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    Windows 7 Home premium and Linux

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by Lesl, Dec 11, 2009.

  1. Lesl

    Lesl Notebook Consultant

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    Is it possible to run both these OS on the same machine?There is some freeware that I use to use that I can't download with Windows 7 because of a compatibility problem.
     
    Lesl, Dec 11, 2009
    #1
  2. elijahRW

    elijahRW Notebook Deity

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    You can dual boot.

    This means you'll create 2 partitions on your hard drive so it acts like 2 individual hard drives. Then install your Win 7 on one partition and your Linux on the other partition. So when you boot the system, it will give you option to boot to Windows or Linux ;)

    If you install windows first, you can partition your hard drive during the setup, then after windows has installed, you can install linux.
     
    elijahRW, Dec 11, 2009
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  3. Lesl

    Lesl Notebook Consultant

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    I bought the laptop and Windows 7 was in it.Never did play with Linux...you get it as a free download on the Web?
     
    Lesl, Dec 11, 2009
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  4. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    for a lot of people, virtual machines are far more useful and safe than dual/multi-booting.

    No messing around with boot managers or boot sectors and you can easily/quickly recover your disk space by simply deleting the virtual machines and deinstalling the VM software.

    As a bonus, you can have your VMs running at the same time as the host OS. This lets you cut and paste files live between the differing operating systems.

    Microsoft Virtual PC is one free product. Another (my fave) is VirtualBox.
     
    newsposter, Dec 11, 2009
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  5. coolguy

    coolguy Notebook Prophet

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    You can the cut and paste with dual booting as well, but not live with the other OS.
     
    coolguy, Dec 11, 2009
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  6. Lesl

    Lesl Notebook Consultant

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    I have Windows 7 Home Premium edition.Virtual XP mode isn't available for that...right?
     
    Lesl, Dec 11, 2009
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  7. Lesl

    Lesl Notebook Consultant

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    double post
     
    Lesl, Dec 11, 2009
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  8. elijahRW

    elijahRW Notebook Deity

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    XP mode comes with windows 7 professional, so no.
     
    elijahRW, Dec 11, 2009
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  9. newsposter

    newsposter Notebook Virtuoso

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    VirtualBox runs XP just fine. You just need to 'feed' it your own XP installation and license.
     
    newsposter, Dec 12, 2009
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  10. Lesl

    Lesl Notebook Consultant

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    Since I have Windows 7 Home Premium,I'm not having a "own XP installation and license"...right? Am I missing something here?
     
    Lesl, Dec 12, 2009
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  11. Baserk

    Baserk Notebook user

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    What newsposter means (I think) is that you could install an OS like XP with a virtualization program like Virtualbox or VirtualPC.
    You would still need an XP cd and an XP license to do this.

    Windows 7 Professional offers a feature, which is not present in Windows 7 Premium, called Virtual XP mode.
    This means that you can run 'XP-only' programs, on your Windows 7 Professional OS.
    It's like having a program like Virtualbox or VirtualPC already incorporated.

    I don't see why linux would be beneficial to you at this point (certainly if you're not familiar with it).
    With linux, it's possible to run several WinOS based programs with an application called Wine but this would mean a rather steep learning curve.
    Start with learning about Virtualbox and/or Virtual PC.
     
    Baserk, Dec 12, 2009
    #11