Thanks for replying :)

I managed to get it working with the answers from @Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me and this link:

https://www.zdnet.com/article/how-to-permanently-mount-a-drive-in-linux-and-why-you-should/

I must have been testing it when you answered :)

I’ve got them up and running, and working for both users, thank you :)

That’s brilliant, thank you :)

Usually /mnt/whatever for static mounts and /media/whatever for removable mounts (those appear as drives in file managers, whereas /mnt doesn’t).

Just to check, if I mount the drives under /media, will that still treat them as removable, or will they appear as permanent drives?

Ext4 everywhere.

Linux is obviously very good, but you are right, we give Linux a pass sometimes because we ‘build’ it. We tend to overlook its flaws because we want it to be better than the competition.

I’ve recently had an upgrade fail to the point of a reinstall, a folder that I can’t share between two users on the same laptop, and shutdown buttons on two computers that disappeared. If those problems happened on Windows, I’d be really annoyed, but because they happened on Linux, I just fixed them and carried on.

I’m Welsh, and my wife is a Welsh speaker, and we both missed that one 🙈🤣

I can’t comment on how many documents you have, but there’s a free version of Office 365

Have you tried the online version of MS Office? I’m not sure, but I think there’s a free version. Depending on the file, you might be able to convert it to another format, then use a FOSS tool going forwards.

Apologies, yes, I did misunderstand you.

I got VMware to recognise the partition, but it couldn’t boot it. Everything I found said that the distro needed to be on a separate drive with its own boot partition. I found threads saying that VirtualBox couldn’t do it either, but I’d be happy to be wrong :)

I’m not at my computer now, so won’t get a chance to try it for at least a few hours.

Thanks for the link and the information :)

From what I can tell, they would both need their own boot partition, which is where I’m stuck. My Windows and Mint installations share a boot partition, and it causes problems for this.

I know that it’s not very practical, for most people, but imagine having to use Windows for work or a specific game, and still being able to access your distro as normal. It could be handy for a small niche, and felt like an interesting challenge :)

You might be misunderstanding what I want to do. I want to boot my existing Mint partition as a VM under Windows, not make a new VM with its own drive.

From what I can tell, it might be possible if the distro is on its own drive with its own boot partition, but my Mint installation is on a partition on the same drive as Windows, and they share the same boot partition.

Thanks for the suggestions, but you might be misunderstanding me. I’ve already got Windows 10 and Mint installed on the same drive, and I was hoping to find a way to boot the existing Mint installation as a VM under Windows.

There were Windows programs that could do something similar in the past, using VirtualBox, but it looks like the Linux distro needs to be on its own drive with its own boot partition for it to work.

To be honest, I’ve given up. I was hoping that it would be something to make my life easier for a short while, but the amount of work to get it running is going to be more than just dual booting and swapping OSes for a while.

It’s a shame, as it could be an interesting project, but it’s quite a niche need going by some of the replies here, and isn’t worth the effort.

I’ll definitely try to avoid that! :o

I remember doing it with a file that came with one of the multi ISO tools, LiLo perhaps? It was just named VirtualiseThisKey.exe and would open the key as if it was booting on a PC. I deleted it back last year though as my copy had been corrupted, and I hadn’t used it for a long time so didn’t bother replacing it.

Thanks, but the sharing itself isn’t the issue. I’ve got three other hard drives in this computer, and can access them all through each OS. What I want to be able to do is be using Windows and realise that I want something from a program on the Mint drive, or have Mint running and realise that I need something from a program on Windows, and just be able to get it without having to shut down everything and reboot.

I’ve got programs like Thunderbird where the data has to be exported before it can be imported in the Mint version, and the program has to be running for that to happen. With my memory, I keep forgetting about things like that until I’m in Mint and need the data, but in the time it takes me to reboot, get the data, and get back to Mint, I’ve forgotten why I needed it in the first place >.<

I might have hit my limit :(

VMware is letting me do something similar, and I’ve attached the Mint partition, but because the boot partition is separate and in use, it’s not letting me go any further. There’s probably a way around it, but it’s beyond what I know how to do, and I don’t want to risk breaking my Mint installation.

Unfortunately, it looks like you’re right :(

I can get VMware Player to recognise the partition, but the boot info is on another partition. As that partition is already in use, I’m getting an error. It might be possible to create another boot partition, or put the relevant info onto the Mint partition, but that’s just going to make things even more complicated, and it’s not worth it just to save some time.

Yeah, that’s what another user found too. It doesn’t look like VirtualBox can do it, but this thread suggests that VMWare might be able to. I’m just trying it now :)

https://superuser.com/questions/1309308/boot-physically-installed-linux-in-vmware-workstation-on-windows-10

This is what I’m trying at the moment. I found this question on Super User that suggests it can be done, but like you say, the wizard makes it look like you have to use a file first.

https://superuser.com/questions/1309308/boot-physically-installed-linux-in-vmware-workstation-on-windows-10