[sf-lug] linux running windows as a VM guest

[aaronco36]

Quoting Akkana Peck <akkana at shallowsky.com> from [01]:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The above by Akkana P looks good so far :-)

Also checkout....

Oracle VirtualBox's main site [02]

VirtualBox Downloads site (for _most_ VBox hosts) [03]

Download VirtualBox for Linux Hosts (specifically) [04]

Listing of all downloads by VBox version [05]

The most current v6.1.32 snapshot of VBox downloads [06]
Alex K might wish to specifically download and use from this VBox snapshot 
webpage [06] at least...
- UserManual.pdf
- virtualbox-6.1_6.1.32-149290~Debian~bullseye_amd64.deb
- VBoxGuestAdditions_6.1.32.iso
- SHA256SUMS

>From the latest online viewable UserManual at [07], at least the following 
might be helpful for getting Windows 10 or 11 to successfully run as a 
guest
- Section 3.1. Supported Guest Operating Systems [08]
- Section 4.2.1. Guest Additions for Windows [09]
- Section 9.2. Advanced Configuration for Windows Guests [10]

Please note from [11] that as of version 6.1.28 from late October 2021, 
VBox has introduced guest support for Microsoft Windows 11.
A guide that came out a few wks before this [11]for those who might not 
already have the Windows 11 ISO is 'How to Download a Windows 11 ISO File 
and Do a Clean Install' [12].

Sure, there are also YouTube videos on getting Windows 10 and 11 to run in 
VBox, e.g.,
- ProgrammingKnowledge2's How to Install Windows 10 on VirtualBox [13]
- ProgrammingKnowledge2's How to Install Windows 11 on VirtualBox [14]
- TheHowToGuy123's How To Install Windows 11 In Virtual Box [15]
- Britec09's How to Install Windows 11 in VirtualBox [16]
- HDTechLogic's How To Install WINDOWS 11 Onto VIRTUALBOX! (Virtual 
Machine) [17]

Haven't looked into any of these YT vids myself, so definitely YMMV :-\

-A

===================================================
REFERENCES
===================================================
[01]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2022q1/015519.html
[02]https://www.virtualbox.org/
[03]https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
[04]https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads
[05]https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/
[06]https://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/6.1.32/
[07]https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html
[08]https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html#guestossupport'
[09]https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html#additions-windows
[10]https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html#adv-config-win-guest
[11]https://blogs.oracle.com/virtualization/post/oracle-vm-virtualbox-6128-windows-11
[12]https://www.tomshardware.com/how-to/clean-install-windows-11
[13]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JT8EXoobjSc
[14]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjE5BU_3P0o
[15]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWT-D-iv4Kw
[16]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pquf9DK3ElI
[17]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9zYHNGCQ6M
===================================================

aaronco36 at sdf.org