[Wylug-discuss] Running Windows with VirtualBox

[James Holden]

On Fri, Feb 03, 2012 at 02:41:03PM +0000, Paul Brook wrote:
> To be clear, I'm not just talking about easy things like video drivers.  
> There's a fair chance you'll need to switch to a different HAL.  I.e. the low-
> level abstraction layer running underneath the kernel.  IIRC dong this 
> involves booting a rescue environment from a CD you don't have, and making 
> arcane changes to the early windows boot process from there.

Yes, this is where it gets messy. Windows particularly dislikes the number of
available CPU cores changing, so if you rip an install off the bare metal where
it can see two cores, then try to stick it in a VM with only one CPU available,
it just won't boot.

Also, the lack of a Dell/Acer/Whatever BIOS in the VM will upset the licensing
check making it whine about not being validated and eventually lock you out.

You didn't get a free Windows license with the machine, you got a pre-installed
Windows that's pretty much locked to the hardware by software means and most
likely by legal means too.

Crap, eh?

Cheers,

James

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 198 bytes
Desc: Digital signature
URL: <http://mailman.lug.org.uk/pipermail/wylug-discuss/attachments/20120203/2b2756d8/attachment.pgp>