Linux Distro with a built in W11 Virtual Machine

[Vermonter]

For anyone wanting to dip their toe into Linux, the latest release of Omarchy has a preconfigured Windows virtual machine baked in. Meaning you can have your appraisal software running in W11 while doing everything else in Linux side by side. Which is how I've been running Total since 2016.

While I wouldn't recommend it for complete computer novices, it is marketed as "opinionated" meaning it's made all the difficult install decisions for you. So no annoying decisions on GPU drivers or which browser by default. It is on top of arch linux which is a more bleeding edge base, meaning possibly less stable, but I've been running it for years with very few issues.

The only downside for new users would be Hyprland (the tiling window manager it uses) is quite a different experience from windows. Tiling window managers are meant to reduce mouse usage and keep things keyboard centric. I've been using Hyprland for over a year now and love it, but there was a learning curve. While very different, it is not difficult to learn. Especially if you are a proficient with your keyboard.

Now I'm not suggesting wiping your windows install and diving in head first, but if you have a secondary drive or spare pc lying around, I highly recommend trying it out.

 

[TerryRohrer]

Does this approach negate the software “issues” Microsoft implemented to enhance new hardware sales?

 

[Vermonter]

Does this approach negate the software “issues” Microsoft implemented to enhance new hardware sales?

Yes and no. A windows 11 Virtual Machine would still require 2 cpu cores with 64GB of storage and 4GB of ram available. The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is baked into the Virtual Machine so that and UEFI/Secure boot is not an issue.

 

[TerryRohrer]

So will a quad core i7 processor, 32gb of ram and 2tb of free storage space be up to the task?

Also, in looking up the exact specs, I saw "Windows Subsystem for Linux" that was installed on 1/20/25. Any idea what that is about?

 

[Vermonter]

Yes that is plenty. I don't know how much the virtual machine allocates to Windows, but when you install your own you can give it whatever you want.

WSL allows you to run a linux environment inside windows. Not all distros are compatible. Omarchy with VM is windows inside linux, WSL is linux inside of windows.

 

[Vermonter]

Have an older cpu with similar ram and storage and gave my Win10 VM 256gb of storage and 8GB of ram. It was overkill but I do keep my workfiles on the linux host instead of the VM they just have a shared file.

Recently created a Win11 VM with the same specs. A normal windows installation will bloat fairly quickly, but in my case the only thing I run on it is Total so it's pretty bloat free. If you plan on using more Windows applications or do any gaming, you might want to give it more ram and storage capacity.

 

[TerryRohrer]

What is a decent VM that I could set up on Windows 10 to install Linux and start playing with it?

 

[Vermonter]

Virtualbox

That's exactly how I started with linux. Had it on windows and played in linux until comfortable enough to swap.

 

[TerryRohrer]

Virtualbox

That's exactly how I started with linux. Had it on windows and played in linux until comfortable enough to swap.

Thank you!

 

[cashcatz]

Very interesting, Omarchy is the Linux flavor promoted by David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH), the guy who created of Ruby on Rails. I already knew about Omarchy but brushed it off as a super nerd distro, but it's sounding more and more capable. I actually wrote the first version of Appraisal Inbox (back then, Appraisal Flow) in Ruby on Rails which I still love to this day (Ruby language) and owe that guy a debt of gratitude for my transition from appraisal to tech as his web framework made programming possible for mortals. Guess I need to give his "OS" skin a look now.