Ubuntu – How to run Windows 8 via virtualization

There is a section in the VirtualBox User Manual explaining how to use a real disk or partition in a virtual machine.

I tried once, and it works. The only problem I had was the video card driver: when switching from the real installation to the virtual one and back, I have to disable/enable the GuestAdditions video card driver, if i recall well (it was long time ago).

You also may use VirtualBox, which is named virtualbox-ose in the repositories.

From the package description:

VirtualBox is a free x86 virtualization solution allowing a wide range of x86 operating systems such as Windows, DOS, BSD or Linux to run on a Linux system.

In case you like to install an OS that uses XServer 1.10 (e.g. Ubuntu 11.04) you need Virtual Box version >= 4.0.6 available under GPL v2 licence for download or in a repository maintained by Oracle. For full support of features we also need to install Guest Additions. For USB 2.0 or RDP support we can download and install the Extension Pack. This will make Virtual Box closed source (PUEL-version).