How To: Run Windows from Inside Linux

Something that can shy a user away from making the switch to Linux is not having the option to go back to Windows. Luckily, there are solutions like dual-booting, where you can have both OS's installed right next to each other. However, Windows 8 appears as if it will block dual-boots with its neo-space BIOS that have been developed. Sneaky-sneaky. Windows users could still throw in a Linux live CD to try out Linux, but what does a Linux user do when they need something from Windows?

Oracle has a free program similar to VMware called VirtualBox. VirtualBox creates a VM (Virtual Machine) within the host operating system. This allows you to install an entire operating system, like Windows, within Linux while the host operating system is still running. This can be useful in so many ways, you can even run multiple VM's simultaneously—if your computer hardware permits.

In this Null Byte, we're going to install Oracle's VirtualBox, and go over how to run the daemons and modules, as well as prepare a virtual hard drive for guest OS installation with a nice vTutorial by yours truly.

Install VirtualBox and Configure Modules

Follow along with this video demo to learn how to install Vbox in Arch Linux, and configure it properly. For your reference, here all of the commands (in order of usage):

• sudo pacman -S virtualbox
• sudo vboxbuild
• sudo nano /etc/rc.conf (edit the lines with vboxdrv, and vboxnetflt)
• sudo modprobe vboxdrv
• sudo modprobe vboxnetflt

Come join some chats in the IRC!