Arch Linux

majik67

Member

Registered: 2007-05-21

Posts: 22

VMware question

I'm don't know if this post belongs here but here goes...

I was wondering if it is possible to run a VMware server so that it can access my windows partition directly from linux, and my linux partition from windows... i.e. would it be possible to run my linux system from windows and vice versa using VMware?. I haven't really come across any sort of documentation for this (other than raw disk reading... [is that what I need?])

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

prune

Member

From: Adelaide, Australia

Registered: 2007-01-30

Posts: 13

Website

Re: VMware question

It may be possible, but the drivers installed in the VM and your actual hardware are different. Booting may be an issue if Windows doesn't load the correct IDE driver.

majik67

Member

Registered: 2007-05-21

Posts: 22

Re: VMware question

Are there any other alternatives to using VMware that would allow me to do this, or at least try and write a plugin or extention or even hack the code to be able to do this?

viniosity

Member

From: New York, NY

Registered: 2005-01-22

Posts: 404

Website

Re: VMware question

Well, you should be able to access windows from linux if your windows partition is fat32.. you can use WINE to execute some of those programs without linux equivalents.  and if your linux partition is ext3 you can access (though not very well) things from windows using http://www.chrysocome.net/explore2fs

shinlun

Member

From: Taipei, Taiwan

Registered: 2007-05-16

Posts: 61

Re: VMware question

If you have a dual boot system fot XP and linux, mounting ext3 & ntfs is not a problem for both OS.
If you are on a XP host with linux guests, or a linux host with XP guests, setting up network file sharing(like samba) over a virtual ethernet card would make your life easier.

retsaw

Member

From: London, UK

Registered: 2005-03-22

Posts: 132

Re: VMware question

It should be possible to run the same Linux installation both directly and as a guest though you will likely need to modify the initscripts to detect whether you are booting as a guest or directly and make any needed changes, you will almost certainly need a different xorg.conf for vmware and native graphics.  Windows probably won't like the difference between the real hardware and the virtual hardware, although it did work for me when I tried it a few years ago, but I ran into the issue of Windows needing to be reactivated (fortunately I was still in the 30 days grace period as I had just reinstalled at that time, so I was able to play with it for a little while), so if your version of Windows needs to be reactivated on hardware changes then it won't be practical to do this for Windows.

An alternative to using explore2fs to read your ext2/3 filesystems is to use one the the ext2 IFS drivers which allows Windows to read ext2/3 filesystems natively.  Links here and here, I don't know which one is better but the second is open source and the first is just freeware if that makes a difference to you.

ravisghosh

Member

From: Intergalactic Spaces

Registered: 2006-10-12

Posts: 516

Website

Re: VMware question

see this

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=30768

---

Ravi S Ghosh
www.ravisghosh.com
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majik67

Member

Registered: 2007-05-21

Posts: 22

Re: VMware question

I am already using ext2 IFS drivers in windows, and the ntfs-3g software in linux, so accessing my partitions isn't really a problem. I was just curious as to whether or not it was possible to run a normal installation of windows or linux from a different OS. As I spend about an equal amount of time on both windows and linux it would cut down the hassle of customizing everything to my liking, and having "theoretically" 4 different OS's that I would use (2 virtual and 2 real). I'm going to give the "Running a Windows Partition in VMWare Without Installing Windows Again" (thanks ravisghosh) a shot and see how it works.

-thanks

voidzero

Member

Registered: 2007-06-21

Posts: 109

Re: VMware question

I have installed vmware into doze, installed a linux into that and I'm using samba now for directory sharing. Not the best solution, but it works, and I also am able to access my linux partitions by using persistent physical devices.