[sf-lug] linux running windows as a VM

[Akkana Peck]

Alex Kleider writes:
> What I'd like to do is install Debian (which I've done many times  on other computers) and then have windows available as a WM should I ever want it. (I've never before had occasion to want it but I've already paid for it so why not have it available just in case?!?)
> As I understand it, one can make an "image" (a single file?) of the (windows) OS (and store it on removable media) while running windows as currently installed and then later feed that image to a virtual machine running under Linux (Debian in my case) after Linux is installed (and windows blown away in the process.)

When I set up my current machine a couple of years ago, what I did was:

- Remove the original internal SSD and replace it with a brand-new
  larger one. Now I had a backup of the original Windows in case
  something went horribly wrong.

- Install Linux on the new disk

- Copy the Microsoft Data Management (MSDM) from the BIOS into a
  VirtualBox VM: see https://superuser.com/a/1329935
  Now that VM thinks it's running on the original machine, at least
  for purposes of authorizing the Windows install.

- Download the official Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft and install it
  in the VM

Of course, you could do this with kvm/qemu instead of Virtualbox.
I used Virtualbox because the instructions I found for using the
MSDM in Virtualbox were a lot clearer than the ones I found for
kvm/qemu. Some day maybe I'll get around to figuring out how to
convert the virtualbox image to kvm with the right MSDM.

I never used Lenovo's preinstalled Windows 10. I kept the internal
SSD around for a while just in case, but eventually, when I needed
some fast external disk space, I put it in an external enclosure and
overwrote it. During the time I kept it, the only time I considered
swapping it back in was the ordeal where Lenovo released a firmware
upgrade that was only available as a Windows EXE; but I eventually
found a (horribly complicated) way to make a USB-bootable Windows to
Go image that could run the EXE.

        ...Akkana