Is there any software which would allow me to run a virtual machine(microsoft or linux) off of a USB drive.

I don't think the transfer rate would be good enough.

using VMWare or Virtual PC allows you to run a virtual machine where it uses a file located anywhere on your file system as the virtual HDD. sure you could use a USB thumb drive so long as it appears as a drive letter in My Computer.

It'd be rather slow though, from memory most USB drives only run at maybe 10MB/sec max.

well, they do make USB2 drives

im more interested in _booting_ from a USB drive rather than just using vmware or vpc

sure they do make USB2 thumb drives, however that's just the transfer interface, the solid state flash memory inside the drive is not capable of more than about 8-10MB/sec max in normal circumstances.


i know it is possible, some motherboard BIOS' support the option to boot from USB devices, how successful it is I do not know as i've never done it.

I would even run this off of a CD. Instead of booting into a live CD. I want to run a live cd or usb session while in microsoft. so i guess i am looking for live linux cd and VMware mixed together.


vada

thats very possible. pop the cd in the tray, link it to the virtual machine, and boot the virtual machine. it'll act as a normal PC would. vmware/vpc guides a user to use the cd to install an OS, but you can leave the HDD image blank and boot from the CD.

Yea but I would need to install VMWARE for this. The reason i want something like this is: Say i am away from my house. I get a page from my machine with alerts from an ERROR log. I would like to go somewere with PCs and Internet connection. Pop in cd run live vmware/linux to connect to company system. THis way nothing needs to be installed. I really dont even need GUI or nothing like that, just shell.

Why not just use a LiveCD and skip the whole usb mess?

Well i think the HD transfer for a virtual machine is slow enough, its gonna be more slow in a USB drive, i dont recommend this thing at all.

OK, I will go with live cd. But I dont want to have to reboot a system to use software. I want to insert live cd while system is on and have a window open with live linux OS. Is there anything that will work in this way?

Lets say i go to a library to run this. There not goin to let me install vmware or boot system so that i can use a live CD.

well, my library lets me reboot the system, they dont give a hoot

but if you REALLY want to run linux while in windows without installing VMware or the like, you _can_ put Cygwin (cygwin.redhat.com i believe) on a cd, make an autorun file that loads its exe off the disc and use a linux type console from there (there's also an xServer package you can use on it, but dont expect kde or gnome to work on it)

for those who dont know, cygwin is a Linux compatibility layer for windows which provides a basic shell (usually BASH or CSH) and lets you run packages installed inits structure. it's nice, but dont expect miracles. its only designed to use gcc/make or test a shell script without having to reboot

That is exactly what i am looking for:)I dont need a GUI all i need is SSH.

Is it free? which is better rehat cygwin or cygwin

Hmm, it looks like cygwin has to be installed. Are you sure i can run of cd. with [autorun]

cygwin is opensource, redhat just uses that liscence to brand it, add more stuff, and redistribute it (they also do commercial liscencing, but thats for developers looking to use cygwin in their non-opensource products) so for you, it would be free

as for installing, you can install to your local computer and then just copy the files off your hdd to a cd. ex: install cygwin to C:\cygwin\
copy c:\cygwin\*.* d:\

the installer just lets you choose which packages you want to download and extract to the folder structure nice and easily (like an RPM or PPM if you've used Perl)

i dont know if it modifies registry entries (prbly but for uninstall use only (add/remove programs)) you can probably get away with using the copy files method i described above

if you can get this to work, let me know. i might just make myself a cygwin live disc. it might be handy

If all you need is an SSH terminal then why didn't you say so?

Download Putty and throw it on a USB Pendrive. It doesn't have to be installed, just run it and go. It's what I use for the exact same thing that you want to do.

I use putty too, but, it has to be installed. Once i burn cygwin to a CD i should be able to use it on a computer without installing it. Just run off CD.

yes, although i've never done it myself, it seems simple enough to do so