does virtual box and windows xp need a separate partition or drive

Linux might cope with that but I am quite sure Windows will not handle that well. (your actual hardware when started as host OS, some virtualized hardware when started as a guest). However keep in mind that, in the setup you are planning, the hardware that the operating systems see constantly changes. You can find a description in the manual underĪdvanced topics / Advanced storage configuration / Using a raw host hard disk from a guest What you are looking for is called ' raw hard disk access' in VirtualBox.īasically you create a virtual disk in vmdk format and configure it to direct to the desired partition or drive. Other info: Please note that I am not talking about getting access to files, as I have a completely separate partition for my files, and am very familiar with VirtualBox's Shared Folders option. I boot up the system, login to Xubuntu, and can access the actual Windows 7 partition through VirtualBox.

Now I want to access Xubuntu, so I load VirtualBox and access my Xubuntu partition without rebooting. Question: So finally, my question is: is it possible to load a partition in VirtualBox as a virtual OS?Ĭase examples: Ideal scenario would be: I physically boot up and login to Windows 7. But I want to still have the feeling of the seamless mode. By this I mean I want to have a physical partition for Xubuntu. Issue: Now I am thinking of a way to have Xubuntu more integrated into my system. And VirtualBox's seamless mode is pretty amazing to allow me see Xubuntu and Windows 7 all in one screen.

The reason I chose this approach is so that I don't have to keep turning off Windows and rebooting from Xubuntu every time I needed to switch OSes. From within VirtualBox I am using Xubuntu as a virtual OS. Background: I am using VirtualBox installed on Windows 7.

Does virtual box and windows xp need a separate partition or drive