VirtualMachine for Windows 7 to run OpenSUSE

[Schadenfroh]

Greetings,

I am going to stop dual booting between my productivity OS (Linux) and entertainment OS (Windows 7 Pro x64).

The most resource intensive thing I do in Linux is compile software, but since my Q9450 is plenty fast and the programs I typically compile are small, I do not see that as much of an issue.

I usually rip audio CDs in Windows anyway, since I have to load the music onto my MP3 player using Windows exclusive software.

Anyway, I basically need VM software that will allow me to share folders between my host OS and guest OS. IIRC, Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 does not allow this in Linux, but maybe Windows Virtual PC in Windows 7 is different?

I am not interested in VMWare since it costs money, so I guess my only choice is VirtualBox? I would prefer to use Windows Virtual PC in Windows 7 Pro, but like I said, I do not know if that version allows me to share folders with a guest Linux OS. I use VirtualBox at work and do not really care for it all that much, but I cannot complain since it is free.

 

[Emulex]

windows has a free nfs client.

 

[Modelworks]

There is an ext2 driver for windows that works pretty well if you wanted to set up a partition on a drive as native linux and use the virtual box OS install to access it. Then you could put files there and access it from either OS.

The driver is here and works fine for me in win 7 x64
http://www.fs-driver.org/

 

[theevilsharpie]

VMware Player is free, and the VMware Tools allow files to copied and pasted to the VM and vice versa. VMware Player also allows you to dedicate up to 4 CPU cores and up to 32GB of RAM to the VM, so on a modern machine, it should substantially outperform Virtual PC.

 

[Nothinman]

windows has a free nfs client.

Except that it would just stop working randomly for me when I tried it. Installing Samba and mounting the shares via CIFS is much more reliable.

 

[Tbirdkid]

virtualbox is fine too. its not as good as vmware, but its fine.

 

[ocsid80]

I am using VirtualBox on two 64-Bit physical hosts (Linux and Windows) with many
virtual machines running on both of them.

There is no need to use any special software to share files guest-to-guest or
host-to-guest as you can set the bridged network mode for virtual machines
and then configure regular network shares for Windows machines or SAMBA
shares for Linux machines as required.

In the bridged-network mode, each virtual machine will appear on the network
as a regular computer (with its own host name and IP) and you will be able
access your files using standard tools.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

VirtualBox