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I bought a new laptop, an ASUS N43J. It came with OEM Windows 7 Home premium. When I first booted it, I was required to backup the Windows and drivers into seven DVDs which I already did.

I need to work in a Linux environment, so I installed Ubuntu 10.04 64 bit Desktop edition and made my laptop dual booting.

Unfortunately, I need to view pages in Internet Explorer sometimes and occasionally use Visual Studio (I teach classes).

It is a hassle to switch between environments like that.

I read the article How to Install Windows 7 on Ubuntu Using VirtualBox.

However, I only have those seven disks which are OEM, so how do I install a virtualization of Windows 7 in Ubuntu?

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If you teach a class that needs visual studio, you should look into the academic alliance program at microsoft, which would get a non-oem license for windows (and visual studio, expression, sql server, and just about anything else from microsoft you might need) – Joel Coehoorn Mar 1 '11 at 17:48
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3 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

Many computers do not offer a regular Windows 7 install disc, instead only providing a "system recovery disc". You will not be able to install Windows 7 onto a virtual machine with such a disc and will need to obtain a Windows 7 install disc from your computer manufacturer. If you see the Starting Windows screen showed in step 12 of the instructions you linked to, your install DVD should work.

The Windows 7 Home Premium OEM End User License Agreement permits using your copy of Windows on a virtual machine:

Instead of using the software directly on the licensed computer, you may install and use the software within only one virtual (or otherwise emulated) hardware system on the licensed computer.

If it refuses to activate, you must contact Microsoft at the number provided during the activation process. If it refuses to install, you must contact your computer manufacturer to obtain a disc that will work in this manner.

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While likely possible to use one of the seven DVDs to install Windows within VirtualBox, it's also likely you'll have activation issues with Windows, because OEM versions typically reference BIOS configurations for the activation pieces.

Think about using dual booting.

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I am already on dual booting. I find it a hassle to switch around hence i am looking at virtualization. Let me edit my question to make it clear. – kimsia Mar 1 '11 at 2:06
Ahh, I thought you had switched completey to Ubuntu. You can go the VirtualBox route, but you may have activation issues with Windows. – edusysadmin Mar 1 '11 at 2:19
Since you're already dual-booting, you may be able to boot from that Windows partition in vbox by creating a vmdk file that uses raw disk partitions. Make sure you select a configuration (chip-set, disk controller, number of cores, AHCI, PAE) that is similar to your physical configuration so the system can boot. Then you'll just need to re-activate it over the phone. – billc.cn Sep 17 '11 at 0:06
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Check out VMware Converter - you can use it to "slurp" your Windows installation into a VHD file, which you can then (usually - this can sometimes take some tweaking) run as a virtual. Even if VMware isn't the virtualization platform you plan to use, their converter is fantastic, and I've had success using the images it creates on HyperV and VirtualBox.

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