Re: dual boot or windows vm?

["Alexander V. Makartsev" <avbetev@gmail.com>]

On 26.05.2025 23:23, Lee wrote:

> For those of you that still use Windows, do you have a dual boot
> system where you select linux or windows at boot time or do you boot
> into linux and run windows as a vm?
>     
    Both. Each of my laptops and a PC I use for work have dual-boot Windows 7 or 10 and Debian.
I need them like that, mostly to have backup, to be always prepared to do my job which could require to run some proprietary Windows-only software.
On PC and on my most recent laptop I have almost every Windows OS as VM guests with Debian being a host.
For virtualization I use KVM\QEMU+libvirt and it works great. 
Using USB passthrough, I can run a programming software inside Windows VM to flash or manage physical hardware (PBX, printers, tablets, handhelds, etc) connected to host via USB port.
File exchange between host and guests is done by SMB (SAMBA).
Virtual graphic display works noticeable slower on a VM, so I use RDP connection to work with Windows VMs which is much more responsive.



> My wife is trying to decide if she wants to keep windows on her laptop
> or no.  Obviously, it's easier not to decide & keep her options open..
> but I don't know if dual boot or running windows in a vm would be
> better, or what the tradeoffs would be.
>
> Anyone care to say which is the better option, tradeoffs, pitfalls, etc?
>     
    If she is not a Linux techie\enthusiast and is not at least
    comfortable with Linux already, I wouldn't recommend to force Linux
    on her.
    There are tasks you can't accomplish with Windows VM, for an example
    to play games with heavy graphics and\or some DRMs, or if she is an
    artist and draws using Windows-only software she used to, 
    it will be difficult and uncomfortable to draw within VM. 
    And on Linux it will be a huge pain to re-learn everything (UI,
    shortcuts, filters, etc) while migrating to software like Krita or
    GIMP. 
    I can't think of another good example, all of them require to
    re-learn how to use new software effectively which could be
    difficult and very time consuming task.
    
    IMO dual-boot is the way to experience Linux. It is not difficult to
    install Debian along side with Windows. If your hardware is recent
    UEFI makes it even easier.
    Using native Windows tools you can shrink NTFS partition live and
    install Debian into new partition from USB drive. No need to
    reinstall Windows and loose current setup.
    Maybe in time she will like peaceful environment of Linux more and
    won't come back to Windows.
    
    If you go dual-boot route, always backup your data before any
    actions with disks\partitions\volumes.

--

 With kindest regards, Alexander.

 Debian - The universal operating system
 https://www.debian.org