VMWare - existing XP Drive

[Rapael Morcha]

On Fri, Nov 16, 2007 at 12:40:40AM +0100, Hugo Heden wrote:
> On Nov 15, 2007 11:13 PM, NoOp <glgxg at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> > I finally got enough memory for the 2.4Ghz machine and now have 1.2Gb of
> > mem in it. The machine has two 40Gb hard drives: Ubuntu on 1, WinXPPro
> > on the other. I use the WinXPPro for troubleshooting & testing.
> >
> > This works well in a dual-boot config, but can be a PITA when I'm
> > troubleshooting multiple customers (one linux, the other windows) at the
> > same time. So, I'm thinking of giving this a try:
> >
> > http://www.vmware.com/support/ws55/doc/ws_disk_dualboot.html
> > [Configuring a Dual-Boot Computer for Use with a Virtual Machine
> >
> > Many users install VMware Workstation on a dual-boot or multiple-boot
> > computer so they can run one or more of the existing operating systems
> > in a virtual machine. If you are doing this, you may want to use the
> > existing installation of an operating system rather than reinstall it in
> > a virtual machine. ]
> >
> 
> NoOp,
> 
> Thanks for that link!
> 
> I just started googling today for the exact same issue: Virtualizing
> on a existing Windows installation, while keeping the dual boot
If NoOp meant   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^, then I would say that there was no real problem. Everything worked in windows and I had no problem. 1.2GB mem should be fine. I was running it on 1GB. :-)

Since you'd be using the vmware workstation, Make sure you select proper options. Long words short, steps are at http://mazimi.wordpress.com/2007/07/04/run-windows-apps-from-your-existing-windows-partition-in-linux/ and was also discussed sometime back in this list https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-users/2007-February/106325.html. You will get BSOD if there are no proper drivers installed in your existing Windows installation for scsi devices because your Windows now has to use the Vmware scsi drivers instead of its native ones as it is being hosted in virtual environment - http://mazimi.wordpress.com/2007/06/24/virtualization-of-an-existing-physical-partition-of-windows-within-linux/ (very important!)

Other than that, I had no issues using existing windows installation from Ubuntu in Vmware. 
Goodluck! 

-- 
Cheers,
Raphael.