Dual booting with windows 10

[TMG1961]

Well i did make a vhd from my windows os but something went wrong and its gone The good news is that i already had all of my data backed up so notting is lost.

Running Linux Lite again and feels like coming home All running smooth. I installed Virtualbox through the Linux Lite software, then installed extensions,no idea what the virtual guest additions are . I got windows 10 on a cd and also got windows 7 with sp1 as iso file. Only problem is that the harddrive is very old and only 50GB. Not sure if the laptop is worth spending 60 euro for a ssd, its already 5 years old, did fell down the stairs a few times..amazed that it still runs.

I havent created seperate partitions for home and root, just accepted the default settings and ran the installation.

I got a Teclast X98 Pro tablet and a LG G2 phone and connecting the phone to linux isnt a problem, works perfect.

[Wirezfree]

Just to add to the good advice from @torreydale ,,

I now create a separate /vbox partition, keep the VM's seperate.
That way you have more control over backups, backup just /home or just /vbox or both.
I find it helps keep backups tidy, smaller and quicker

One of the main things with Virtualbox that gets forgotten, are the extras that are needed
- virtualbox extension pack, this is in the virtualbox application itself
- virtualbox guest additions, this is added into the guest

Plenty of help available when you get to do this

[torreydale]

Gotcha.  If you have an Android phone or tablet, you should be good on hooking them up to Linux Lite.  You're not alone in that.  There are recent threads in this forum on people connecting their phone and tablet devices to Linux Lite.  I have done so myself.  If there's a particular repair/flash program that's Windows specific, you will be able to connect to your devices via a Windows virtual machine.

I'm not sure on the connectivity between IOS phones or tablets and Linux Lite, but you will still be able to connect to them via a USB connection to your Windows guest operating system.

My personal experience with my Windows 7 virtual machine upgrading to Windows 10 wasn't good.  It wasn't as lightweight as Window 7 alone.  In fact it was much slower.  This was in both Virtualbox and VMware Player for Linux.  Your mileage may vary.  I cloned my Windows 7 VM and I created a snapshot before the Windows 10 upgrade.  I reverted to Windows 7 early on because of the performance I was getting out of the Windows 10 upgrade.  Windows 7 is supported until April 2020, by the way.  By then I might not need Windows at all, or I'll just buy a Windows 10 license to do a clean Windows 10 install to a VM.

Now on getting you out of your bind, I say boot to the Linux Lite Live CD, access the "Users" directory of your Windows install (using the Linux Lite file manager), and copy everything in that directory to an external hard drive.  That will backup all of your data.  Then install a fresh copy of LL 2.6, wiping out all of the Windows partitions.  I would recommend creating a separate home partition.  How to do that is included below.  After that, then we can get a Windows VM going.

[TMG1961]

What i find strange is that easybcd isnt working anymore. It just doesnt start, i only got as far as it letting me choose the language and then notting. I only need to be sure that i can hook up phone and tablet to the laptop and have them detected in the virtual machine so i can use the windows os for repairing/flashing etc

I used showkeyplus to give me the windows key, did have a oem windows 7 installation before on laptop and use that along with the key to upgrade to windows 10.

[torreydale]

Then I fall back to my other advice.  The bandages we're putting on what you have so far are just that.  I really would backup the Windows data, get rid of the Windows boot, install a fresh copy of Linux Lite to the hard drive, and have Windows as a VM.  This assumes you have, or can acquire, the media for the programs you'll be using in Windows.  And, of course, that you have the activation key, or can acquire it in the first 30 days, for the Windows VM you'll need to create.

If we weren't seven hours apart, I'd volunteer to create a remote session to help you with that.  If you can wait until Thursday, I'll have more flexibility to do that.  Otherwise, if you'll be up after midnight your time, I can carve out a couple of hours to help you get started today.

[TMG1961]

well, it was fun while it lasted. After rebooting from linux to windows and then back to linux i cant boot into linux anynore. EasyBCD also doesnt work anymore..did before but now it just doesnt open. So now looking in how to get back into linux. I will have a look into virtualisation, but not sure it will work here..didnt work before.

[torreydale]

Glad you're up and running.  I dual booted using the "Install Alongside Windows" option for a short while.  In my opinion, virtualization is better.  No need to shut down just to get to Windows for a task and then rebooting into Linux Lite.  That was the pits.

In the Tutorials section of this forum, there is a thread on Virtualbox.  When you're ready to jettison dual booting, look into that (https://www.linuxliteos.com/forums/tutorials/how-to-install-test-and-use-linux-lite-in-oracle-virtualbox/) and into the link Wirezfree mentioned to image your Windows build. 

[Wirezfree]

Yes,
It sounds like you have done it...
The time(countdown) on the grub screen can be changed...
But that involves editing grub file..

[torreydale]

Sounds like you have the Windows boot manager as your chooser as per Matthew Moore's tutorial.  Then you get the blue grub.  Whether Linux Lite boots to the gray screen with the feather or to the blue grub and then to the words Linux Lite with dots underneath, varies according to your graphics card.  This is normal behavior.  If you didn't select Linux Lite at the blue screen, it would count down a few seconds and select that automatically.

[TMG1961]

O.K, sounds like you may have done it.?
Just to be sure.?

When you power on, do you you get a choice for:
Selecting Windows or Linux..??
Then if you select Linux you get the blue screen

or when you power on is it going straight to this blue screen..??

When i power in the laptop i first get a screen were i can choose between windows and linux lite and after i select linux lite i get the blue screen and need to select the top choice to boot into linux.

[Wirezfree]

O.K, sounds like you may have done it.?
Just to be sure.?

When you power on, do you you get a choice for:
Selecting Windows or Linux..??
Then if you select Linux you get the blue screen

or when you power on is it going straight to this blue screen..??

[torreydale]

If you were able to boot to Windows AFTER installing Linux Lite, it sounds like you installed Linux Lite alongside Windows, and the blue grub screen is your boot manager.  If your boot manager is actually handled by Windows, then the blue grub screen shows because of your graphics card, and it's harmless.  You probably also get the Linux Lite splash screen with 4-5 dots underneath the words Linux Lite.

[TMG1961]

I finally was able to boot into windows after installing Linux Lite. I do want Linux to be my main os for daily use, am very happy with it. I only need windows sometimes.
I tried running a virtual machine on this laptop before but it didnt work so i gave it up.

Now when i boot into Linux Lite after selecting it i keep getting a blue screen with several options. On top of the screen it says Gnu Grub Version2.02 beta2-9ubuntu1.3
Is there a way to not get that anymore when i boot into Linux Lite?

[torreydale]

Good idea for future reference, but they're saying they cannot get Windows to boot right now.

[Wirezfree]

Hi,

Just a note, you don't need to re-install Windows.
You can create a an image of your "Live Windows 7" install
Then convert the image(s) into Virtual disk(s) to use with Virtualbox.

I have done this on WinXP & Win7, worked perfectly on both occaisons.
I'm sure I posted  on this, will check.


EDIT:
Found the post for creating Windows Image for Virtualbox