Has anyone had experience with one, the other or both of the issues abore?
Virtual info:
Dual Boot info:
Virtual info:
Dual Boot info:
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Virtual PC vs. Dual Boot?
- Thread starter ChillLead
- Start date
- Status
firewolfrl
Technical User
Hmmm!
I do both...but not the way it is setup on the Dual boot setup link.
First I absolutely DO NOT LIKE AT ALL the Microsoft boot manager.
It is an absolute headache to use
I use an OLD Boot manager called XOSL
I believe that a dual boot type setup should use separate harddrives with the OS on the first partition of the harddrive. With a good Boot manager you can actually have the OS installed on a Logical partition too…But this is not a good practice to do in my opinion.
To get technical you can install 3 primary partitions on one drive and upwards of 250 Logical partitions on the same drive…but it is the 3 primary that can hold the OS the way you want it too.
With a good boot manager you can as an example make the second partition active and hide the 1st and the 3rd partitions so the second will read as the C:\ drive. This can be the same with any of the other Primary partitions.
Using a second or third harddrive you should be able to boot any of the primary partitions and using certain settings in the boot manager fool the computer into thinking that second or third drive is actually the number one Primary drive …that sure saves a lot of hassle when it comes to booting that drive as C:\ . This is especially nice because you can clone the OS…Keep the Boot.ini file unchanged (must match the same partition position on the copy drive that is in the same configuration) and best of all most of the time the Microsoft activation has no issues….though if you run Avast antivirus it will ask to reenter the serial number.
I clone my primary as an exact copy of my main working partition to a second harddrive at least once a week to twice a month. On a third drive I put My Documents folder and both the main drive and the copy refer to the folder on the third drive. Same with my email and banking info…the third harddrive data is synced to a second computer.
After I clone the drive. I hide the copy drive from the main drive using the boot manager…this saves a lot of hassle from spyware/adware, viruses, and last but not the least Microsoft updates gone bad….that and conflicting HP printer software.
This setup works very nice for me
Now as for the Virtual PC 2007…I am not a big fan of it but I use it so that I can test software and I use it to load a network to test it.
I prefer Vmware because it uses the RAM a little bit better and has a few more options
I use Virtual PC most of the time because it does not cause any issues with my PDA like the Vmware does
I hope that helps you.
As for the Licensing I have a legal license I use for the Virtual stuff and a different license for the cloned copy and main XP on the same computer that is used one at a time ...
I do both...but not the way it is setup on the Dual boot setup link.
First I absolutely DO NOT LIKE AT ALL the Microsoft boot manager.
It is an absolute headache to use
I use an OLD Boot manager called XOSL
I believe that a dual boot type setup should use separate harddrives with the OS on the first partition of the harddrive. With a good Boot manager you can actually have the OS installed on a Logical partition too…But this is not a good practice to do in my opinion.
To get technical you can install 3 primary partitions on one drive and upwards of 250 Logical partitions on the same drive…but it is the 3 primary that can hold the OS the way you want it too.
With a good boot manager you can as an example make the second partition active and hide the 1st and the 3rd partitions so the second will read as the C:\ drive. This can be the same with any of the other Primary partitions.
Using a second or third harddrive you should be able to boot any of the primary partitions and using certain settings in the boot manager fool the computer into thinking that second or third drive is actually the number one Primary drive …that sure saves a lot of hassle when it comes to booting that drive as C:\ . This is especially nice because you can clone the OS…Keep the Boot.ini file unchanged (must match the same partition position on the copy drive that is in the same configuration) and best of all most of the time the Microsoft activation has no issues….though if you run Avast antivirus it will ask to reenter the serial number.
I clone my primary as an exact copy of my main working partition to a second harddrive at least once a week to twice a month. On a third drive I put My Documents folder and both the main drive and the copy refer to the folder on the third drive. Same with my email and banking info…the third harddrive data is synced to a second computer.
After I clone the drive. I hide the copy drive from the main drive using the boot manager…this saves a lot of hassle from spyware/adware, viruses, and last but not the least Microsoft updates gone bad….that and conflicting HP printer software.
This setup works very nice for me
Now as for the Virtual PC 2007…I am not a big fan of it but I use it so that I can test software and I use it to load a network to test it.
I prefer Vmware because it uses the RAM a little bit better and has a few more options
I use Virtual PC most of the time because it does not cause any issues with my PDA like the Vmware does
I hope that helps you.
As for the Licensing I have a legal license I use for the Virtual stuff and a different license for the cloned copy and main XP on the same computer that is used one at a time ...
LWComputingMVP
IS-IT--Management
I used to multiboot using System Commander (had 10 OSs on my laptop). Now, since Virtual PC went free (and VMWare for that matter), I don't see the point. I haven't multibooted in years and I only use Virtual machines now - easy to backup/revert/transport to other systems and I don't have to shutdown my OS and 5 applications to get into another one.
firewolfrl
Technical User
Good point lwcomputing
I use the virtual stuff for all my Linux based software.... it sure saves the headache of the linux bootmanagers messing with the MBR on the main windows drive
I use the virtual stuff for all my Linux based software.... it sure saves the headache of the linux bootmanagers messing with the MBR on the main windows drive
LawnBoy
MIS
- Mar 12, 2003
- 2,881
Lol, whereas I prefer the linux bootmanger GRUB. I find it more versatile.
LWComputingMVP
IS-IT--Management
You can still use grub - in the virtual PC.
firewolfrl
Technical User
Grub is ok...LOL
I like to have windows the only thing on a drive with its own MBR....
I like to have windows the only thing on a drive with its own MBR....
I only use virtual systems these days, and I haven't dual booted in years. At this point, there's really only one really common scenario where you need to run multiple OSes that a virtual machine won't work for, and that is if you need lots of power.
For example, if your primary OS is Linux and you still like to play games in Windows, you will want to dual boot and boot into Windows to play those games. Running under emulation in Linux probably won't cut it. The alternative would be to run Windows, and put Linux in a virtual machine. But most people who use Linux as their primary OS would probably balk at having to boot into Windows in order to load Linux (I know I would if I were one of them).
For example, if your primary OS is Linux and you still like to play games in Windows, you will want to dual boot and boot into Windows to play those games. Running under emulation in Linux probably won't cut it. The alternative would be to run Windows, and put Linux in a virtual machine. But most people who use Linux as their primary OS would probably balk at having to boot into Windows in order to load Linux (I know I would if I were one of them).
noobtechie
Technical User
VMWare can be booted to Linux as well.
=========================================
“You can actually become a role model for women.” - Jenna Jameson
=========================================
“You can actually become a role model for women.” - Jenna Jameson
Yes, I know. In fact the ESX edition runs on a modified Linux kernel.
But as I said, if my primary OS was Linux I wouldn't want to have to boot into Windows, then launch VMWare, and then launch Linux just to get started. I'd be much more likely to just boot Linux directly, then use dual boot to get to Windows to play my games.
Hmmm...
I am using BOTH...
I got two pc's each DUAL BOOT, Windows and LINUX... on each I have VMWare installed, with the other OS ( and some others like FreeBSD, different Linux Distros)...
(Needed due to JOB requirement, as I need to test the software before I install it on the customers workstations)
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
I am using BOTH...
I got two pc's each DUAL BOOT, Windows and LINUX... on each I have VMWare installed, with the other OS ( and some others like FreeBSD, different Linux Distros)...
(Needed due to JOB requirement, as I need to test the software before I install it on the customers workstations)
Ben
"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."
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