Can I use Virtual machine to access a physical drive?

[Mayuukosan]

Hello, all! I am here with a confusing question. Hope you guys can help.

Specs
Dual boot Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit / Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit (each is installed on a separate physical hard drive)
Video card       ATI Radeon HD 7750
Processor        AMD Phenom 2 quad core
Ram                 16 gigs
Motherboard   MSI 870A-G54
Power supply  Corsair GS 600

The drive with Windows (call it Drive A) is a physically separate drive from the Ubuntu drive (call it Drive 2).

What I am hoping to do, is boot into Ubuntu (drive 2) and use a Virtual Machine program to run the windows installation in Drive A. I want any and all changes I make in the virtual machine to be saved to Drive A.

The reason for this is I am tired of having a VM and a windows drive with separate systems, and I hate rebooting every time I need to run a program from the other drive. I did some looking and found some people saying maybe I could make an image of the drive and install that image on the VM. Could I then save all the VM data on Drive A(the current Widnows drive)?

Is any of this even possible? Probable?

Thanks for any help!

[Salmon Trout]

What I am hoping to do, is boot into Ubuntu (drive 2) and use a Virtual Machine program to run the windows installation in Drive A. I want any and all changes I make in the virtual machine to be saved to Drive A.

You can't do exactly what you are asking; but you can virtualise a Windows partition (make a VM that is a copy) and then run that in VMWare Player under Linux. There is a free tool called VMWare Converter. I used it to make a VM of the XP install on my old Shuttle and I have it on my new one and I run it under Windows 7 and also Linux Mint 9.

http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/

You can also modify such a VMWare VM to run under Sun Virtualbox.

http://www.sysprobs.com/physical-virtual-virtualbox-virtualbox-p2v

[Mayuukosan]

Thank you! Sad I can not do what I wanted, but your suggestion sounds very useful~!

[Garthhh]

I'm not familiar with virtual machine [VM]
you could do a reasonable imitation of what you wish on VirtualBox {VB}
you can save all the files wherever you want

 you can save what is described as an "appliance"  [snapshot] so your xp install is sustainable
as long as you have a reasonably current version of VB
https://www.virtualbox.org/
on whatever linux host you like [your mileage may vary]

if nothing else Appliances speed up installing windows on vb

You can always share the host systems content with the guest, which reduces the size of the file [xp] to 10-20g [os & programs only]
in day to day use saving to state reduces start up time to 15-20 sec on my xp install
I don't use XP very often, after sometime using linux, you'll find workarounds for all the apps you feel are windows only 

[Mayuukosan]

I'm not familiar with virtual machine [VM]
you could do a reasonable imitation of what you wish on VirtualBox {VB}
you can save all the files wherever you want

 you can save what is described as an "appliance"  [snapshot] so your xp install is sustainable
as long as you have a reasonably current version of VB
https://www.virtualbox.org/
on whatever linux host you like [your mileage may vary]

if nothing else Appliances speed up installing windows on vb

You can always share the host systems content with the guest, which reduces the size of the file [xp] to 10-20g [os & programs only]
in day to day use saving to state reduces start up time to 15-20 sec on my xp install
I don't use XP very often, after sometime using linux, you'll find workarounds for all the apps you feel are windows only 

I have tried using both VMWare and Virtual Box, but it seems I can not load an OS that is installed on a physical hard drive, which is what I wanted.

Also, I run Windows 7, not XP, but thank you for the advice.

The programs I use really are Windows only, for example, Steam, a game called Vindictus, and schoolwork for my college must be turned in with a .doc or .docx file type, which is Microsoft Word extensions.

[Salmon Trout]

it seems I can not load an OS that is installed on a physical hard drive

This is correct. You cannot do this. Virtualization environments run virtual machines.

[JJ 3000]

and schoolwork for my college must be turned in with a .doc or .docx file type, which is Microsoft Word extensions.

Mayuukosan, just fyi, OpenOffice and LibreOffice can both save and read files with those extensions. Documents created in OpenOffice or LibreOffice that are saved with those extensions can be opened and read with Microsoft Word. Ubuntu should have one or the other of those programs.

I know this may be a bit off topic. I just wanted to mention that in case you didn't know. 

[Mayuukosan]

Mayuukosan, just fyi, OpenOffice and LibreOffice can both save and read files with those extensions. Documents created in OpenOffice or LibreOffice that are saved with those extensions can be opened and read with Microsoft Word. Ubuntu should have one or the other of those programs.

