Can Virtualbox do this?

[plr4ever]

Is it possible for virtualbox to have a virtual machine linked to a bootable partition. E.G. i have a windows partition, along with my 2 linux distros, and i was wondering if i could virtualize the windows partition under linux, that way i dont always have to boot up to windows just to use a few programs and i can keep my sessions together.

I know parallels does this, does anyone know if ANY other free virtualization software can do this?

feel free to ask me to clarify that, i can't think of a better way to word it right now.

[ls354]

Not the answer you want but VMware offers (free of charge) VMware converter which can make an entire copy of you existing Windows partition with all your programs in to a virtual machine. Take your current desktop with you.

VMware Converter for workstation to virtual pc and virtual machine migration - VMware

Makes the transition from bare metal to virtualization easy.

[ottoshmidt]

Not sure if this is what you want but read:

chapter 9.9 in this virtualbox manual

Using a raw host hard disk from a guest