Dual-Boot, or Windows VM inside a Linux distro?

I have two HDD's, one with a Linux OS and one with Windows 7. I set it up so I could boot to either OS when I turned on my computer. Recently, I got careless with security on my Windows OS and got some malware which automatically installs some modified version of Chromium. At first I was going to just wipe it clean and reinstall with better security, but now I'm thinking of just overwriting the HDD with a Linux OS, and run a Windows VM inside of it, making a standard back-up virtual disk to make it easier to start from scratch in the event of a security breach.

The only thing I was wondering is if graphics card virtualization is at the point where most Windows games are playable. I know Wine handles simpler apps just fine, but it's still spotty for a lot of them.

Other urls found in this thread:

youtube.com/watch?v=r-AN8E8ADL0
wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/QEMU
wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF#Plugging_your_guest_GPU_in_an_unisolated_CPU-based_PCIe_slot
vfio.blogspot.com.ar/2015/05/vfio-gpu-how-to-series-part-1-hardware.html
vfio.blogspot.ca/
wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF
twitter.com/SFWRedditImages

The left one

>The only thing I was wondering is if graphics card virtualization is at the point where most Windows games are playable. I know Wine handles simpler apps just fine, but it's still spotty for a lot of them.

You're too tech illiterate to be on Sup Forums. Google "GPU Passthrough with VM" and go the fuck away.

Biggest problem of the left one is gpu passthrough.

The process is not mature and well developed enough, basically you do a fucking messy setup and anything will break it.

youtube.com/watch?v=r-AN8E8ADL0

Look at this for example.
Can't get uglier and more messy than that solution.

OP if you really want to play stuff the VM will be a pain in the ass, do some research about gpu passthrough.
The least messy solution is having 2 GPUs in the system and even so it's retarded.

There are only 3 options:
1. Switch to linux completely, not using Windows anymore
2. Use a VM
3. Use separate drives for separate OS
Dual booting is only a good option if you have one drive at your disposal, so option 3 beats it in your case. As for which of the 3 you should pick is entirely up to you.
1. I hate Microsoft
2. I admit I need windows sometimes
3. I admit I need it a lot and I don't know how to use linux yet

I've been using a linux with windowsvm setup or around 2 months, it's not hard, but it's not an easy task.

The hardest part was the sound, but I took care if that.

As for the games, as long as you give enough memory to the vm, and meet the minimum requirements, you shulnd't have any problem. I've run the witcher 3 at preety much the samr speed as I had on windows; I've also tried the cracked version of ROTTR without any problem.

Have you tried to make a gpu passthrough recently? I'ts preety fucking easy, you don't need a second card, you can just use your intgrated gpu for linux and passthrough your GPU to the VM.

T-thanks ;_;

Yeah I figured those were pretty much my options.

I was considering using an ancient Radeon HD for Linux and picking up something modern for the VM if gpu passthrough turns out not to be viable, but if
are right, I guess that won't be necessary.

Thanks for the input all, I think I know what I have to do now.

I'm and Just FYI, I'm using a 960 and an i5 4440, and my MOBO is an Asus h81-MK.
I'm also using just one monitor, with one VGA input for the iGPU and one HDMI input for the GPU.


First of all read A LOT, start with these

wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/QEMU

wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF#Plugging_your_guest_GPU_in_an_unisolated_CPU-based_PCIe_slot (if you're using arch don't get the bios from the AUR as it says there, use the one from the fedora forums that every other guide gives you)

vfio.blogspot.com.ar/2015/05/vfio-gpu-how-to-series-part-1-hardware.html -this one is a 4 part series-

But you're gonna need a lot more, there are a couple of posts on reddit that kind of walkthrough you through the process,
also a couple of videos on youtube, but the only one that kinda helped me was the one from teksyndicate.

DON'T USE ANYTHING AS A STEP BY STEP GUIDE, read them and try to understand what they're doing.

The process is still preety green, but a couple years back (2014 or so) it really was a mayor pain in the ass to get it work properly, and the odds were you weren't gonna be able to pull it.

Also, if you have never play around with qemu and vfio start with that. And if you've never played around with stuff like kernel modules, udev rules and bash scripts read about those too, specially if you're new to linux.

Someday setting up a QEMU machine with GPU passthrough will be trivial.
I can't fucking wait

Looks like this might be a longer project than I thought, but I'm really looking forward to this now. Thanks again!

Posting this from within the windows virtual I played through dark souls 3 on; I don't think I'm ever going to dual boot again. The gpu pass-through was actually pretty easy; I caused myself a lot of trouble by setting up a Windows 7 virtual to use OVMF instead of VGA; probably not worth the trouble.
It helps to have gpu passthrough in mind when buying hardware, of course.