I know this may be a bit off topic. I just wanted to mention that in case you didn't know. 

I did not know that! Thank you! Tried it out and works great, so much happier.

[banjo67xxx]

This is correct. You cannot do this. Virtualization environments run virtual machines.

I'm not so sure about that.

I've just been running kvm on Fedora and virt-manager gives me the option to specify a raw device as the Virtual IDE drive, so theoretically you could select your physical Windows partition. I've not tested it yet as I dont have a free physical machine to play with atm.

[Salmon Trout]

I'm not so sure about that.

I've just been running kvm on Fedora and virt-manager gives me the option to specify a raw device as the Virtual IDE drive, so theoretically you could select your physical Windows partition. I've not tested it yet as I dont have a free physical machine to play with atm.

A VM can use a real drive as storage, but you could not run a Windows install. It would protest at the hardware not being the same as when it was installed, for one thing.

[banjo67xxx]

A VM can use a real drive as storage, but you could not run a Windows install. It would protest at the hardware not being the same as when it was installed, for one thing.

Sorry I was forgetting that Windows was so fussy about the hardware changing.

Plan B -
Create a C: partition with just Windows OS on it for the bare-metal version of Windows
Create a D: partition with all the user account stuff
Create a virtual drive with just Windows OS on it for the virtual Windows
Setup the virtual system to use the virtual C: drive and share the physical D: drive with the other copy of Windows

[Mayuukosan]

Wow I am glad the conversation is continuing. I am surprised to see all the other information here. Just some more questions, as I am still a bit unclear...

A VM can use a real drive as storage, but you could not run a Windows install. It would protest at the hardware not being the same as when it was installed, for one thing.

The hardware would be the same, as it is the same machine. Why would it protest that the hardware is different? I have used a disc image of my Windows drive in VMWare and Virtual box with no warnings of this kind.

I've just been running kvm on Fedora and virt-manager gives me the option to specify a raw device as the Virtual IDE drive, so theoretically you could select your physical Windows partition. I've not tested it yet as I dont have a free physical machine to play with atm.

I have only SATA drives, does this matter? (Probably a stupid question but I have to ask.) I can not find an option for selecting a physical drive in either VMWare or VirtualBox. Only Disc Images. Am I not seeing the option anywhere?

Plan B -
Create a C: partition with just Windows OS on it for the bare-metal version of Windows
Create a D: partition with all the user account stuff
Create a virtual drive with just Windows OS on it for the virtual Windows
Setup the virtual system to use the virtual C: drive and share the physical D: drive with the other copy of Windows

Would this mean that the Virtual Machine and the booted Windows would keep the same settings and files? The changes on one would apply to the other? What I want is the Windows in my Virtual Machine on Ubuntu to be the same Windows that I can boot to. Same settings, same files, and if I download/change something it is the same for both. If that is what you mean, then TOTALLY YES THANK YOU. But I have the same issue as before: I can not find an option to load an OS from a drive in VMWare or VirtualBox. I am totally open to using other software if it will do what I want. I can save my Virtual Windows to my Windows drive, but it does not change any settings/files on my Windows drive.


A few more questions: Since so many people say it is not an option to load an OS from another drive to use on a Virtual Machine, why is this so? Is there a difference for an OS running alone vs. virtually that would make it impossible to link them? What I mean is, is it a limitation of the virtualization software or the OS?

Is there something wrong with using a Virtual Machine to run a drive with an OS? I am asking because if what I am doing is against the rules somehow, I want to know.

Thank you for all your help, I am new to Virtual machines, so I thought this was common practice, I am surprised to see it is not.

[Salmon Trout]

The hardware would be the same, as it is the same machine.

A virtual machine runs on virtual hardware. That's why it's called a "virtual machine". It seems I have to labour this point. Anyhow, even if you could do it, you'd be in breach of the Windows license.

None of these devices are present on the host machine.

[Mayuukosan]

A virtual machine runs on virtual hardware. That's why it's called a "virtual machine". It seems I have to labour this point. Anyhow, even if you could do it, you'd be in breach of the Windows license.

None of these devices are present on the host machine.

Thank you, I did not know this. I thought that it would run off of the hardware that was present. Not sure why the virtual hardware could not match the physical hardware but I will try to do some research. I also did not know it would be a license breach, thank you for letting me know.

I thought that the "virtual machine" was referring only to the software not the hardware. I understand now why I can not run my Windows drive in a virtual machine inside Ubuntu, I think. Thank you, to everyone, for your help.