Run Linux Under Windows
Now that computers have become so powerful, it is possible to simultaneously run multiple operating systems on a single computer. I like to use Windows as my main operation system, but sometimes I need access to a Linux system. Dual-booting Windows an Linux is possible, but often I want to juggle back and forth between the two. Constantly rebooting is too painful.
My solution is to run Linux on a virtual computer. I downloaded Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 and installed it. It is free software, and it allows you to create virtual computers on your Windows machine. There are other virtual computer solutions, but Virtual PC works for me.
The next step is to use Virtual PC to create a virtual Linux computer. I decided to go with Debian Linux. It is a very stable Linux distribution. I don’t care about always getting the latest and greatest, but I do insist on stability. I downloaded the Debian 4.0 distribution CD image. I chose the 180 MB net install image available here.
I followed the step by step instructions by Bil Simser to create my virtual Debian Linux box: Visual Debian Installation Walkthrough using Virtual PC. He describes how to get a console / shell version of Linux up and running. Like him, I am not interested in the graphical desktop of Linux.
Once my virtual Linux box was up and running, installed Samba on it. Samba allows you to access your Linux file system from within Windows. I followed the instructions on Arkinex for Installing and Configuring Samba on Debian 4.
Debian comes with a nice package installation system. To update my Debian computer, I simply type:
$ su -
$ apt-get update
$ apt-get -u dist-upgrade
$ exit
I often need more than just one interactive shell at a time. You can log in to your virtual computer using a terminal program like putty. Or you can use the screen command, which is a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several processes. Basically, it lets you use multiple interactive shells in a single window. Read this quick tutorial if you don’t know the screen command.
To install screen on your Debian virtual computer, write:
$ su -
$ apt-get -u install screen
$ exit
Comment from arkinEx
Time January 4, 2009 at 4:45 pm
Thanks for the link, Linux is a great tool, especially Debian, my favourite distribution also.