Installing CoLinux on WindowsXP

Linux

This assumes that you don’t already have a Linux installation on a dual-boot machine that you want to use, and are going to install Linux from scratch. If you do already have a working Linux setup, then you can use it. The CoLinux FAQ explains how to configure coLinux on a dual-boot machine

  1. Get a 2nd IP address assigned that you can use on your Windows machine for the colinux interface (assuming you’ve already got one assigned to the main interface)
  2. Download colinux-0.6.2.exe from sourceforge onto the Windows machine.
  3. Run colinux-0.6.2.exe on the Windows machine
  4. By default, this will install into c:\Program Files\coLinux. I prefer it to be in c:\coLinux.
  5. The setup program claims it needs 7.6MB for a complete install including root filesystem.
  6. You’ll be offered a choice of distributions - choose Debian
  7. Decompress the Debian filesystem. You’ll need bunzip2, I used the version from cygwin, but you can, I think, also use the Tugzip Windows program
  8. Edit the default.config.xml, and change root_fs to be your unzipped debian filesystem. (If you don’t do this, you’ll get “Device index not specified” when you try to start colinux.
  9. I also increase “memory size”.
  10. You should now be able to run “colinux-daemon -c default.config.xml” and get a live colinux process.
  11. Login as root and change the default root password from “root”
  12. Edit /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/resolv.conf to set the interface’s IP address, router and default nameserver.
  13. Halt colinux
  14. Setup networking. I used a bridge network between my ethernet and the TAP interface created at the time of colinux install, using the native Windows bridging. (You can also use the WinPCAP option)
  15. Look for new interface in Control Panel. Mine was called “Local Area Connection”, since I’d renamed the original Ethernet to “Ethernet LAN”.
  16. Bridge between this and the external interface
  17. Bring up colinux and login as root.
  18. Once you know it works, install it as a service.

So now you’ve got a running CoLinux installation running Debian Woody.

Now upgrade Debian Woody to Debian Sid

  1. Edit /etc/apt/sources.list and change stable to unstable
  2. apt-get update
  3. apt-get dist-upgrade