Re: [tlug] xen and windows

[Scott Robbins <scottro@example.com>]

On Mon, Oct 15, 2007 at 09:04:59AM +0900, Darren Cook wrote:
> 
> Hi Scott,
> Thanks for the reply. Can I also do this:
>   1. Buy a machine with windows pre-installed

Errm, yeah, they're pretty easy to find.  :)

>   2. Turn it into a dual-boot linux machine

Yes.   Of course, you willl need some sort of partitioning tool.  I'm
going to assume you more or less know how to do this, otherwise, it's a
thread in itself. 


>   3. Run linux as the host O/S

Yes, that should be fine. 



>   4. Run windows as the guest O/S (using the already installed windows,
> rather than having to install windows again)


Ok, if you are picturing what I think you're picturing, no.  However,
there are tools to create a virtual machine from your already existing
installation.  I've never looked into them, but as I understand it, you
can run some program, which makes an image of your existing Windows.
Then, you can open it in VMWare server. 

So, there will be some work involved--you can't just open VMWare server
and run your already existing Windows O/S as it is.  You'll have to
either reinstall or create an image as mentioned above. 

> 
> Is the host O/S running at full speed, and it is only the guest O/S that
> experiences some virtualization overhead?

You can decide how much of your resources to allot to the guest O/S.  

Then, it will sort of depend upon what the virtual machine is doing.
Say, for example, you have a gig of RAM.  You allot 512 to the guest.
If the guest is making use of it, the host machine will run more slowly
than usual. 


-- 
Scott Robbins
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