How to Migrate From Windows to Linux

Creation

As most of the people do,after I started the use of linux, i created separate partitions for linux and used lilo or grub as well either into both windows or linux, in step with the distinct task requirements.

I commonly used my pc pc at some point of the day in a enterprise that used windows packages in a home windows primarily based lan and consequently i typically had to boot in home windows in the course of the day to paintings with my colleagues while at domestic i would boot specially into linux. This approach has some negative aspects as follows:

My work e-mails were in microsoft outlook and i had to boot underneath home windows to get entry to them.
I used kmail (and later mozilla thunderbird) for my non-public e-mails and that i needed to boot beneath linux to access them.
I may want to get admission to window folders from linux and replica records from home windows, however i couldn't get right of entry to any linux listing from home windows.
I reached the belief that there should had been a better way to apply my computer and i searched for a solution that would permit to get entry to both linux and windows programs without rebooting.

I investigated a number of the to be had products. I found that the wine or codeweavers crossover supported maximum not unusual home windows packages, however a few different ones could now not paintings. Vmware looked interesting, but i desired to apply till these days win4lin (in the beginning developed by means of netraverse to aid simplest home windows ninety five, 98 or me and later upgraded by using digital bridges to guide additionally windows 2000 and windows xp) but this product is now not upgraded and supported,

I needed to discover a replacement and ultimately decided to put in virtual field, a virtualization platform at the start evolved with the aid of sun micro structures and later supported via oracle, after its acquisition of sun.

Some desirable blessings that i found in digital box are the subsequent:

Virtualbox three is a computer digital machine application the usage of a "type 2" hypervisor that calls for a well matched host working gadget (linux, windows, macintosh, or opensolaris) and computer hardware based totally on x86 or amd64/intel64 to feature
The set up of digital container is pretty truthful, but there are some problems that i'm able to describe later.
You could easily installation many exclusive running structures and the performance is quite right. You can study a list of the supported operating structures at virtualbox.Org/
Developing a vm is speedy and easy, thanks to a vm introduction wizard that takes you step-through-step via growing your guest vm.
Installing digital box
Digital container can be downloaded from virtualbox.Org, but i did now not have to down load it because the software is blanketed with my linux distribution (opensuse eleven.3).

You may locate masses of documentation at thevirtualbox.Org technical documentation web page.

The installation is pretty clean, but you need to don't forget to manually add the users who will access digital container to the special user institution vboxusers. This can without difficulty be executed in opensuse through the usage of the safety and users option of yast.

The usage of windows beneath digital container
I set up below virtual container simplest home windows xp because my main reason become to create an integrated computer surroundings where i may want to without problems get admission to both linux and windows applications

One critical requirement for a terrific integration is to have the opportunity to get admission to from windows also linux directories due to the fact this permits to switch records between the two environments.

Sadly this is not quite simple to achieve. Digital box lets in to declare shared folders which can be accessed from both linux (host working machine) and windows (guest working structures). I declared my linux home directory as a shared folder, however when I started out windows the shared folder changed into no longer visible inside the explorer. This difficulty and its solution could be higher defined in a separate factor.

The primary blessings of putting in windows underneath virtual box are the following:

The virtual container windows installation is honestly plenty better included with linux than a native home windows set up and you may have at your disposal the electricity of linux and home windows applications without any need to reboot.
Home windows beneath digital field gives more virus protection than a stand-by myself windows installation. You could without problems shop your home windows directory as a tar archive and lots of viruses will no longer have any impact
There may be no windows boot quarter and consequently boot sector or different boot time viruses are useless.
Digital field installs home windows files in subdirectories of the host linux filesystem and consequently fat32 or vfat associated viruses are useless.
Executable documents and macro viruses can nonetheless assault, however will now not have an effect on the linux device unless you transfer to the host filesystem an inflamed document. To lessen the dangers, you would possibly determine to claim a directory as a shared folders handiest while important

Digital box limitations and peculiarities 

Virtual container does now not assist reproduction and paste among the linux and windows environments.

