- #Best free virtual machine for running linux on windows install
- #Best free virtual machine for running linux on windows software
- #Best free virtual machine for running linux on windows Pc
In each case, you'll download a HUGE file which is an "image" of the Linux install disk. There are several companies that offer free live CDs, including Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, Knoppix, and (pardon the French) Damn Small Linux. But you will be able to take the graphical user interface for a nice test drive, fire up a web browser, check out some Linux games, and try out the office applications. The drawback to running with a live CD is that it's much slower than running from a hard drive. This is arguably the easiest way to check out Linux on a Windows machine for a new Linux user. The live CD option lets you pop a CD containing a complete Linux system into your Windows computer, and boot up Linux from the CD. You'll have to boot up one system, shut down, and then boot up the other to switch between the two. Just to be clear, running both Windows and Linux on a dual-boot system does NOT allow you to run both operating systems simultaneously, as with the emulators mentioned above. A boot loader, such as LILO or GRUB will also be installed to help you select which system you want to boot at power-on time. Typically, the Linux installer will guide you through the process of splitting your hard drive into two or more partitions, so that one partition contains your Windows installation and the other is dedicated to Linux.
#Best free virtual machine for running linux on windows software
You can use disk-partitioning software like Acronis Disk Director or Norton Commander to set up partitions on your hard drive to enable dual booting, or use the disk-partitioning utility bundled with your version of Linux. If you want the best performance from your Linux system, running it natively on the hardware is preferable to running in a virtual machine. You can also choose to set up a dual-boot configuration, so you can boot either operating system, when you start up your computer. Running Linux in its own window on your Windows desktop lets you compare the two systems, and you can even share files or cut and paste text from one to the other.
Parallels and VMWare both support the more popular versions of Linux, such as Ubuntu, Red Hat and SuSE. Once installed, you'll need to follow the prompts to set up the Linux virtual machine, then install the version of Linux that you either downloaded or have on a CD.
In either case, the install is user-friendly and takes just a few minutes.
#Best free virtual machine for running linux on windows Pc
If you already have Windows XP on your PC and you want to install Linux, Parallels or VMWare will let you install Linux as a "Guest" operating system in a virtual machine created by software. Two of the more popular emulation programs are Parallels Workstation ($49 after 15-day free trial) and VMWare Workstation ($189 after 30-day free trial). There are several programs available that allow for running Linux in a "virtual machine" on your Windows desktop. Running Linux in a Windows Virtual Machine