Just been watching some YouTube videos on the Oracle Virtual box set up and just as matter of curiosity can a virtual box with Windows 7 be run on an install of 10 using an external drive?? Because it seems to me it is very like running the Linux Mint MATE from a stick in Windows 7 machine install?? as per the 7 tutorial Emergency Kit - save your files from a dead OS - Windows 7 Help Forums
Title is a bit vague but if that Win10 is on external disk or even usb stick, even then it should work depending where you save the VM and if that's on the external itself, just make sure you have enough space on it.
I didn't tested it with 7 on 10 external install but it worked with VirtualBox and VMware Player on Mint Mate on a stick, running a XP VM from. The Mate is very good for a stick but your external W10 should do the job as well.
I believe it will work.
Ok mate well I might just try it on a dedicated 7 machine using an external spinner - I am just wondering though how activation might be involved if at all.
The videos I watched di all have 7 on the running machine but almost entirely using XP.
Hi there
Not sure what your question is - but if it is what I THINK it is then there is ZERO problem running a Windows VM from an external HDD (Any version of Windows --including Windows 3.11 if you are mad enough to want that !!).
A LINUX Host can easily run from an external HDD -- a USB3 device or a spare SSD with a USB3-->SATA connector will yield really decent performance too.
Fire up the LINUX OS from the USB device and then simply start your VM.
I use a CENTOS system on an external SSD with XP, W7 and W10 VM's on it.
Hint though -- when installing the Linux system ensure the boot loader is written to the external device !!! and it's probably better to use a NON UEFI boot so your system can boot on both MBR (Non UEFI) and UEFI systems.
The LINUX + VM's don't even need an internal HDD to be working at all on the Host hardware either so this type of system makes an ideal recovery machine.
Note you can Virtualise existing physical systems via P2V conversion (vmware has a free converter) so you don't always need to install the Guest OS from scratch. You van also do the reverse (V2P) create a physical Windows system from a VM --in this case though uninstall vmware tools / vbox additions first and you'll need to install some drivers afterwards for the physical machine -- although Windows is pretrty good at finding most of these.
Take account too of licensing - a Windows VM needs a license just as a physical machine does.
Cheers
jimbo
W7 will run in VB from an external spinner. I would suggest you use the 32bit version as it requires less memory. if you run W7 in a VM you need to purchase a licence for it. You can run W7 in trial mode for 30 days which can be extended three times to 120 days using the slmgr /rearm command.
Hi there
forget the 32 bit stuff -- no probs with 64 bit OS as Guest. I'd recommend for BEST performance using an SSD as the external device connected to a USB3 port via USB3-->SATA connector -very cheap --a USB2-->Sata connector is also very satisfactory.
I find also if you haven't got any spare SSD's is to use an old laptop HDD --these are small, rugged and portable and work well too for this purpose. Any of you who have replaced a laptop HDD with an SSD -- don't chuck the old laptop HDD in the bin - this makes an ideal device for this purpose and performance is reasonable too.
a 64 bit Windows system in a VM runs quite happily when assigned with 1 GB RAM these days so I'd really forget about the 32 bit versions --makes a nuisance also if you have a different version of Windows on your VM to a main machine running somewhere too. There isn't a 1:1 relationship between RAM required on a VM and a Real machine.
Again I re-iterate -- when installing the Linux system ensure boot loader is written to the external device --or you can hose up your main computer !!! The install dialogs on most distros are usually OK -- just don't click everything willy nilly at install time --check all the options first. Also for newish users you will need to install a GUI on the Linux Host to get the windows VM to work (vmware and VBOX require a GUI). GNOME and KDE are the most common Linux GUI's but there are other ones - you should see choices when selecting software / packages to install when installing the system. I find KDE is the most "Windows like" for new users but anything that works for you is good.
You'll probably need the kernel headers, kernel source and a compiler to install vmware / vbox. Ensure you have these selected when installing your Linux Host.
If you get "Version" problems - the running kernal can be seen by (as root) typing uname -r. Do any Linux updates BEFORE attempting to install VBOX / Vmware. Both work just fine running Windows VM's.
Cheers
jimbo
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