How to Install Windows 8 in Linux with QEMU

Microsoft has just released Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Here’s a method to install Windows 8 in Linux using KVM and Qemu. You can use this beta version of Windows 8 until the 15th of January 2013, after which it will be unusable.

Here are the requirements to install Windows 8:

• 1 GHz Processor or greater
• 1 GB RAM
• 20 GB free storage for the 64-bit version

Before you start, make sure your processor supports Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) or AMD’s AMD V CPU virtualization extensions. Type this command to check vmx or svm flags:

If this is the case, you can install KVM. Type the following command for RPM-based distributions such as Fedora:

or the following command for Debian or Ubuntu:

Then download the ISO image of Windows 8 on Microsoft website (64-bit version) :

Create a 20 GB virtual hard drive to install Windows 8:

Then start the virtual machine with qemu-kvm and the correct parameters:

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If you need to start Windows 8 after it has been installed, use the following command:

Press Ctrl + Alt to revert the keyboard/mouse control to the host machine.

If you have an older processor that does not support virtualization extensions, you can use VMWare Player 4.0.2 to install Windows 8.

Adapted from instructions on Tuxplanet (in French).

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