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I'm currently using Window 8 as host operating system and Ubuntu from a Virtual Box VHD. So my Ubuntu is running as virtual machine just fine with a few programs and development tools. But I now need to run in the Ubuntu environment some processes which require heavy processing and memory, so I would love to run them not in a virtual machine but as host operating system with the full resources available.

Is it possible to configure the machine to boot from that VHD I'm already using?

I have seen several posts on how to install a new Ubuntu with dual boot, configure dual boot inside a virtual machine, etc. I'v seen some MSDN post about booting from VHD, but that works only for Windows and it requires Windows Enterprise edition. I couldn't find anything for booting Ubuntu straight from a VHD. Is it possible? How?

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  • Do you mean that Windows is the host OS? The host is the OS you are running underneath, and the guest is the OS running on the VM. Regardless, I think you need to look for some way to convert the VHD into a physical partition or an ISO you can burn to a CD or USB to boot from. Jan 16, 2014 at 16:27
  • Yes, sorry! I confused guest with host (very important :) )! Its now edited. Converting to ISO/physical partition would still allow me to run in from VirtualBox (as guest OS)? It would be awsome if I could sometimes boot from the VHD and sometimes run it as guestOS
    – MAB
    Jan 16, 2014 at 18:25

2 Answers 2

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You can boot from a VHD file using the windows 7/8 boot manager.

See the technet article Deploy a Virtual Hard Disk for Native Boot, Step 4: Deploy the VHD with native-boot capabilities.

Best regards,

Shocky

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You can use Ventoy to boot vdisk file (vhd/vdi/raw ... with a Linux distro in it) on a real machine. Both Legacy BIOS and UEFI are supported. The advantages of this model are:

  1. The Linux OS runs on a physical machine, not in a virtual machine, so there is no loss inefficiency.
  2. The Linux OS does not need a disk or partition, just in a file. For example, Windows is your main OS, and you put some Ubuntu/Debian/Arch... VHD file in D:\ You can boot any of them as you want. If you don't need it anymore, just delete it as a normal file.

For details, you can search Ventoy Linux vDisk boot Plugin

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