Ordered new Dell laptop, and want Linux as OS, and Windows 10 as a VM.

Hey everybody, I ordered a Dell laptop computer last week, and I want to put Linux on the new computer, and have Windows 10 as a virtual machine. The computer is a Inspiron 17 5000 Series. It has 16GB of RAM. And it has a 2TB hard drive. I will get the computer on Friday, or Saturday. It has DVD read, and write.

I got a one year warranty on it. So I will call support, and ask for the disk. Dell no longer sends out disk with the computer. What would be a good Linux download? My old laptop has Linux Mint.

Last i messed with linix the thing wants a hole dedicated drive for it self,dousen't even want to install on a partition.

Don't know how to setup windows + Linux on one drive, boot loaders will probably fight too.

Linux Mint is the flavour to go with......I currently run Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon(sarah) as my main OS, with win 10 added inside a virtual machine

Like yourself I have quite a lot of room to play with so I allowed 60GB for the Virtual....and found this to be adequate for my needs.

Linux of course uses the grub menu and sets itself inposition as the Linux install is done.

Adding a virtual machine later is the way to go....then all it takes is a double click on the shortcut on the desktop and you then have two OS's to play in.

I use two screens....Linux Mint 18 handles this easily.....no drama to set up.....and quite often I run Linux on one and win 10 on the other.

Life is good.

Edited by Condobloke, 16 January 2017 - 11:53 PM.

You have 60GB of RAM?

 

I want to put Linux on the new computer, and have Windows 10 as a virtual machine

I like Ubuntu, With that machine I would try Kubuntu 16.04 LTS. Kubuntu | Friendly Computing

 

Don't know how to setup windows + Linux on one drive, boot loaders will probably fight too.

Please stick to the topic, The Op said he wants to run Win 10 in VM ( Virtual machine ) so no the boot loaders wont fight.

 

Last i messed with linix the thing wants a hole dedicated drive for it self,dousen't even want to install on a partition.

That is also incorrect. Linux dont even care if the partition is primary or logical.

Edited by NickAu, 17 January 2017 - 12:11 AM.
typo

Lol.....I wish !!....

No....what i meant was I carved 60gb off the available space on the hard drive and installed the virtual machine containing win10 in that 60gb space.

I dont use many programs/apps, nor do I store photos or music in win 10......so I dont need more space than that. Basically it is used to keep in touch with problems associated with the Windows 10 Support here at BC. Otherwise I would not contemplate having it at all. Linux does everything I need it to do and more.

I use VIRTUAL BOX 

Another member/Advisor here cat1092....will no doubt see this topic later....and his comments will be well worth reading.

Your new install of Linux Mint Cinnamon (Sarah) can be found HERE

Sam, glad to hear you are getting such a nice machine!

If it were me, I would leave W10 on there and do a Dual Boot with Linux.  Then if you like you can also run W10 in VM.  

For you, my suggestion would be Mint Cinnamon or Mate as suggested above.  And you know by now you can run them Live to see if you like them.  That way you could try a few that Nick has suggested also.  I love Linux Mint KDE-17.3 and have not even tried the newer KDE.  In fact I love the 17 Series, and have had a little trouble with the 18 series, but this was on older computers, like 2010-2011.  When and if you test, make sure to use Wifi first, then open the File Manager and some documents to see how you like them also.  You may even really like Ubuntu!  and there are some here using it so that you could get help if needed.

I don't know if Dell will send you a Recovery Disk LOL.  Here is what you need to know to make one, and, at this point I hope you can afford a External Backup Device.  This way you can image everything and if you run into a problem it will be an easy fix.

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN297924

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN298442

Edited by pcpunk, 17 January 2017 - 03:22 PM.

While Linux will be an easy install, reinstalling the OEM OS into a VM won't be, and I speak from first hand experience.

Tried it with both my HP & XPS 8700, and just wouldn't do it. You do have one option though, if the OS is Windows 10 Pro, then you can run Linux in a Hyper-V setup, which uses the full resources of your computer. Kind of complicated though & was never able to pull it off, mainly because Microsoft hasn't given clear cut instructions for the feature since introduced with the Windows 8 Pro $40 promo back in October 2012. They proclaimed it a feature & one reason 'why' to upgrade to W8, yet what good is that w/out instruction? 

Being that you have a ton of space, you can also dual boot, really all W10 needs is a 120GB for the OS partition (beginning with W8 the size for the 'C' partition has shrank a lot), another for Windows Data, and use what you want left for Linux of your choice.

