virtualbox.org

HI,
I am currently using Fedora as my main OS, but I also dual boot Windows 7 because there are 2 or 3 programs I rarely use that are not available on Linux. I would like to do away with the dual booting scenario, so my question is can I just run Windows 7 in a virtualbox on Fedora and have a shared folder ? I have played with Virtualbox but never seriously. Is this something that can work ? Sorry if this seems like a simple question.

If you want to create a Virtual Machine (VM) on your Fedora and install Windows 7 on it, that's easy. That's the basis of VirtualBox.

If on the other hand you want to access the Windows 7 partition on your hard drive, and have that running in a VM, that's a whole different problem. One for advanced users that could damage your data if not setup correctly.

This is covered in the User Manual, Ch. 9. Advanced topics, Ch. 9.9. Advanced storage configuration, and in particular Chapter 9.9.1. Using a raw host hard disk from a guest. Three words of caution: backup, Backup, BACKUP. Your entire hard disk that is, as a clone!

I will not want to access a Windows 7 share, all my drives would be formatted to Ext4. I would create a shared folder where the data, (pictures from my scanner that won't work under Fedora) for example.