On Tuesday, 03-12-2024 at 11:11 Peter Hillier-Brook wrote:
> Once upon a time I had Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 10 VMs running
> under VirtualBox on Debian 10 or earlier. Now I need one for some
> primitive, but essential program I cannot remember how I created the VMs
> (Gene's disease, 88 come Sunday) and would welcome any reminders.
For one Windows program I wanted run, Wine did the trick for me.
When virtualising Windows installations in KVM I do the following:
1) Turn any Windows CD or DVDs into ISOs using Linux DVD burning software.
2) Download Virtio Drivers for NIC, disk drive, and QXL video as an ISO file.
https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/quick-docs/creating-windows-virtual-machines-using-virtio-drivers/
https://www.linux-kvm.org/page/WindowsGuestDrivers/Download_Drivers
3) When I create my VM, I add two CD/DVD drives, one will be for the Windows OS
install ISO file, and the other will be for the Virtio Drivers ISO file. I
select Disk Drive type of virtio
4) During the installation of Windows, Windows cannot find the disk drive and
prompts you for drivers for the disk drive, I then select the Virtio Drivers
ISO, and select the disk drive, NIC, and QXL video drivers, before proceeding
with the installation.
I like the performance of the Virtio drivers. I personally have found that for
Windows VMs, the QXL video drivers give better performance than the Virtio
video drivers. No tested metrics, just personal feeling when using the VMs.
Video drivers are easy to install after installing Windows. Disk driver and NIC
are necessary for the installation process.
There are many ways to build VMs, the above is just how I often, but not always
do this.
I would also recommend the free version of VMware Workstation. While not FOSS,
it is an excellent product, while it is made available for personal use.
I hope you succeed in your quest !
George.
>
> The sources are all licensed products on CD-ROMs and VirtualBox seems to
> expect ISO inputs which is, of course a non-starter.
>
> Regards.
>
> Peter HB
>
>
