VirtualBox

[Bill Stanley]

On 08/05/2014 11:14 AM, Jim Byrnes wrote:
> On 08/05/2014 10:05 AM, Dick Dowdell wrote:
>> On Tue, Aug 5, 2014 at 10:47 AM, Jim Byrnes <jf_byrnes at comcast.net> 
>> wrote:
>>
>>> On 08/05/2014 09:26 AM, Dick Dowdell wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Tue, Aug 5, 2014 at 10:15 AM, Jim Byrnes <jf_byrnes at comcast.net>
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>   On 08/05/2014 06:40 AM, Liam Proven wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>   On 5 August 2014 13:22, Dick Dowdell <dick.dowdell at gmail.com> 
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   VirtualBox does have an advantage over a dual boot installation 
>>>>>> in that
>>>>>>> one
>>>>>>> can switch back and forth between OSes without rebooting.  With
>>>>>>> hardware-level virtualization, performance is excellent.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Please put your response *below* the text to which you are replying.
>>>>>> Gmail supports this just fine; I am using it right now. Press 
>>>>>> Ctrl-A,
>>>>>> trim and then type.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> VBox is fine for some things, but for others, native bare-metal
>>>>>> performance is key. I don't see them as exclusive alternatives; I 
>>>>>> have
>>>>>> a rarely-used copy of Win7 in a native hard disk partition, and the
>>>>>> official MS XP Mode VM running under Virtualbox as well (and also
>>>>>> rarely-used).
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>   I have a dual boot setup now, Win7 and Ubuntu 12.04 on separate 
>>>>>> hard
>>>>> drives.  About the only thing I use Win7 for is to run Turbo Tax. It
>>>>> really
>>>>> would be more convenient to run it in VBox. I don't have an 
>>>>> installation
>>>>> disk because Win7 came installed on the machine.
>>>>>
>>>>> I've googled this in the past and found several sets of complex and
>>>>> sometime conflicting instructions.  If someone who has 
>>>>> successfully put
>>>>> an
>>>>> installed copy of Win7 in VBox would point me at the instructions 
>>>>> they
>>>>> used, I would appreciate it.
>>>>>
>>>>> Regards,  Jim
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -- 
>>>>> ubuntu-users mailing list
>>>>> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
>>>>> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/
>>>>> mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> Jim,
>>>>
>>>> I haven't done it in a while, but Virtual box will boot a VM from a 
>>>> VHD
>>>> file
>>>> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VHD_(file_format)>. That is of interest
>>>>
>>>> because you can back up your Windows 7 (or Vista) machine to a VHD 
>>>> file.
>>>>   I
>>>> discovered this when I accidentally double-clicked a VHD backup on a
>>>> Windows 7 machine with VirtualBox installed.  I do not believe that 
>>>> you
>>>> can
>>>> do this with a Windows 8 machine.
>>>>
>>>> Regards
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>> Dick,
>>>
>>> Thanks for the link.  As soon as I get a little spare time I will 
>>> see if I
>>> can get it to work.
>>>
>>> Thanks,  Jim
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -- 
>>> ubuntu-users mailing list
>>> ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
>>> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/
>>> mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
>>>
>>
>> Jim,
>>
>> It occurs to me that many Windows machines sold without installation 
>> media
>> have the tools to create an installation disk from a hidden partition on
>> the hard drive.  Have you explored this alternative?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>>
>>
>
> Dick,
>
> I don't know enough about Windows to realize that this possibility 
> existed.  It is an HP desktop so I will certainly check this out.
>
> Thanks,  Jim
>
>
WS=> Be careful here!  If it is like my HP laptop, the restore partition 
restores the ENTIRE hard drive to the original state.  All of the 
partitions (including the Linux partitions) were overwritten.  I might 
have chosen the wrong options but this is what happened to me.  Luckily, 
I backed up ALL the partitions before taking this drastic step so I last 
no data, but I did lose a lot of time.  I don't know if other 
manufacturers are like this.

Word to the wise.  BACKUP EVERYTHING!