Can Virtualbox do this?

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.

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.

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