I've mentioned this before, and gotten the impression that the concept & doing this may be intimidating to most folks - but it is really no big deal to do, and has a terrific outcome. The background is simple - folks have apps that require a windows OS that will not run under WINE such as those using databases or those that require modules that are installed into the OS itself. A great solution for folks desiring the reliability of Linux -AND- wanting to keep their windows apps is just as simple as keeping their windows OS on hand as a VM. This has many, many advantages (aside of the above...) - and here are 2 great ones: - The OS will usually run better inside the VM than it did natively; - If the desired OS gets messed up, it is a simple matter to roll it back via snapshots. There are 2 main ways to reach this goal. Simplest of all is to just install an off the shelf version of the OS inside a VM. Slightly more intense is making a P2V movement of a fully installed & customized OS, then using it as a VM. I prefer doing the 2nd method via image s/w that easily takes an entire HDD image, then converts it into a VM directly - which can then be used as is, including all the various partitions, etc. The biggest hurdle I found was making the choice between VirtualBox & a VMWare product. This was simplified for me as I discovered that VBox has an odd way of dealing with added drive letters that simply does not work for me - vs. VMWare Player, that handles that...errr....normally. Best of all IMO is that once it is all done, it also becomes incredibly easy to re-make this whole thing with so little effort via Systemback. I made it on the desktop PC, then backed it up & made an SBLive USB stick of it - and proceeded to slip it right onto a nice, newish notebook (after eviscerating that horrid '10' OS from it & changing it to use MBR). A short while later it was all ready to use, just the same as the desktop PC. What inspired this: 2 main factors drove me to this effort=> 1 - Browsers for XP are now the unicorns of the internet world; 2 - Some nifty little apps that I prefer which are too fussy for running under WINE. Speaking of which - yes, I do also use WINE and really like that I could simply pick up my portables of Thunderbird, K-Meleon, nPOPuk and a bunch of others - and they just run as well as they always did as adopted Linux apps now. Hopefully some of this info may help others in their journeys from win-to-Lin. I am happy to help if there are questions I am able to answer. Given the higher tech levels of most members here it occurs to me that there must be others who know more about this stuff than I do - as well as those who may have the same desires to keep a older OS around while moving forward via Linux. Side note: Two friends of mine needed some windows s/w that demanded the presence of that OS, and I made up systems for both of them (devout non-techies). This has been fine for one of those guys already for some years, and the 2nd guy seems to have adjusted to the change to Linux as the host OS quite easily.