How to Install Windows on Linux
Setting up a Virtual Machine in Kubuntu
Todays guide is going to cover how to setup a Virtual Machine on Kubuntu so you can install Windows or any other operating system you prefer onto Linux.
The reason this may be useful is because sometimes new users to Linux can run into compatibility issues with certain programs, or may not be able to find a program that does what they need it to do.
A good example for me is that I have been a designer on Windows for so long I NEED to use Photoshop. GIMP is a nice program but I have 10+ years of training in Photoshop and I tend to use it on a daily basis.
This is a good example of where having a virtual machine is useful. Because I am new to Linux myself I can’t tell you if there is a version of Photoshop for Linux or not. But because I have already paid for my license I am going to continue to use this software for as long as possible to get my moneys worth.
So without further delay let’s discuss how to install Windows onto Kubuntu by creating a Virtual Machine.
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The first thing you need to do is install “Virtualbox”. You can do this using “Adept Manager”.
K Menu > System > Adept Manager
Once you have Adept Manager open do a search for “Virtualbox”.
Once the program returns search results find:
“Virtualbox-OSE” and click on the program title.
This will open a drop down menu that has a button that says “Request Install”. Press this button. Repeat these steps for:
“Virtualbox-OSE-Modules-2.6.24.16-generic” and…
“Virtualbox-OSE-Modules-generic”
(I believe I needed to install these files in addition to Virtualbox to get the program to work.)
Once you have these three items selected click the “Apply Changes” button at the top of Adept Manager.
You will now see some installation screens while Adept Manager loads the applications onto your system. Adept Manager is an easy way to add and remove programs from Kubuntu.
Once Adept Manager finishes up you need to open Virtualbox. Go to:
K Menu > System > Virtualbox (which should now show up in this menu)
Now we will want to setup our new operating system in Virtualbox.
Click the “New” button in Virtualbox. This will open the new Virtual Machine dialog. Click “Next”.
Now type the name for the new Virtual Machine. I am going to use a name that will describe what we are installing, so I’ll pick “Windows XP”.
You can also select the OS type from a drop down menu below this. Choose your OS from the list.
The next screen will allow you to choose the amount of base memory you would like to assign to the virtual machine. Going with the default will probably be fine. I selected 256mb for Windows XP and it runs great on my old laptop in Virtualbox. (I believe the default was 196mb)
The next screen allows you to setup a virtual hard disk. Since we are setting up our first Virtual Machine we will select “New” which will open another dialog box.
In the “Create New Virtual Disk” wizard click “Next” to begin.
For our “Disk Image Type” let’s go with the “Dynamically Expanding Image” to make a more efficient use of our hard drive space. (Keep in mind I am doing this on a laptop so space in a factor)
Then select an image file name. I am going to name mine “Windows XP” so it matches the virtual machine name. Then select an image size.
Since you will be using the OS to work and test things you probably won’t be installing games or downloading so you shouldn’t need a really large disk size. (Unless you plan to do those things.)
For a Windows installation I would recommend between 4 to 6gb keeping Windows updates and service packs in mind.
Once you have selected a size, click “Next” this will take you to the final screen where you can click “Finish”. You have now setup a virtual hard disk and will be taken back to the previous setup dialog.
Click “Next” and then click “Finish”. You should now see the virtual machine you created appear on the left hand side of the screen.
There is one other thing we need to do before we can install our OS. We need to change account permissions to allow the virtual machine to operate properly.
Go to the “K Menu” > “System Settings” > “User Management” click on the button “Administrator Mode” in the lower right corner. Enter your root password.
Once you have done this double click on your user name and click the middle tab, “Privileges and Groups”. In the new menu you’ll see a menu to the right called “Secondary Group”, scroll all the way to the bottom of this menu.
Look for an option called “vboxusers” and make sure it is check marked, once you have done this click “OK” and close out of User Management.
Now go back to Virtualbox and insert the CD for the OS you are going to install. When you insert the disk Kubuntu may prompt you for what you would like to do. Ignore this and go back to Virtualbox.
Now on the information screen that is displayed on the right you should see some info about your virtual machine state. If you see nothing next to the “CD-Rom” section follow these steps before you start.
Make sure you have your Virtual Machine name highlighted and “right click” to bring up the menu. Select “Settings” from the top of the menu. In the settings window select “CD/DVD-Rom” from the left hand menu.
Under the CD/DVD-Rom select the “Mount CD/DVD Drive” option. You will now see other options become available.
Select “Host CD/DVD Drive”. (You may need to select the correct drive from the drop down menu if you have more than one drive in your system.)
Once you have done this click “OK”. You should now see your drive listed in the Virtual Machine information window.
Now make sure you have your Virtual Machine name highlighted and click the “Start” button at the top of Virtualbox.
You will now see a new window popup and virtual box should start the installation of your new OS. I am sure anyone installing XP onto their Kubuntu system is familiar with how to installation goes so I am not going to outline this part.
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Congratulations! You have now setup your first Virtual Machine and are running Windows XP on Linux. Keep in mind that your Windows installation is full fledged and can do anything a normal Windows installation on a system can do.
Now that you are familiar with how to setup a virtual machine you can also play around and add other operating systems to your computer as you see fit. This is a really good way to experiment with other operating systems without having to commit to formating your current operating system.
I will post some follow-up articles when I find other cool things you can do with Virtualbox. If anyone has any suggestions or recommendations I would also be glad to see them in the comments.
Thanks again for checking out Pseudorant. Please tell your friends to checkout the site! I appreciate the support.
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