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On 19 Dec 2015 23:21, "Julian Hall" <linux@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> I would like to run VMs for Windows XP and Windows 7 with VirtualBox on my system, as I am currently triple-booting and it's a pain in the rear, principally because every time I boot into Windows I have to suffer Windows Update doing its thing, sometimes at boot as well as shutdown. Plus the only reason I run Windows 7 now is to update my SatNav as the TomTom MyDrive connection software won't run in WINE.
>
> So I have three questions on the subject:
>
> 1. I would /like/ not to have to reinstall everything, and I have read there is a way to run VirtualBox on an existing partition, however I can't get my head around the various websites' instructions. Could someone please give me idiot-proof advice on that?
Getting a VirtualBox setup to look to a real drive/partition instead of a virtual one can be done by careful tweaking of the virtual machine's config file (and using VBoxManage). You'd use "sysprep" (or similar) to clean the Windows system of any notion of what hardware is running on, shut it down, perform said changes to the virtual machine configs, then boot it up as a virtual machine. It is not recommended (but possible, if the base hardware isn't too different from the emulated hardware) to run the system as both real and virtual - pick one and stick with it.
> 2. If I /do/ have to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows in a VM how will activation work? Particularly for Windows XP.
No idea.
> 3. Will Windows Update behave itself?
Not for XP, no.
I have a licensed Windows 7 as a VirtualBox virtual machine and for the most part Windows Update works as well as a real installation.
Grant. :)
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