I face a problem. A common one. I want to use Linux for pretty much everything it's good for. But I also want to use Windows for the things Linux currently can't do.
I'd like to be able to instantly, or near-instantly switch between a Windows and a Linux installation.
What do you think is the best way to get that done?
I will not accept Wine or Dual-Boot as an answer. I don't want to restart to switch between OSes
I will not accept a "Traditional" Virtual Machine setup as an answer either.
(By traditional I mean just installing Linux in a virtual machine software in Windows and calling it a day, for a VM solution to be acceptable, I need to be able to seamlessly switch between Windows and Linux, and the VM needs to be at least nearly indistinguishable from a real physical installation. Using a physical partition for the installation is not an issue.)
This is what i tried, and the most feasible solution i've found so far:
I set up Linux, then tried to set up a Windows virtual machine with VGA(PCI)-Passthrough, passing through my 670GTX gaming card to the Windows machine, and using my 550GTX on the Linux host. I tried, and tried, but it seems I'm just not proficient enough to get it right without dedicating like a week to trying again repeatedly.
I followed this. It's not easy to follow, and even if I would succeed I get the feeling that updating my Linux system would become a problem since it requires a custom kernel, and I don't know a way to automate that process in arch. (Only thing I know that can automatically update a custom configured kernel with a system update is Gentoo)
I tried that and as you can see, failed. It seems like the best solution that I could find, but since I'm having no luck getting it to work I'm thinking of alternatives, alternatives like:
Is it possible to have a compatibility layer (like Windows) using the original Windows system files rather than open source written ones (like Windows does). That way I could simply use the real Windows files that I've got in my Windows installation and get rid of my compatibility issues on Linux. Sounds too good to exist, so I'm guessing this can't be done. (Yet)
Is there any way I could set Windows up so that I can switch between consoles like in Linux (Ctrl+Alt+F1-F7 in Linux). And use that functionality to switch between Windows and a virtual installation of Linux?
- If I get that or something similar working, is there a way I could pass through one of my graphics cards to the virtual Linux installation from Windows?
Can 1 or 2 be done to your knowledge? (so I can test it) Do you have another idea?