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I have ubuntu 11.10 installed on a bootable USB stick. Now, I wish to use the very same installation without having to boot from within Win7 64bit. I figured that this could possibly be done with a virtual machine. Since I have Skype, Thunderbird, Dropbox etc. installed on the stick, I dont want to redo this for the VM version of ubuntu. So, is there an easy way to achieve that? I prefer VMWare over Virtual PC, but if there is no way around it in VMWare, I will adapt myself of course.

Any hints or suggestions are very welcome!

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Windows Virtual PC has limited support for Linux. I think you mean VMWare and VirtualBox. – iglvzx Dec 19 '11 at 6:40
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Vmware has possiblity to do that' not sure if Vbox has. Configure usb drive as 'physical hd' (or similar) and while booting(vmware) hit F2, F12, Esc or sth which let you choose boot device, then choose usb drive. It is recomended to have "vmware additions" or whatever it is called in ubuntu.

Edit: you can use similar method with system installed on hdd. You just need to use whole disk in 'raw mode' or similar. I did this with gentoo instalation and worked without problems.

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F12 for selecting boot device :) – HaydnWVN Dec 19 '11 at 9:03
Thanks for your answer ahaw. I usually understand these kind of things, but when it comes to Virtual Machines, I am a total noob. I am using VMware Workstation now, but after looking at the immense product range of vmware.com, I am 200^4 more confused than ever and dont even know where to start. I understand that I need to map my USB in RAW mode, but I have not the slightest idea how to do that. Do I need additional Software to create that mapping file or what are the steps required to have a virtual Ubuntu on the stick that I can also boot to on any other PC without VMware? – Sgali Dec 19 '11 at 22:21
I can help you more tommorow. But for now: you dont need any additional software. Im not sure how about Vmware Player but in Vmware Workstation durning configuration of Virtual machine you have option to choose disk. You need to choose you pendrive and choose raw mode (or similar, I dont remeber exactly). If you need more help just ask I'll try to help. – ahaw Dec 20 '11 at 12:10
I found a partial answer that is supposed to work for Macs:smachado.com/2011/06/… – Sgali Dec 21 '11 at 21:41
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