Running Linux on Windows Like Normal Programs

Running Linux on Windows Like Normal Programs

Using small Linux distro like Puppy Linux and open source emulator like QEMU,it is possible to run and stop Linux like normal windows programs. By creating virtual hard disks and using software like WinImage you can actually transfer data between Linux and Window. You can also create a virtual network between Windows and the guest OS for sharing and transferring files. And not to forget SAMBA in this context.

About QEMUQEMU is an open source and fast emulator. The best thing about it is size (only 6MB).Though for now windows port is in alpha stage, it rocks. I like its simple command line interface for starting.


Getting Started
First download QEMU for Windows (Alpha)and unzip it to some directory.QEMU comes with a demonstration Linux distro image. Open the qemu-win.bat file, you see the following:

REM Start qemu on windows.
@ECHO OFF
START qemu.exe -L . -m 128 -hda linux.img -enable-audio -localtime
CLS
EXIT

Now download puppy Linux from any of its sites. I downloaded puppy-1.0.3-mozilla.iso which is about 62 MB in size. It has Mozilla as default browser. Copy it to same directory as qemu-win.bat file. Modify the qemu-win.bat file to:

REM Start qemu on windows.
@ECHO OFF START qemu.exe -L . -m 128 -hda linux.img -cdrom puppy-1.0.3-mozilla.iso -enable-audio -localtime -boot d -user-net
CLS
EXIT


Useful Links
Puppy Linux download
http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/puppylinux/
Puppy DotPups
http://www.goosee.com/puppy/wikka/DotPups
WinImage
http://www.winimage.com/download.htm
Puppy Home Site
http://www.goosee.com/puppy
QEMU for Windows TAP patch
http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/
QEMU with OpenVPN
http://www.h7.dion.ne.jp/~qemu-win/TapWin32-en.html