Can I run my Windows on my /dev/hda in qemu?
• Short answer: Probably not. • Long answer: Once installed, Windows has only the minimal drivers required to boot the hardware on your computer – which happens to be completely different from what qemu emulates. Windows 9x has enough problems with this, but Windows NT is especially fickle. You may be able to boot Windows 95 or 98 work from qemu this way (there have been a few reports of success), but if you want to try we can not help you. You are better off installing Windows into a disk image. Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional also has issues related to hardware activation.
Short answer: Probably not. Long answer: Once installed, Windows has only the minimal drivers required to boot the hardware on your computer – which happens to be completely different from what qemu emulates. Windows 9x has enough problems with this, but Windows NT is especially fickle. You may be able to boot Windows 95 or 98 work from qemu this way (there have been a few reports of success), but if you want to try we can not help you. You are better off installing Windows into a disk image. Windows XP Home or Windows XP Professional also has issues related to hardware activation. If you really really want to try to set up Windows XP or Windows 2000 to be able to boot on both your real hardware and on qemu, try looking at You receive a Stop 0x0000007B error after you move the Windows XP system disk to another computer and How to Move a Hard Disk with Windows 2000 Installed to Another Computer, which explains part of the problem in greater detail as well as some possible workarounds. T
