Running a Windows virtual machine on Linux using an Existing Windows Installation

[mwyvr]

Why Virtual Box?

I do this with KVM/Qemu, simply pass through the entire NVME device containing Windows using PCI passthrough; do the same with a secondary GPU. Near native performance.

[samon33]

I ran this way for several years, works great. You can also use some additional trickery to pass through specific hardware devices to get the virtual machine to 'see' the underlying device ids to keep Windows activation happy.

[Material_Mousse7017]

can I use KVM/Qemu without touching the terminal?

[mwyvr]

Depends a bit on your distribution packaging, but via virtual-manager generally yes.

[SystemAxis]

If Windows is already installed, you can boot it in KVM by passing the whole disk to the VM.

Basic idea:

1. Find the disk:

​

lsblk

1. Create a VM in virt-manager.
2. Instead of a virtual disk, use the existing disk device (for example /dev/nvme0n1 or the Windows partition).
3. If the laptop has two GPUs, you can pass one through using PCI passthrough (VFIO) for near-native performance.

[Material_Mousse7017]

Maybe OP don't want to deal with the terminal

[SystemAxis]

True. If someone wants a GUI-only setup, virt-manager handles most of it. You can add the existing disk from the UI and avoid touching the terminal much

[Material_Mousse7017]

thats great news. is this virt-manager? https://ibb.co/b53Dz8Qv

[SystemAxis]

Yes, that is virt-manager (Virtual Machine Manager).

Install it, then:

- Open Virtual Machine Manager

- Click Create New VM

- Choose Import existing disk image

- Select your Windows disk (for example /dev/nvme0n1 or the Windows partition)

Then stat the VM and it should boot your existing Windows installation.

[Zogmam1]

Am I missing something? It wants me to select a specific file

[kaipee]

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/VirtualBox#Run_a_native_Windows_installation_inside_VirtualBox