Yet before you do anything, and I mean anything, image the drive first, using your favorite imaging software. I highly recommend & use Macrium Reflect, because it allows for WinPE (outside of the Windows environment) backup, restore & cloning capabilities. Plus be sure to create a set of recovery discs, or on a large (16GiB) USB Flash drive that you'll never be using for any other purpose. I also recommend the USB 2.0 versions for this, I had a few bad experiences restoring from recovery media created on USB 3.0 Flash drives, one my own, a few more for others who followed all steps that I personally assisted. And be sure to order your no cost, one time limited offer for a Dell Recovery DVD, w/out bloatware, specifically made for those who has a large HDD & the recovery media won't restore to a SSD. Even if you don't use it, your computer will have more value if you decide to sell it later on. 

 

 

I got a one year warranty on it. So I will call support, and ask for the disk.

I requested my DVD & it was in my hands the next day (Windows 8). Was looking for the link for email request & couldn't find it, though Dell will send you one on their dime by FedEx during the initial one year warranty period only.  Plus I trust a DVD over a USB stick on any given day, even if slower. Don't let Dell shaft you over, that reinstall DVD will cost $60 after the purchase date.

That said, whomever stated that 'Linux wants to take one's entire drive' must have tried Debian or some other installer, the ones based upon Ubuntu are very easy with partitioning. And with UEFI/GPT partitioning, you have up to a 128 Primary limit to work with, so partitions are no worries for 99.999% of Home users. 

One thing I'd like to ask. if this notebook was ordered from Dell, could have chosen a Ubuntu notebook ready to roll with 16.04 LTS pre-installed. If it was ordered elsewhere, that wouldn't had been an option. So if you ordered from Dell & want Ubuntu, don't open the package, you have the right to a 100% refund or exchange for a Ubuntu based computer. Windows 10 can then be found on promo on Newegg (OEM), I recommend Pro for more control & features. Just remember, once installed in a VM, that's where it's always going to be.

Those are your options as I see these at this time.

Good Luck!

Cat

I've got Windows and Ubuntu in a dual-boot configuration, and they play together just fine although it did take a bit of fiddling to get it to work the way I want.

The Windows bootloader shows up first, giving me the option of running Windows 10 (64 bit), Windows 10 (32-bit), or Linux.

Choose Linux and it goes to the GRUB2 boot loader, where I have the usual options plus another one I added to go back to the Windows bootloader.

VirtualBox is the way to go over VMWare (VirtualBox allows you to take snapshots of your VM in the free version, whereas VMWare does not).

If it's an OEM version of Windows, then it's tied to your hardware and your Microsoft account.  You should be OK to install it both physically and as a VM without issue, but licencing is the most likely problem you'll have if Windows thinks it's being installed on different hardware (although I don't think it does).

I would download the ISO image of Windows 10 from the Microsoft site - https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows10 - that way you know it's a clean vanilla copy (i.e. no included bloatware).

Microsoft does see each VM installation of Windows as a separate install, regardless of how many machines it's on.  But you won't be able to use that licence on another physical box.

Another thought - your pre-installed Windows 10 is probably 64-bit.  If so, go for the 64-bit version of Linux to use as your host, as 32-bit distros don't do virtualised environments.  Then go for the 32-bit version of Windows 10 in your VM, unless you've checked the docs and know it will run the 64-bit version.

While Linux will be an easy install, reinstalling the OEM OS into a VM won't be, and I speak from first hand experience

 

cat, could you expand on this?. Was this specific to Windows 10 and VMware?  I eventually want to set up a VM of Windows 7 with Linux as the host using VirtualBox.

Note: There is a good BC thread you started here using VMware. 

While Linux will be an easy install, reinstalling the OEM OS into a VM won't be, and I speak from first hand experience.

 

Tried it with both my HP & XPS 8700, and just wouldn't do it. You do have one option though, if the OS is Windows 10 Pro, then you can run Linux in a Hyper-V setup, which uses the full resources of your computer. Kind of complicated though & was never able to pull it off, mainly because Microsoft hasn't given clear cut instructions for the feature since introduced with the Windows 8 Pro $40 promo back in October 2012. They proclaimed it a feature & one reason 'why' to upgrade to W8, yet what good is that w/out instruction? 

 

Being that you have a ton of space, you can also dual boot, really all W10 needs is a 120GB for the OS partition (beginning with W8 the size for the 'C' partition has shrank a lot), another for Windows Data, and use what you want left for Linux of your choice.

