I'm looking to multi-boot (I have Windows 8.1, and 10 Technical preview on dual-boot), and I'd like to do so with a VHD rather than a USB or a disc. That's mainly because I don't have any USB device I can use for this, and my laptop has no disc drive.
Thus, I was wondering if Linux's Universal USB Installer would function in the same way on a VHD
Thanks!
Also, I have the .iso file
I think what you are aiming for is possible. Before nuking my windows 8.1 OS for pure Linux, I played around with its disk management a lot (mainly because I "broke" things on a regular bases). Here seems to provide some insight in what you want.
Try this approach: partition 2GB from the main drive and assign it as a G/F/D etc. Then partition another part of the main drive for duel booting (maybe 70gb?) and assign it as another drive Letter F/D etc. Make sure these are shown separate from the C drive.
Use the 2gb drive for Linux Universal USB to create the live USB. Then hopefully when rebooting, the bios will recognize it as an external drive. If it works then just boot from it.
Afterwords use the larger partitioned sector (70gb drive) to install the duel boot on. Here is a nice guide for this step. Make sure you remember the # of how much space you partitioned for duel booting. Linux does not use letters to represent drives.
Finally, to recover the 2GB you used for the Live USB just use the disk manager on windows 8.1 to merge it back to which ever OS you want.
Hope it helps!
