I got VMware to recognise the partition, but it couldn't boot it. Everything I found said that the distro needed to be on a separate drive with its own boot partition. I found threads saying that VirtualBox couldn't do it either, but I'd be happy to be wrong :)
I'm not at my computer now, so won't get a chance to try it for at least a few hours.
From what I can tell, they would both need their own boot partition, which is where I'm stuck. My Windows and Mint installations share a boot partition, and it causes problems for this.
I know that it's not very practical, for most people, but imagine having to use Windows for work or a specific game, and still being able to access your distro as normal. It could be handy for a small niche, and felt like an interesting challenge :)
You might be misunderstanding what I want to do. I want to boot my existing Mint partition as a VM under Windows, not make a new VM with its own drive.
From what I can tell, it might be possible if the distro is on its own drive with its own boot partition, but my Mint installation is on a partition on the same drive as Windows, and they share the same boot partition.
Thanks for the suggestions, but you might be misunderstanding me. I've already got Windows 10 and Mint installed on the same drive, and I was hoping to find a way to boot the existing Mint installation as a VM under Windows.
There were Windows programs that could do something similar in the past, using VirtualBox, but it looks like the Linux distro needs to be on its own drive with its own boot partition for it to work.
To be honest, I've given up. I was hoping that it would be something to make my life easier for a short while, but the amount of work to get it running is going to be more than just dual booting and swapping OSes for a while.
It's a shame, as it could be an interesting project, but it's quite a niche need going by some of the replies here, and isn't worth the effort.
I remember doing it with a file that came with one of the multi ISO tools, LiLo perhaps? It was just named VirtualiseThisKey.exe and would open the key as if it was booting on a PC. I deleted it back last year though as my copy had been corrupted, and I hadn't used it for a long time so didn't bother replacing it.
Thanks, but the sharing itself isn't the issue. I've got three other hard drives in this computer, and can access them all through each OS. What I want to be able to do is be using Windows and realise that I want something from a program on the Mint drive, or have Mint running and realise that I need something from a program on Windows, and just be able to get it without having to shut down everything and reboot.
I've got programs like Thunderbird where the data has to be exported before it can be imported in the Mint version, and the program has to be running for that to happen. With my memory, I keep forgetting about things like that until I'm in Mint and need the data, but in the time it takes me to reboot, get the data, and get back to Mint, I've forgotten why I needed it in the first place >.<
VMware is letting me do something similar, and I've attached the Mint partition, but because the boot partition is separate and in use, it's not letting me go any further. There's probably a way around it, but it's beyond what I know how to do, and I don't want to risk breaking my Mint installation.
I can get VMware Player to recognise the partition, but the boot info is on another partition. As that partition is already in use, I'm getting an error. It might be possible to create another boot partition, or put the relevant info onto the Mint partition, but that's just going to make things even more complicated, and it's not worth it just to save some time.
Yeah, that's what another user found too. It doesn't look like VirtualBox can do it, but this thread suggests that VMWare might be able to. I'm just trying it now :)
This is what I'm trying at the moment. I found this question on Super User that suggests it can be done, but like you say, the wizard makes it look like you have to use a file first.
What you're asking is if you can run the existing Linux Mint on your drive within Windows running on the same drive?
Yes, exactly this. It used to be possible with live usb keys years ago, where you could boot the key normally and have a persistent live disc, but there was a Windows tool that would virtualise the key, letting you access the persistent disc from within Windows.
The reason I want to do it is for programs like Thunderbird, where you have to export your settings, email, etc. to be able to import them on the other OS. As far as I'm aware, this can't be done by just copying files, you have to export them first.
I have memory issues, so I often forget about a program until I need to use it, and if I'm already in Mint, it means that I have to stop what I'm doing and reboot, and then lose track of what I was doing in Mint. If I can access both OS at the same time, like with a virtual machine guest and host, I can just grab whatever I need until I've got everything transferred over.
Sorry, yes, I know what VirtualBox is. My problem is that I want to access my existing Mint installation through my existing Windows 10 installation. Mint and Windows are on the same physical disc in separate partitions, and I don't want to have to reboot to do something like export my Thunderbird settings and emails from the Windows client if I'm in Mint.
It's a temporary stopgap solution while I switch because I have memory issues, and only tend to remember things when I need to use them (probably ADHD related, but that's another story)
Yeah, it's partitions that I'm dealing with. My goal is to transfer everything over, give it a few weeks to make sure that I haven't missed anything, then wipe Windows from the partition so that Mint has the full disc.
Sorry, I should have clarified, I've got a data disc, but I'm forgetting about things that need to be migrated, like Thunderbird profiles and Syncthing. As far as I can tell, I need to export them first, and then import them in Mint. If I set Mint as a VM, I should be able to do it all in one go and hopefully not forget anything else :)
My father used to book acts for a local club, and this guy played there once. He was awful. There's no nice way to say it, he just really wasn't very good. He played and sang songs that nobody recognised, and did it badly. To make things worse, he was paid, but went around with his hat at the end of the set asking people for money. Needless to say, he didn't get a good reception.
About a year or so later, my father booked another singer, and it was the same guy going under a different name. The music night was popular, so there was a decent sized crowd already there when he walked in, and quite a few of them remembered him. My father asked him what he was doing there, and he said that he thought it was worth a try.
He was told to leave without playing, as the people who remembered him were already annoyed, and weren't the type of people to suffer a fool kindly.
Tippon @ Tippon @lemmy.dbzer0.com Posts 26Comments 949Joined 2 yr. ago
Apologies, yes, I did misunderstand you.
I got VMware to recognise the partition, but it couldn't boot it. Everything I found said that the distro needed to be on a separate drive with its own boot partition. I found threads saying that VirtualBox couldn't do it either, but I'd be happy to be wrong :)
I'm not at my computer now, so won't get a chance to try it for at least a few hours.
Thanks for the link and the information :)