How to run Win2K as a VM

[Cheezy502]

I've never used Linux or a Virtual Machine, but I installed Ubunto 9 to an old machine that was made for WinME.
I heard you could run Windows as a VM in Ubuntu, but have no idea how.
I would like to install Win2k.

[Themer]

First of all, Ubuntu names it's version using the year and month, so "9.04" means 2009, April.

Anyway, there are lots of methods out there. Some popular ones are VMware and VirtualBox. If you have a 32 bit installation, you could also use Parallels if you've got $50 bucks. I personally like VirtualBox, because it works, it's fast, and it's easy. Before you do anything though, I have to ask, how much RAM do you have, how much free disk space to do have, and what is our processor? Seeing as this machine was from the Windows ME era, it may not be suitable for running a VM at all. This is because it's like - no, it is - running 2 operating systems at once.

[Cheezy502]

384 MBs of SDRAM, 120 GB HD, 900 MHZ CPU
Maybe I'll just install win2k on a 2nd partition if VM is too much trouble

[dxqcanada]

Yes, dual booting is probably a better option due to the low memory your system has.

[Themer]

384 MBs of SDRAM, 120 GB HD, 900 MHZ CPU
Maybe I'll just install win2k on a 2nd partition if VM is too much trouble

Your disk space is plenty, but I would have to agree with above - you have just barely enough RAM to run a full Ubuntu setup, never mind running a VM!

So, yes, just dual boot it if you must have windows. Or try WINE if it's just a few simple low-intensity apps you need to run.

EDIT: P.S. in theory, you could run a VM, but you would have to make like a 2 Gb SWAP partition, and be prepared for unbearable slowness in both your host and guest

P.P.S. If you ever decide to set it up, all you need to do is download VirtualBox (it should be in the repositories, and if not, go to Sun - excuse me - Oracle's website and download it from there). Then, just open it, create a new VM, open it up, and install Windows! It's just like installing it for real, but much faster, and instead of installing it onto the "computer", you'r installing it onto VirtualBox, to put it simply - what Windows will see as the hard drive will just be a file on ubuntu. Using anything in a VM is essentially like using any program - except it's an entire OS!