On Wed, Mar 21, 2012 at 17:24, Robert Benjamin
Thanks guys. I may have goofed here. OpenSuse is on a HD by itself (320 GB). I want win 7 as a guest, but it came installed on a 500GB HD. My HDs are removable, so when openSuse is in the PC it is the only HD in the case. So how can I get win 7 as a guest. I don't have a win CD or DVD. Just the disc that comes with PCs. Don't know how the openSuse host will see win 7 since it isn't in the PC. At this point, I just wanted to run a few win programs. Can I still do this? Thanks again Dennis and C.
I wouldn't say you've goofed :-) There really is no practical way to boot your Windows 7 OS that is installed on a separate HD that is not in the computer at same time as your openSUSE hard drive. There are round-about ways to clone a hard drive, and twiggle things to move it into a virtual machine, but... it ain't pretty.
From a ease of use standpoint, it is definitely MUCH easier to install a new Windows guest.
You have the Windows that came preinstalled... you have a couple of possibilities/alternatives.... Alternative #1... it should have a backup/reinstall/recovery or or way you can create a rescue disk. You can follow the process to create the rescue disk and then once you've burned that to DVD, use that rescue disk to install into the virtual machine. Alternative #2... did it come with a license key (one you can actually see... as say a sticker on the bottom of the computer)? If you do, it "might" be possible to download an official Windows 7 install ISO and use your license key - be aware it depends on the type of Windows 7 license whether this is possible or not, and you have to match the license key type to the Windows 7 type.. so Windows 7 Home key will only work on Windows 7 Home, not on Ultimate etc). Some Windows licenses are tied to the hardware - meaning you cannot remove Windows and re-use it elsewhere (as in maintain a single licensed copy, but on a different machine than the one it came with). You can download legitimate Windows 7 ISOs from the links here: http://www.windows7hacker.com/index.php/2009/11/download-retail-windows-7-is... (yes I know it says "hacker" in the URL, but these are legitimate Windows 7 downloads... the caveat is you must have a valid legal Windows 7 license key to use the ISO) A 3rd alternative... depending on what applications you want to run is to look into Crossover from Codeweavers. http://www.codeweavers.com/ They provide an easy to use wrapper around Wine which allows you to install and run various Windows applications in Linux. For example, you can install Office2010 and it runs quite well (not 100%, but close enough). C. -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org To contact the owner, e-mail: opensuse+owner@opensuse.org