Run your LiveCD on Windows with one click

[Texstar]

Original Poster: coldzero

hello everyone

like any new linux user i had problems burning/installing linux from windows
i had to learn how to fix problems the hard way ( i damaged my harddisk twice  ) but that didn't stop me from trying again.

here i like to share a tool i used to run any liveCD ( iso ) inside windows without any experience at all!



MobaLiveCD is a freeware that will run your Linux LiveCD on Windows thanks to the excellent emulator called "Qemu".
MobaLiveCD allows you to test your LiveCD with a single click : after downloading the ISO image file of your favorite LiveCD, you just have to start it in MobaLiveCD and here you are, without the need to burn a CD-Rom or to reboot your computer.

MobaLiveCD key features:
   + No need to burn the CD-Rom anymore
   + You can use the right-click menu for an easy and fast start
   + Program without installation that you can start from an USB stick
   + A clear and easy to use interface
   + Light and portable application, packaged in a single executable of 1.6MB only

Step by Step how to use MobaLiveCD:

1- download MobaLiveCD, go to http://mobalivecd.mobatek.net/en/ and follow the download link. Save the MobaLiveCD executable somewhere on your hard drive


2-  Start MobaLiveCD right away by simply clicking on the executable - it's a standalone application, i.e., it doesn't need to be installed:



3-.. and select the ISO image of a Linux Live-CD from your hard drive (e.g. Knoppix):


4-If you want to save changes that you make in the Linux live system, create a hard disk image for the virtual machine, otherwise select No:


5-If you have chosen to create a hard disk image, specify its location:


6-Afterwards the Live-CD starts and boot the Linux system. Click into the window to move the mouse pointer of the Linux system or to press keys inside the Linux system. To release the mouse pointer, press CTRL+ALT.





MobaLiveCD also lets you add a menu entry to the right-click menu of ISO images so that you can directly run the ISO image from the right-click menu. To set up the menu entry, click on the Right-click menu button in MobaLiveCD:


Now when you right-click on an ISO image, you see the entry Test this with MobaLiveCD in the right-click menu. Select this if you want to start the ISO image in MobaLiveCD:


If you want to remove the entry from the right-click menu, click on the Uninstall button in MobaLiveCD:

Download MobaLiveCd Here

[newmikey]

Tex,

Could we, should we include this (as first of course) on the standard liveCD outside of the livecd.sqfs so it's readable for Windows and makes any of our live CD 's instantly "try before you buy"?

I tried it, it works as advertised. Excellent find!

[mbmalone]

I'm going to try this one 

[parnote]

This sounds like the easiest way to get PCLinuxOS installed on my wife's Acer Aspire One!

Great find!

parnote

[The Chief]

This sounds like the easiest way to get PCLinuxOS installed on my wife's Acer Aspire One!

Great find!

parnote

Why would it be any easier than just re-booting with a Live CD?  The Aspire One will boot from an external USB drive - at least mine will....

[parnote]

This would be easier, cuz my wife's AAO has WinXP on it, and I don't have a working USB optical drive, plus I don't have to go through the hassle of making a LiveUSB drive. Can't assume that everyone has a working USB optical drive.

parnote

[The Chief]

This would be easier, cuz my wife's AAO has WinXP on it, and I don't have a working USB optical drive, plus I don't have to go through the hassle of making a LiveUSB drive. Can't assume that everyone has a working USB optical drive.

parnote

If you have a netbook, an external CD/DVD drive is almost a must...  But you're right - shouldn't assume - ever!

[Georgetoon]

I'm gonna try this one for sure.  Thanks!:)

[zapjb]

How nice. 

[j-retired]

Isn't this gonna be rather slow on an Aspire One? Mine doesn't exactly gallop along to start with, if it's got to run Windy as a host..........?  Also how much memory have you got? - I had to add some to mine, and what a difference that made!

j

[parnote]

Run Windows as a host? HUH? 

Just let the PCLinuxOS installer set up a dual boot system, where you can boot into EITHER PCLinuxOS or Windows. Be sure to defrag your Windows installation at least 3 times before doing so, to help protect against data loss.

parnote

[j-retired]

Run Windows as a host? HUH? 

parnote

Well that was what I understood the idea of the Mobalive app was, and my thoughts were obviously same as yours!

j

[ElCuervo]

I tried this recently, and it's just an emulator like VirtualBox. You can make persistent changes, but you can't install the OS from it - unless someone knows a trick I haven't seen yet!

MobaLiveCD is a freeware that will run your Linux LiveCD on Windows thanks to the excellent emulator called "Qemu".
MobaLiveCD allows you to test your LiveCD with a single click

It's a nifty way to do that on a Windows box without burning (and wasting) disks, but since I test LiveCDs in Linux as VBox guests anyway, not very necessary to me. It did get me to thinking about running a VBox guest version of PCLinuxOS in a Windows host again, though, since it was back in the days of VBox v1.xx that I last tried it. Back then, the Guest Additions for Linux really sucked, but since I have one box always running Windows, it seemed like it would be worth a new try in v3.04. It is freakin' awesome! That box has mission-critical data on it in Windows, so it also has a dual-boot PCLinuxOS install on it for grsync and any necessary rescue missions. I can't see any difference in performance now between the VBox guest and "real deal"!

Yayyy! Now I have safe surfing when I'm in Windows! And I have the bonus being able to test LiveCDs in Windows if I choose to do so - VBox actually does that much better than MobaLiveCD, IMO.

[Waldo22]

Kind of amazing; I'm logged into the PCLinuxOS website using Konqueror on Minime 2009.1 running inside of Windows XP.  Now if that's not odd, nothing is! 

[Jessie]

works wonderfully using wine also, now I don't need to create a test virtual machine to test distros, I can run it directly from moba.
Jessie