In my continuing effort of finding a suitable complete Windows environment under Linux for those small occasions when you just can’t ditch it, I’ve tried Win4Lin. You can download 2 week evaluation copy from the website.

<br /> $ su -<br /> $ wget http://www.win4lin.com/administrator/downloads/Win4LinPro-6.2.5-01.i386.rpm<br /> #wget http://www.win4lin.com/index.php?option=com_remository&#038;Itemid=76&#038;func=download&#038;filecatid=3<br /> $ rpm -ivh Win4LinPro-6.2.5-01.i386.rpm<br />

<br /> Preparing... ########################################### [100%]<br /> 1:Win4LinPro ########################################### [100%]<br /> 14 day(s) left in evaluation period.<br /> Creating images... done.<br /> ERROR: Module kqemu does not exist in /proc/modules<br /> Host architecture: i686<br /> KQEMU package: /opt/win4linpro/etc/kqemu.tar.gz<br /> NOTE: KQEMU is Copyright 2005 by Fabrice Bellard.<br /> Win4Lin, Inc. is an authorized distributor of this code.<br /> Building KQEMU module in /tmp/.build_kqemu-24886<br /> Please see the file /tmp/build-kqemu.log in case of error<br /> Installing KQEMU module in /lib/modules/2.6.9-22.0.1.ELsmp/misc<br /> Loading KQEMU module<br /> Starting Win4Lin Pro: [ OK ]<br />

Need to load a Windows XP CD. Note: It must have SP1 or SP2. An older XP CD did not work.

`
$ loadwinproCD
13 day(s) left in evaluation period.
You may use Win4Lin Pro without entering a license code
until the evaluation period ends. If you already have
a full license code, you may enter it now.
If you do not have a license code, you may enter it at
any time in the future by running (as root):
/opt/win4linpro/bin/ask_license.sh
Would you like to enter your license code now? (y/n) n
Checking CDROM…
Media found: Windows XP Professional (Service Pack 1)
Loading installation files… please wait…
………………………………………….
Loading CDROM… please wait…
…………………………………………..
Windows CDROM load complete.
$ exit

must not be be root to continue

`

<br /> $ installwinpro<br /> Selected winxppro to install by default<br /> installwinpro: installation details:<br /> Target directory: /home/rbradfor/winpro<br /> Windows version: winxppro<br /> Guest image size: 4G<br /> mergepro-gowimg: created /home/rbradfor/winpro/GUEST.IMG, size=4G<br /> Enabled KQEMU acceleration<br /> (mergepro-core)<br /> Partitioning guest image...<br /> Guest image partitioning complete.<br /> Enabled KQEMU acceleration<br /> (mergepro-core)<br /> Formatting guest image...<br /> QuickFormatting (only flushing metadata)<br /> Format complete.<br /> 4,293,563,392 bytes total disk space<br /> 4,293,563,392 bytes available on disk<br /> 4,096 bytes in each allocation unit.<br /> 1,048,233 allocation units available on disk.<br /> Volume Serial Number is 0D28-140E<br /> Guest image format complete.<br /> installwinpro: launching guest installation...<br /> Enabled KQEMU acceleration<br /> mergepro-gfx: LANG not found, defaulting to: en-us<br />

This then provided the normal windows installation in a window, the only requirement was a serial number, so they have definitely streamlined the Windows installation. Then to run windows.

<br /> $ winpro<br />

I did have an installation problem, where I got a CD error of not being able to access a file. Now given that Win4Lin precopied the entire CD, I’m not sure what to make of it, I had to skip the file, and it did not appear to affect the installation. I’ve got a screenshot to upload sometime.

So far, all I’ve really done is run it, I found that it was very slow. What was great, that on the very clean desktop the only icon was a mapping the Linux user home directory. I tried to install Photoshop CS, about the only thing I really want under Windows until I become better with Gimp. Problem was it promptly told me I needed 7GB of space, which I didn’t have. Not sure if I can easily add additional diskspace. Guess I’ll have to RTFM.