When you click on the mouse within the windows screen, the gadget captures the mouse in windows and it'll no longer move outside of the windows display screen. To use the mouse outside, you need to press a key to n-seize it.

Solution of the shared folder get right of entry to hassle 

I brought the problem before and i discovered it very disturbing due to the fact it's far a serious issue to the mixing among linux and home windows. I used to be able to find a answer in the ubuntu forums. I summarize the stairs had to clear up the trouble beneath:

Start up digital box and then begin up windows xp
Visit the pinnacle panel of the digital field and click on gadgets-->set up guest editions
Download and installation the visitor variations. This could motive a windows reboot.
Set up your shared folders in digital field. As an instance claim proportion folder home/documents
Begin up home windows, go to start-->run, enter cmd and press
Once within the dos console, kind net use t: vboxsvrdocuments. Be aware that you should installed only the remaining folder name on the quit of the command; as an example if you decided on a folder below home/mario1/files the command would be internet use t: vboxsvrdocuments
If you look in the home windows explorer, you may see the new t force as a shared folder and you'll be capable of get admission to its content material.
Eliminating the authentic window partition
One terrible point of having each an authentic home windows partition and the guest home windows set up is the waste of area (for example i had ms office packages established on both walls). This setup should offer better safety, in case of issues to both the home windows or linux installation, but, sooner or later, i determined that i may want to use better the disk area and work without double booting with linux and windows underneath windows.

To avoid dropping useful statistics, i accomplished following sports:

I recognized the outlook mail bins by using the usage of the home windows find choice with "*.Pst" and copied them to the home windows environment.
I diagnosed the outlook explicit maild packing containers via using the home windows locate alternative with "*.Dbx" and copied them to the home windows surroundings.
I identified my eudora mail boxes (used for my personal mail) by way of the usage of the windows discover option with "*.Mbx" and copied them to the windows surroundings.
I discovered the 'favorites' folders utilized by internet explorer and i copied it and its sub-folders to the home windows environment.
I copied the 'my files' folder and all different folders that i used in my home windows environment
Making the above copies in the digital field surroundings is distinctly smooth, because linux can get admission to the mnt listing. You could mount the authentic home windows partition inside the linux /mnt directory by the use of a ommand consisting of:

$sudo mount /dev/sdb3 /media/windows -t vfat -o umask=000

Once the partition is installed, you can declare mnt as a shared folder and get entry to it inside the virtual container home windows consultation..

As soon as i was happy that every one vital information existed within the home windows surroundings, i determined to reformat the home windows partition and duplicate my linux /domestic directory, that changed into blanketed within the foremost root hierarchy, to a separate partition. This activity is defined in element under.

The use of the freed partition for linux, a terrific description of a way to circulate /home to a different partition may be determined in an awesome academic via daniel robbins at ibm developerworks

The main steps are as following:

Create a filesystem within the new partition through using a command including mkfs /dev/???
Mount the brand new filesystem in /mnt with a command consisting of mount /dev/??? /mnt/newhome
Drop to single consumer mode (init 1)
Change to the current domestic listing and input a copy command including cp -ax * /mnt/newhome. The ax choice reasons cp to duplicate in recursive mode via maintaining all record attributes.
Rename the antique /domestic to /home.Antique through the use of the command mv /domestic /home.Vintage and mount the new one with mount /dev/??? /domestic.
When you are positive that the whole lot works efficiently, you could eliminate the /home.Old listing.
Conclusions
I consider that the method defined above permits an most suitable use of both linux and windows resources.
It is often hard to use best linux, because regularly people want to work in home windows primarily based lans, interact with different home windows users or simply because one is too lazy to learn new programs instead of those typically utilized in a home windows surroundings.
A double boot device is inconvenient to apply. An incorporated solution like that described above permits a miles extra fine utilization of your computer assets and time.