Qemu Runs Windows 2000!
Qemu is a “fast” processor emulator that uses dynamic translation to achieve usable system speeds. Qemu either works as a user-mode emulation, primarily to run Linux binaries compiled on a different CPU, or as a system mode emulation where it emulates a full system with CPU and some peripherals. This latter mode is basically like the commercial emulator VMWare. The software is available under an Open-Source license.
I’ve written about Qemu before. I tried to use it to emulate Windows 98, and I could never get it to boot. Today, the main Qemu page says “This is the first version which is able to install and run Windows XP (experimental).” Well hell, if it will run XP, it will probably run Windows 2000 (there are some screenshots on the Qemu page on MorphixWiki that demonstate it works). I refuse to run XP, but that’s a different topic.
While I think Win4Lin is a cool idea and works fairly well for what it does, it won’t run Windows 2000. Windows 98 really had problems with some applications, like, oh, Microsoft Outlook. Rather not have to use Windows 98. In fact, I had to set up a headless Win2k box for those “Win2k Only” things.
I think I may have to leave this install for the morning because it
seems to be taking it’s sweet time to load Win2k. It’s on the
“Performing Final Tasks” page. Hey, it looks like it is now “Saving
Settings.” Some progress, albeit slow. Oh well, sleep beckons.
