Run linux inside windows?

Question

Is it possible to run linux inside the windows operating system as ive downloaded a linux distro and put it on cd and can use it live the only annoying thing is i have to keep rebooting if i want to use a program off the other os. And also i loose all my data when i shut down linux

so is there anyway i can run linux inside windows without
1) partitioning my Hard disk
2)duel booting
3) losing all my data when i shut down linux on live cd

Soz about the question i know its really bad

any ideas???

Answer 1

VirtualBox



http://www.virtualbox.org/



It's a virtual machine, or a "computer in a computer."

Answer 2

what you want to do is run linux on top of windows this is usually called virtualization, the two main software companies that offer software to do this are vmware.com and microsoft.



vmware offers several trial versions to test if the system works.

microsoft offers virtualpc that can be downloaded in the link below.



to run the software you should have a somewhat new pc with lots of extra ram, 1 gigabyte of ram or more is helpful

Answer 3

I've never done this; so, I'm not really sure. But, I have heard of people running Linux in a virtual environment on Windows using vmware http://www.vmware.com/download/ws/

There are some Linux distro vmware images listed on their appliances page:

http://www.vmware.com/appliances/



There are other options too. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_distribution#Installation_on_an_existing_platform

Answer 4

Yep, emulation. You can use VMWare's free player to run linux inside a window on Windows.

http://www.vmware.com/products/player/



The downside is you have to get a VMWare file of your disk. This takes a bit of work, but you can google for them and there's some at the site.

Answer 5

as I recall some linux can use a flash drive with the live CD to record settings I believe yellow dog is one of them that works in this manner I am sure there are others just dont know witch ones

Answer 6

try looking for wubi, or topogo linux, failing that go to www.distrowatch.com there should be a long list there that will help you. linux opening doors and smashing windows

Answer 7

use qemu (which is free) or vmware (which you have to buy) and make a disk image and install it on to a virtual disk. The only thing is it is very slow.

Answer 8

Go to this link:



http://www.andlinux.org/