What is the best way to install Linux and Windows 7 on the same computer?
by hamstap85 on January 16, 2010Q: I’m moving my desktop experience from Windows to Ubuntu Linux running on a Dell computer. The main partition would be Linux, but I’d also have a smaller secondary partition as Windows 7 on the side. What’s the best way to go about setting all this up? Is it possible to install XP on a small, then install Linux on the rest, then update to Windows 7 when I get it?
My personal preference is to use virtualization instead of the dual-booting setups some people use. It makes things a lot easier to maintain since you don’t have to mess with partitions and master boot records.
http://www.virtualbox.org/ is free and works great, check out their website to learn more.
Mark (Uber Geek) says: on January 16, 2010 at 11:01 am
what’s the difference between virtualization and full bootup? is there any major performance difference?
hamstap85 (Newbie) says: on January 16, 2010 at 2:54 pm
lemme just rephrase that… is it possible to have linux be the main OS, and virtualbox run w7?
hamstap85 (Newbie) says: on January 16, 2010 at 2:59 pm
Absolutely. You would not have much luck playing graphically intense video games on the Windows 7 under virtualbox but if you are not worried about that it is a great alternative. I currently run Windows XP on my Mac using Parallels and have had much success running VMware to run Windows on many different variations of linux. The great thing about vittualbox is that it is free.
matt (Geek) says: on January 16, 2010 at 3:15 pm
hey thanks. il try that then check back.
hamstap85 (Newbie) says: on January 17, 2010 at 3:35 pm