[ubuntu-uk] Single Ubuntu instance both bootable AND virtual?

[Rob Beard]

Andrew Oakley wrote:
> I have a new PC which has Windows XP. I am already very familiar with
> repartitioning/resizing and dual-booting so that I can have both XP and
> Ubuntu on the same machine.
>  
<snip>

Hmm, although I've not tried booting an OS like this, in VMWare you can 
actually mount real drives and partitions as virtual discs.  I've 
managed to do it in VMWare Server on Ubuntu, I managed to mount one of 
my hard disks as a drive and read it in a virtual copy of Windows.

IIRC it is also possible to do it with VMWare on Windows, you just need 
to add the drive (it creates a small dummy virtual hard disk file). 
Then technically it should be just a case of booting it up.  Not sure 
how Ubuntu would cope running under virtual hardware and real hardware. 
  Presumably it would auto detect hardware anyway on bootup.

Best bet I can suggest is to install something like VMWare Server, or 
alternatively VMWare Player and try it (although with VMWare Player 
you'll have to manually create configuration files for the virtual machine).

Rob