Virtualize Your Life
Tags: virtualization, kvm, qemu
Published: 2022-01-14 14:10:56

[Chapter 1 - Installing Linux](#chapter1)  
[Chapter 2a - Installing the needed software on Manjaro](#chapter2a)  
[Chapter 2b - Installing the needed software on Ubuntu](#chapter2b)  
[Chapter 3 - Downloading and Installing Microsoft Windows](#chapter3)  
[Chapter 4 - Final Tweaks](#chapter4)

**Linux is wonderful. It really is, but sometimes compatibility isn't the best. I understand people need or want Windows, but I could argue it is better to virtualize. Security, privacy and more. So this is how I'd configure a system.**

## **Chapter1**  
**Backing up Windows and downloading as well as installing Linux.**
Step 1: Backup all of  you files to an external harddrive, a NAS and or in the cloud on something like BackBlaze (You get a 14 day free trial)

Step 2: Get a Linux ISO, I like Manjaro but it's all up to you. You can download this from the distro's website.
[Get Manjaro from here](https://manjaro.org/download) or [Get Ubuntu from here](https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop)  

Step 3: Download balena etcher to "flash" the Linux ISO to a USB flashdrive.
[Get Balena Etcher from here](https://www.balena.io/etcher)

Step 4: Boot into the Live USB to install your Distro of choice.

## **Chapter2a**  
**This chapter is for Arch-Based Distros (Manjaro), if you use Ubuntu, follow the steps in Chapter2b**  
Run ```sudo pacman-mirrors -f && sudo pacman -Syu```  
Run ```sudo pacman -S archlinux-keyring```  
Run ```sudo pacman -S qemu virt-manager virt-viewer dnsmasq vde2 bridge-utils openbsd-netcat```  

## **Chapter2b**
**This chapter is for Debian-Based Distros (Ubuntu), if you use Manjaro, follow the steps in Chapter2a**  
Run ```sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade```  
Run ```sudo apt-get install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients bridge-utils```  

## **Chapter3**
**Downloading and installing Microsoft Windows**  
[Go to Microsoft's Website and select 10 or 11](https://www.microsoft.com/sv-se/software-download/)
You'll get an ISO file, similar to the one we got for Linux.

Step 1: Open Virt-Manager and select "New Virtual Machine", then select "Local install Media"   
Step 2: Navigate to the ISO file in your Downloads using "Browse" and then "Browse Local", and select it.  
Step 3: At the next page you choose how many Megabytes of ram as well as CPU cores you want to give it. I'd give it about half but choose what you're comfortable with. (This can be changed later)  
Step 4: Choose the size of the harddrive (or ssd) you want to give it. (You can add more harddrives later)  
Step 5: On the next page check "Customize Configuration Before Install" and then click finish.
Step 6: Here you want to change "Firmware" to one of the UEFI ones.  
Step 7: Navigate over to "Boot Options and enable CD rom"
Step 8: Click "Begin Installation" and proceed Windows installation as normal.

## **Chapter4**
**Final Tweaks**
Note: You would have to passthrough a GPU in order to use any GPU intensive application. 
 
Step 1: Shut down the VM, and click the little (i) button to come back to the settings menu.
Step 2: [Download the first ISO in the list](https://fedorapeople.org/groups/virt/virtio-win/direct-downloads/archive-virtio/?C=M;O=D)  
Step 3: In VirtManager, select the Sata CDROM and click "Browse" and then "Browse local"  
Step 4: Boot the VM again, and open Device Manager, click on the dropdown menu called "display adapters" and then rightclick on Update Driver and browse to the driver on the D: drive.
Step 5: Rightclick the Desktop, go into display settings and select the resolution of your monitor.  
Step 6: Restore from your backup