Can i install my WinXP in a virtual 'thingy' inside Linux?

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Hi

I have Ubuntu Edgy and VMware player installed

However ideally i would like to run my winXP from inside Linux (for games) - is this possible? - VMware seems to want a 'virtual machine' rather than let me install something

or is there other free software that will let me do this?

many thanks

Diss
 
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Hi Diss,

The nearest match to that sort of functionality would be "wine". There will be a bit of a performance hit and some games are easier to get working than others. I mainly use it for running Dreamweaver under Linux, gave Steam a go and although it installed OK there were some slight display oddities. Your mileage may vary, as is the case with so many of these sorts of things :)
 

Una

Una

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Diss said:
Hi

I have Ubuntu Edgy and VMware player installed

However ideally i would like to run my winXP from inside Linux (for games) - is this possible? - VMware seems to want a 'virtual machine' rather than let me install something

or is there other free software that will let me do this?

many thanks

Diss

Sure you can, you just need to mess about with qemu or some other program to create the vm first. Its worth getting vmware workstation/server though.

http://johnbokma.com/mexit/2005/10/26/vmware-player-windows-xp.html

Xen/Kvm is worth trying also.
 
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thanks for the quick reply guys

i use wine where i can - just seen all this stuff on virtual machines and wondered if i could run winXP in it - seems not, but it was a nice thought :)

cheers

Diss

PS - this is prompted by being determined NOT to buy vista and try and make the switch to Linux, its just the gaming aspect that really holds linux back as it seems to do just about everything else - now, if they sold Linux versions of Civ4/Hearts of Iron/EU3 etc etc, i'd be a very happy man :D
 
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hmmm Una, i posted before i saw your reply

will this run 3D games etc?

i'll have a look, though expect me back with lots more questions :)

many thanks

Diss
 
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also - would it let you save stuff (e.g. save games) to your hard drive and the let you open them again from within the VM?

thanks

Diss
 

Una

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Yeah there is some support for 3d virtualisation at the moment (it is experimental though),

http://www.vmware.com/support/ws5/doc/ws_vidsound_d3d.html

To transfer stuff between the Guest OS and the Host OS all you really need is the network configured correctly. Because it provides a sandbox enviroment you can't transfer stuff directly but you can use the normal methods (scp/ftp/samba etc..)
 
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rapidly getting out of my depth here :(

sounds a bit too complex for a complete novice like me

on the Creating an XP Pro VM for the free VMware Player link you gave the instructions are not very specific at all e.g. i assume it means run the Qemu in WinXP, and its says create a text file but where to put it or what to do with it - like a lot of linux websites it is written for people who already have a lot of linux knowledge :(

i think i will have to forget this idea for now - but thanks all for the help

cheers

Diss
 
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LizardKing said:
Installing Xp through Vmware is pretty easy though
That it is - as simple as popping the XP CD into your CD drive, selecting a couple of configuration options in VMWare Server, before you're straight into the regular XP install process. The most tricky part is actually installing the VMWare Server program itself, as a few of the configuration options are not that novice-friendly.

In order to do this, to clear up any confusion, you need the (free) VMWare Server, not the Player. VMWare Server allows you to create virtual machines (be it XP, Win2K, Ubuntu, Fedora etc.) and then use them as you'd expect. The VMWare Player, as you've discovered, only lets you 'play' virtual machines - there are often premade virtual-machines you can download for testing.

But, yes, you'll not have much luck running 3D games inside a virtual machine right now.
 
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You'd have to have NTFS write-enabled drivers to be able to reliably modify the windows partition for save games etc (ntfs3g), otherwise you can 'simply' mount the windows partition and run the games in Wine (as mentioned) or Cedega (a specially modified version of Wine with some DirectX hacks) - which a lot of games seem to work in. It supports DirectX 9 but not shader model 2+.
 
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