[[My Linux host and other VMs have full access to the Internet, but the Win7 VM is completely isolated on a tiny virtual network. If Microsoft want to ‘upgrade’ my Win7 to Win10, they’re going to have to do it in person! ]]
That is very interesting- how would you go about making sure the windows VM can’t access the internet? And would there be a way to only allow it to do so manually? (IE: manually click a ‘connect to internet’ button or whatever? I do not run automatic updates so I wouldn’t be worried about it updating, and I selectively choose which updates I want when I do update to avoid all the windows 10 junk kb updates))
The shared folders- is that done through the VM software? Or do you have to set it up in Linux with command line instructions?
I’m very intrigued with a Linux host windows VM but it’s a huge step- and a bit unnerving, not knowing too much about it all- I’m looking at paragon software which can migrate my windows to VMware, virtual box or whatever- all pretty easily- and it too claims it makes the backups that aren’t hardware dependent-
My computer is a monster- 16 gig ram, it’s an hpe 790t which is like 12 cores or something like that- extreme version- I have run Linux in virtual machine (VMware player) before on this machine- some ran quick, smooth- other flavors not as smooth- had some versions freeze up- had to hard boot out of it (not sure if there’s a keyboard command line that can be done to unfreeze Linux?)
The only thing I didn’t like about virtual boxes is that I couldn’t get them to run full screen- , and the mouse would act wonky sometimes in it- seemed like there were a few minor glitches- but no big deal overall-
I think what I might do is, buy a new hard-drive, install Linux on it- plop in the VM windows 7 that I copy over from existing system, and just give it a try- Hard-drives are pretty cheap these days- About $100 or so for 1.5 terabyte drive- $70 or so for the cheaper ones- I’ll have to figure out though how to get the virtual windows copy onto new hard-drive- My C drive is like 340 gigs of programs and files- etc- I might be able to put the VM windows file on my usb drive I suppose-
I have a feeling that my second hard-drive is starting to go on me- when I click the link to open it, it is now making a sound it didn’t used to- and once the file showed empty- I hope it’s not my main drive that is going though lol- like you say- I always have the duplicated disk to fall back on, and I’ll have my current disk to reinstall if I try the Linux and VM windows on a new drive (maybe I’ll duplicate my current drive onto the new one, and use current one for the experimenting- probably a better choice)
Well- I’ve bugged you enough on this- I do thank you for the time and answers- I’m liking what I see with the paragon software for backups and restore and for virtualizing too- I might try the demo of that soon-
When you create the virtual network interface for your VM, you select "host only". This creates a virtual network adapter which is under control of the hypervisor. To your Windows VM, it looks and functions just like any other network hardware. The difference is that the other side of that network interface is only connected to the Linux host, not your physical network cable. You can run WireShark on the Linux host to sniff all traffic to confirm that only packets with the Linux host's address as a source or destination are flowing through the VM's virtual interface.
And would there be a way to only allow it to do so manually?
I have not attempted to do so, because I really don't need the potential headaches associated with my Win7 VM getting on the network right now, but I believe you could use the route command on your Linux host to forward packets to/from the virtual interface. If I can find some time today, I'll try to unplug my edge device from the Internet and see if a route can be established with my LAN. I'll let ya know if it works.
The shared folders- is that done through the VM software? Or do you have to set it up in Linux with command line instructions?
I'm doing it with Samba on the Linux side, and the standard File Sharing in Windows. There are HOWTOs for Samba all over the 'net, some of them being easier to follow than others. It may look intimidating at first, but it's nowhere near as bad as it looks.
While there are graphical tools to make Samba configuration easy, I would highly recommend taking the time to edit your config files manually. This will give you the freedom to explore different desktop environments to find one that best suits your needs, without having to chase down different graphical tools each time. As a bonus, you will know how to configure Samba on a headless system with no graphical interface. Perfect if you ever want to use a Raspberry Pi as a NAS/file server.
I’m very intrigued with a Linux host windows VM but it’s a huge step
Yes, it is. I switched to a Linux desktop on my primary workstation in August of 2000. It took me the better part of a year to fully settle into it. I had been running Linux servers since '96, and had been around various unix systems since '88. Things have certainly become more user friendly over the years, but there is still a learning curve. Don't let that scare you away though, because the resulting freedom and flexibility far outweigh the effort.
My computer is a monster- 16 gig ram, it’s an hpe 790t which is like 12 cores
Well, La Tee Dah! lol That beast should have no problem at all running virtual machines.
I have run Linux in virtual machine (VMware player) before on this machine- some ran quick, smooth- other flavors not as smooth- had some versions freeze up-
I would suspect the Windows host played some part in that. Windows has a tendency to randomly grind away on resources in the background, and being the host OS means it owned the hardware. Having said that, different Linux distros are not all created equal. Debian is my personal favorite, but only after ripping out the GNOME desktop by its roots, and replacing it with XFCE. Considering the horsepower in your system, you may prefer a more robust desktop such as KDE. GNOME seems to be prevalent in a lot of distros, but it impresses me about as much as Win8 and soured milk.
had some versions freeze up- had to hard boot out of it
If you had to reboot the host OS, that would be an issue with the host OS or hardware. If it was the VM you had to reboot, my guess would be something related to the display interface. VMWare has some drivers which it can install into your VMs which enable the VMs to better utilize your host's display hardware. Perhaps those drivers were never installed, or were not properly matched to the VM? If it was display related, you may have been able to restart just the desktop software by pressing Ctrl Alt Backspace. It's extremely unlikely the Linux system itself froze up. I have seen exactly one kernel panic since '96, and it was due to a bad RAM module.
The only thing I didn’t like about virtual boxes is that I couldn’t get them to run full screen
I'm not sure about VirtualBox, but I believe it also has some sort of special drivers which can be installed into the VM to enhance display performance. It's very much like having special drivers for a physical graphics board. VMWare supported full screen 1080 for my VMs without installing the drivers into the VM, but the drivers significantly boosted performance.
If you even think a drive may be going out, you have the perfect excuse to run out and buy a new drive! It never hurts to have a spare drive, and that would help greatly with your testing. Good luck with Paragon if you try it, and let us all know how it works out. I have an old laptop that I would like to retire, and would be thrilled if I could successfully virtualize it.