Hi All,

 

I'm trying to setup a windows 10 and an Ubuntu VM on my UNRAID server on a separate passthrough disk. However, I'd like this setup to mimic a normal dual-booting system where ubuntu and windows 10 co-exist on the same disk. I was thinking of installing windows 10 VM first on the passthrough disk(so it sets up all the required partitions, etc), and then installing Ubuntu VM on the same disk (similar to how I would do this outside of UNRAID). Is this easily doable? I was wondering if anyone has tried to do something like this and any gotchas I need to be aware of.

 

Thanks!

1 hour ago, sibi78 said:

However, I'd like this setup to mimic a normal dual-booting system where ubuntu and windows 10 co-exist on the same disk.

Why? Do you want to ensure that they can't run simultaneously?

 

I don't see a good reason to go through the extra hassle vs. just setting up 2 VM's.

22 hours ago, jonathanm said:

Why? Do you want to ensure that they can't run simultaneously?

 

I don't see a good reason to go through the extra hassle vs. just setting up 2 VM's.

@jonathanm, fair enough. The background is : I'm trying to experiment with both zoneminder/ubuntu or blue iris/windows for handling my security cameras with my UNRAID server. I'd want to experiment with both, but eventually I'd only need one VM that I like. This is why I was thinking of dual boot - using the 2nd VM only when I need it. But I can accomplish the same by installing two separate VMs, and not using the second one.

 

That said, I presume I can use the same pass-through disk when I run both VMs simultaneously, correct?

 

@SpaceInvaderOne, please feel free to chime in as well - I've watching your videos to get the right background! (Thank you so much for your tutorial videos)

Edited August 20, 20196 yr by sibi78

38 minutes ago, sibi78 said:

That said, I presume I can use the same pass-through disk when I run both VMs simultaneously, correct?

Probably not, I've never tried. The normal way of dealing with VM's is to use disk image files, that way you aren't wasting the entire capacity of a drive that could be used for other things simultaneously. Typical scenario would be to have a 250 or 500GB SSD, and give each VM a vdisk file on that drive. Vdisk files are sparse, so you can tell each VM that they have a 100GB disk to work with, and only use the space on the SSD that's actually occupied, typically 20 or 30GB. So you could have both VM's running, each thinking they have 100GB, and only use 50GB of your 250GB SSD.

 

Dedicating a passthrough disk to a VM is typically a waste of resources that can be better utilized elsewhere. All the user data for the VM to generate and consume should be on the parity protected array anyway, so the VM stays small and agile.

8 hours ago, sibi78 said:

 

 

@SpaceInvaderOne, please feel free to chime in as well - I've watching your videos to get the right background! (Thank you so much for your tutorial videos)

 

Hi @sibi78  So you want to use some security cams on your server. I wouldn't use a vm to do what you want to. I would suggest using the docker container shinobi. Its very very good in my opinion. Its very light weight and doesn't use much resources. I have mine recording to an old unassigned drive in the server (so i am not recording to the array and avoiding wear on that).

 

But if you want to use 2 vms with the same physical disk passed through then you can. You would pass the disk though by using its disk id.

open terminal and type

ls /dev/disk/by-id

That will show you your disks by their id.

for example here is what one of mine looks like

 

so to passthrough a whole disk all partitions to one vm you would add the location like this. Just set location to manual then add this but with your disk id.

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N0ZDV2PF

 

With this you could first pass this disk to a live gparted instance then partition up the disk

 

Then after you can passthrough each partition to different vms (installing the os on each partition)

you can pasthrough individual partitions by adding -partx  x being the number of the partition

 

for example you would use this for the location of partition 1

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N0ZDV2PF-part1

and if you had a second partition you would add it like this

/dev/disk/by-id/ata-WDC_WD30EFRX-68EUZN0_WD-WCC4N0ZDV2PF-part2

and so on and son on for each partition that you had created. But dont have 2 vms running and try and passthrough the same partition to both.

 

 

But i would really suggest giving Shinobi a try. I have been meaning to finish a video for it that i started making months ago then kinda forgot about it and did something else. But i'm glad that your post has reminded me that I must finish it off

 

@SpaceInvaderOne, thanks a lot for the detailed reply, and thanks for the pointer about Shinobi. I'll definitely look into it, and will check with you if I have any further questions! I'll look forward to your youtube video on Shinobi as well!