 

Yet before you do anything, and I mean anything, image the drive first, using your favorite imaging software. I highly recommend & use Macrium Reflect, because it allows for WinPE (outside of the Windows environment) backup, restore & cloning capabilities. Plus be sure to create a set of recovery discs, or on a large (16GiB) USB Flash drive that you'll never be using for any other purpose. I also recommend the USB 2.0 versions for this, I had a few bad experiences restoring from recovery media created on USB 3.0 Flash drives, one my own, a few more for others who followed all steps that I personally assisted. And be sure to order your no cost, one time limited offer for a Dell Recovery DVD, w/out bloatware, specifically made for those who has a large HDD & the recovery media won't restore to a SSD. Even if you don't use it, your computer will have more value if you decide to sell it later on. 

 

 

 

I got a one year warranty on it. So I will call support, and ask for the disk.

 

I requested my DVD & it was in my hands the next day (Windows 8). Was looking for the link for email request & couldn't find it, though Dell will send you one on their dime by FedEx during the initial one year warranty period only.  Plus I trust a DVD over a USB stick on any given day, even if slower. Don't let Dell shaft you over, that reinstall DVD will cost $60 after the purchase date.

 

That said, whomever stated that 'Linux wants to take one's entire drive' must have tried Debian or some other installer, the ones based upon Ubuntu are very easy with partitioning. And with UEFI/GPT partitioning, you have up to a 128 Primary limit to work with, so partitions are no worries for 99.999% of Home users. 

 

One thing I'd like to ask. if this notebook was ordered from Dell, could have chosen a Ubuntu notebook ready to roll with 16.04 LTS pre-installed. If it was ordered elsewhere, that wouldn't had been an option. So if you ordered from Dell & want Ubuntu, don't open the package, you have the right to a 100% refund or exchange for a Ubuntu based computer. Windows 10 can then be found on promo on Newegg (OEM), I recommend Pro for more control & features. Just remember, once installed in a VM, that's where it's always going to be.

 

Those are your options as I see these at this time.

 

Good Luck!

 

Cat

Condobloke said that he had no problems with installing VM on his computer. I think I will go with Mint 18. I didn't get the Windows 10 Pro. I got the Windows 10 Home. I have a warranty, so should be able to get a disk. Thats what the woman I talked to told me. Hey Condobloke, which Windows 10 did you get?

@ Sam Gunn.....there is some discrepancy here....between cats advice and mine......

My install of win 10 PRO...came from a usb which i downloaded during the "free" period.....i installed it initially on a machine which was valid for the upgrade (it was running win 8.1)

I then dumped that PC....bought a handful of new bits (sdd, cpu, motherboard etc)....installed linux mint....and then popped that win 10 inside a V M

I knew I would not be able to validate it due to hardware changes, and actually had settled with the idea that sooner rather than later the copy would just stop working because of lack of updates etc etc...lack of $ at the time ensured that I could not afford to go down the path of making everything all right with msft.

To my surprise that install of win 10 on the VM has continued to update, and now no longer haunts me to validate windows.

So, ....that is my experience thus far.

The actual physical bit of installing win 10 on the VM was a breeze...or close to it. The only drawbacks i suffer with it are I do not have access to a usb plugged into the pc from the win 10 install....havent figured that one out yet. And I would really like to be able to click and drag from one os to the other....and that doesnt seem to be happening either....hopefully just a setting somewhere.

My main point here is : Do not ignore cats advice in favor of mine ....he is way to experienced and knowledgeable.

Hey Condobloke, if you want to click, and drag files from one OS, to another, try a team viwer. I never tried it, but have thought about it. I did have two computers hooked up that way last year. Was trying things out. I think the remote viwer was called Ammyy, or something.  I will listen to cat.

@Sam Gunn:

Hi Sam.

Given the Dell has a 2TB HDD, one of your better options (once you have a Windows DVD in your hands) is to reformat the computer to GPT, as opposed to the MSDOS/MBR format it is likely in, which we can establish with you.

This will give you the opportunity to have any reasonable number of Linuxes on the HDD (I call it future-proofing) without any dramas, and you simply carve out a partition of one of them, or at the beginning, to allow space for your VM running of Windows, such as Condobloke has suggested.

Cheers

Wizard

Edited by wizardfromoz, 20 January 2017 - 03:29 AM.