what ever hard drive you want. If you have a faster hard drive I would install the OS on the faster hard drive.
Now another great feature that VMware has is that if you have to format or remove VMware you can still reuse the OS you installed. You will have to make sure you save the directory the VMware OS is installed. Right click on the Home icon after VMware is reinstalled and click on Open a Virtual Machine. Then look for were you saved the OS and look for the file with .vmx extension. Once your operating system is installed you can start it up by double clicking the operating system name in VMware. VMware also lets you move one VM from one to computer to another. This is a great idea because if you are running a production system that needs to stay up all the time. You can move the OS to another computer while you shut down the other one if need be in real time. So if you are running say a web site your customers will not see it go down. The only down side is that you need another computer running at the same time that is identical to the production computer.
Now I know I have not covered VirtualBox but that program works almost the same as VMware. There are a few things that VirtualBox can not do like move a VM from one computer to another in real time. Also I wanted to cover the stronger of the two, I might cover how to install with VirtualBox down the road.
No comments:
Post a Comment