This is pretty good info: vfio.blogspot.ca/

I have a problem with dual booting.

I installed Windows 10 first and then Ubuntu. They are on two separate SSDs. I made the Ubuntu SSD top priority in the boot order, but every time I restart Windows it changes the boot order and puts "Windows Boot Loader" as the top priority, Is there anyway to fix this, since I really dislike that I have to change the boot order every fucking time I use Windows.

Anyone know the solution?

>inb4 uninstall the virus

>I installed Windows 10 first and then Ubuntu. They are on two separate SSDs. I made the Ubuntu SSD top priority in the boot order, but every time I restart Windows it changes the boot order and puts "Windows Boot Loader" as the top priority, Is there anyway to fix this, since I really dislike that I have to change the boot order every fucking time I use Windows.
That's really fucking spooky

Delete that shit or something, do you have Win 10 pro? downgrade that shit

>do you have Win 10 pro
nah Windows 10 Home

It is on my laptop and I really need Windows for Visual Studio.

Delete win 10, use 7 or 8.1.

>Visual Studio.
Oh boy, you're gonna get fuck'd by Sup Forums
Just use a VM if you're gonna use Windows for that and vidya if you still play

Or just get into a new language and get a nice IDE

>be me
>128GB SSD with win 8.1 for gayming
>1TB HDD for loonix
Works great.

dual-boot. Both OS's will be SO much faster, man.

Not really. Unless you somehow fucked up the VM configuration.

Admit you really don't need the Windows cancer any more and just run GNU like a man.

Shut off secure boot, get a live USB image of linux (Debian) and reinstall GRUB2 as the MBR then make it read only.

Been running Windows 7 for about 2 weeks after forcing myself to use Windows 8/10 since each of them came out.

7 is so much more consistent, minimal, and comfortable.

>video games
>microsoft office file formats

I don't feel manly by being inconvenienced. I'm pretty sure these two things are the primary reasons why dual-booting/VMing Windows in Linux even exists.

Here is my setup. I have it set up so that I can play games in GNU/Linux as a friend plays in the VM.

Guide:
wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/PCI_passthrough_via_OVMF

Script:
#!/bin/bash

OPTS=""

# CPU Configuration
OPTS="$OPTS -cpu host,kvm=off"
OPTS="$OPTS -smp 2,sockets=1,cores=2,threads=1"
OPTS="$OPTS -enable-kvm"

# RAM
OPTS="$OPTS -m 6000"

# UEFI
OPTS="$OPTS -drive if=pflash,format=raw,readonly,file=/usr/share/edk2.git/ovmf-x64/OVMF_CODE-pure-efi.fd"

# QEMU Monitoring
OPTS="$OPTS -monitor stdio"

# Optical drive
#OPTS="$OPTS -cdrom "/path/to/iso""

# Emulated video device
#OPTS="$OPTS -vga qxl"

# 240GB SSD
OPTS="$OPTS -hda /dev/sdc"

# R9 270
OPTS="$OPTS -device vfio-pci,host=06:00.0,multifunction=on"
OPTS="$OPTS -device vfio-pci,host=06:00.1"

# PCI Gigabit NIC
OPTS="$OPTS -device vfio-pci,host=05:00.0,rombar=0 -net none"

# USB DAC
OPTS="$OPTS -usb -device usb-host,vendorid=0x0d8c,productid=0x000e"

# Gamepad
OPTS="$OPTS -usb -device usb-host,vendorid=0x1532,productid=0x0111 "

# USB Hub connected to KVM switch
OPTS="$OPTS -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=13.1.1 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=13.1.2 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=13.1.3 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=13.1.4 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=13.1.5 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=13.1.6 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=13.1.7"
OPTS="$OPTS -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=10.1.7 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=3,hostport=10.1.6"

# USB hub on monitor
OPTS="$OPTS -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=2,hostport=5.1.1 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=2,hostport=5.1.2 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=2,hostport=5.2 -usb -device usb-host,hostbus=2,hostport=5.1"

# Start VM
sudo qemu-system-x86_64 $OPTS

Just boot off different drives for different OS's. Won't have to worry with them fucking with each other.

...

> VirtualBox
> ever
If you're running Linux you use kvm. Gpu passthrough works well but your processor and motherboard have to support it. All amd stuff does.

windows overwriting linux boot managers used to happen on windows install all the time, altough i don't remember it happening when simply starting windows.

this is wrong, virtualization has minimal overhead.
virtualization is completely different from emulation.

why isn't hypervisor on bare metal->windows+linux VM a thing?
it's similiar to the dualboot solution, but you can isolate & contain windows(and/or linux). You can't run both at the same time, but you don't need a 2nd GPU.