No seeing where I can make a new post.
This is in reply to someone answering: “[quote=“ian-weisser, post:16, topic:62569”]
I stopped dual-booting over a decade ago in favor of a Windows VM on an Ubuntu host.
[/quote]”
I wanted to ask how to do this. For some reason, I no longer see the “New Post” button. If anyone can help me, that would be great. Ubuntu 25.04, pretty basic installation.
Thank you.
This post is a little vague because we’d have to make assumptions on what you do or don’t know.
Beyond technical requirements like making sure that your BIOS/UEFI setup has virtual machine support enabled, it ultimately comes down to acquiring Windows itself and running it in a hypervisor of some form.
For acquiring Windows I’ll skip over to avoid pushing any recommendations on licensing and etc; for the actual hypervisor itself, Linux ultimately makes use of KVM in the kernel as its preferred native tooling. There’s other great choices like VirtualBox, which make use of alternate infrastructure which can cause problems with Linux due to DKMS being used since it has to add extra kernel modules to run. (l still like VirtualBox as a concept, due to it being the only libre Type 2 Hypervisor I’m aware of, as well as overall good kit, but personally consider it better for Windows hosts).
Most apps don’t use KVM directly, they’ll use something like LibVirt or similar.
You’ve stuff like Canonical’s LXD (yes, it does Virtual Machines now) for CLI and cluster scenarios, whilst I imagine LXD’s VM’s could run Windows, LXD was originally for Linux Containers, so I’d pass here personally, better to use a more appropriate tool.
So ultimately and in the spirit of simple, I’m told Gnome Boxes works great for simple use cases, and the ones above might start branching out into unnecessary complexity. Despite that, there really is tonnes of choice.
Tl;Dr
As @James-Carroll said, your post is rather vague. What specifically do you want help with?
If you want a step-by-step explanation, I can help you with that from downloading the Windows ISO (legally) to setting up VirtualBox and running the VM.
I personally find VirtualBox the simplest to use, but of course each person has their own preference.
I guess the first thing to do is to find out what is available. Usually, simpler is better. Some of the programs I use already exist, or a possible replacement exists, in Ubuntu. Then, it would be a matter of migrating data and using that with the new programs, no biggie. The second part is for things which do not run in Ubuntu, and how to do that. I envision a few possible solutions, such as running a Windows VM, and then cloning my existing system onto that. Another would be installing a new Windows on a clone, which I am not so sure I would want to do, due to licensing, etc… Finally, I am left wondering how much can be done with WINE, and what the limitations there are, and how to keep any potential issues separated from a WINE issue versus an Ubuntu issue.
Thank you.
What I’m understanding from your post is that you want to start using Linux as much as possible instead of Windows, so you’re looking for alternatives to the Windows apps that you’re accustomed to.
Have I understood correctly?
Regarding replacement programs, you’d need to check each one on its own.
The customary replacements for Windows Word and Excel are LibreOffice Writer and Calc respectively. However, there are incompatibilities. Because Word and Excel are closed, it’s not possible to make a fully-compatible system. If you need full compatibility, or as close to it as possible, either use Microsoft’s online 360 or look at OnlyOffice and FreeOffice. Or use Windows (whether in a VM or dual boot).
For games, Steam is by far the most popular and the most compatible, because Valve Corporation explicitly supports Linux. It’s not 100%, but I’m told that it’s close (I’m not a gamer, so I can’t speak from experience).
WINE is a system to try to get Windows apps to work on Linux. It works well for a few apps, partly for a few more apps, badly for yet more apps, and not at all for most apps. Don’t rely on it. If you wish to experiment, you’d be well advised to install Bottles instead (it’s available only on flatpak). Bottles is a front-end for WINE, which makes it far easier to use (because WINE is quite complicated).
You can view a list of compatible apps in the WineHQ database, split into ratings: Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Garbage. I avoid using WINE as much as possible; there is only one legacy Windows app that I use daily, and it would fit in the Silver section.
I only very occasionally use Windows. I log in once a week to run the updates, and whenever I need to look at it when I’m trying to support my father, who uses it. My Windows build is in VirtualBox.
The Windows 11 24h2 ISO is free download from Microsoft. The activation key is what you pay for, so trying a setup to see if it works will be free.
Windows 11 has placed several restrictions on the hardware it will accept for installation/update. The swtpm Ubuntu package provides the tpm component, which meets the tpm requirement. Actually using it manually may be a problem, but virt-manger will automatically use the package and will successfully create a VM from the ISO. virt-manager uses qemu/kvm under the hood.
My Steam Windows games actually run now on Ubuntu using the Steam Beta client and Proton experimental for compatibility. Proton is a tailored wine, just for Steam. Everything (Witcher WH, Tomb Raider, Talos2, Roomx) runs, just not DCSWorld which has some library issue I never bother to fix since I never got it to run under Windows either.
wine is available, but do check the windhq database for other people’s results. I had Riven working under Ubuntu 22.04, but something broke in the wine 6.3 to 9.0 update and I never bothered to fix it.
I don’t do much except patch under Windows VM, but the performance seems equivalent to my older laptops.