You can run Linux in Windows by running a free Linux virtual machine player program and opening a free Linux virtual machine!

This is fantastic for a new Linux user who needs to get Linux training and wants to learn Linux in Windows. You just download Linux in Windows as a “pre-installed” virtual machine, uncompress the virtual machine files in the Linux download file into a folder on the Windows hard disk, and then run a virtual machine player program to run Linux in Windows.

There are lots of new Linux “flavors” (versions) available as virtual machines to choose from. You can experiment with Linux commands to do Linux administration tasks - without messing up Windows on your computer system!

For example, while learning to do Linux administration tasks, you do things like: create a new Linux user, install Linux software programs, and create or delete directories in the Linux file system.

When you do these steps, you may accidentally cause the Linux system to stop working properly. If this happens, all you have to do is erase the Linux virtual machine files, uncompress the original files into their folder again, and start running Linux in Windows again!

The steps below outline how Linux is installed on a computer system, how a Linux virtual machine is created, and how to run Linux in Windows.

Installing the Linux OS on a computer system “from scratch” is a very time-consuming process. You do the following steps:

set up the system to boot from CD / DVD
boot the system with a Linux CD / DVD
run the Linux installation routine
provide several Linux system configuration settings, such as Linux networking settings and partition settings
select the Linux software programs to be installed on the system
wait while thousands of Linux software programs are copied onto the hard disk of the system

To create a Linux virtual machine, someone does the following steps for you:

all the steps above to install the Linux OS on a computer system - as a virtual machine
compresses the files that make up the virtual machine into a single file
puts the virtual machine on a Linux server as a free Linux download file

To run Linux in Windows, you just:

download and install the virtual machine player program
download a single file containing the compressed Linux virtual machine files
uncompress the virtual machine files into a folder
run the virtual machine player
open (and run) the Linux virtual machine

to run a Linux command, open a terminal emulation window on the Linux desktop to get to the Linux command line

Written by Clyde Boom.