Virtual Machine or Dual Boot

dacads · 25 Jan 2014 at 14:42

Right so I need to make a windows store app using visual studio so will need to install Windows 8.1 (uh oh). I am wondering how I should go about this should I install W8.1 onto a virtual machine or onto a separate HDD?

At the moment I have Windows 7

Mynight · 25 Jan 2014 at 15:03

I've literally just installed 8.1 into vm for the same purpose.

marc2003 · 25 Jan 2014 at 15:10

a VM would probably be OK but it needs to be on a separate physical drive away from your host OS. trying to run both off the same drive will result in dire performance.

s452 · 25 Jan 2014 at 15:10

how often will you be needing access to windows 8.1?
if its a one off, i would vote VM, if its an on going thing, i would lean towards an install onto an actual HDD

KIA · 25 Jan 2014 at 16:46

marc2003 said:
a VM would probably be OK but it needs to be on a separate physical drive away from your host OS. trying to run both off the same drive will result in dire performance.

Not if he's using an SSD.

Mynight · 25 Jan 2014 at 17:15

I was just wondering that. I use an ssd for all my vm hadn't noticed a slowdown.

dacads · 25 Jan 2014 at 17:36

I haven't got round to getting an SSD yet

Luckily I have enough internal HDDs..if I go down this route will the HDD need to be formatted and empty?

marc2003 · 25 Jan 2014 at 17:43

dacads said:
if I go down this route will the HDD need to be formatted and empty?

nope. assuming you're using vmware, it will default to creating a folder inside your documents folder but you can move it anywhere you like.

dacads · 26 Jan 2014 at 11:41

I am using virtualbox, currently installing W8.1

Tony Williams · 28 Jan 2014 at 00:18

How's performace on the VM's? I am thinking of dual boot as I game and use a lot of progs but VM sounds good. I CANT CHOOSE

FredFlint · 31 Jan 2014 at 06:54

I use a Win server 2012 R2 Hyper-V VM for Visual Studio. The host OS is Win 8.1 Pro and the VM is on a SSD so it's fast. It boots in about 5 seconds and run just like a normal install. I only have Visual Studio 2013, MS SQL Tools and Firefox installed so its not that big (about 35gb).

Montala · 16 Mar 2014 at 12:11

I didn't think it was worth starting a new thread on the subject, but is it easier to set up a Windows VM from within Linux (Mint), or a Linux VM from within Windows?

In this case it will primarily a Linux 'machine' I think with 8Gb RAM, and the hard drive will be a single 250GB SSD.

Thanks!

On Holiday · 16 Mar 2014 at 12:23

Linux VM from within Windows

KIA · 16 Mar 2014 at 13:36

Montala said:
I didn't think it was worth starting a new thread on the subject, but is it easier to set up a Windows VM from within Linux (Mint), or a Linux VM from within Windows?

No difference. All you need to do is grab Virtualbox.