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Would it be possible to run Ubuntu Server 16.04 alongside Windows 10 Pro? Or, because it is a server, you would need to just run it without windows at all?

I am fairly new, but a very quick learner. I am just a bit confused. Let me know, thanks.

wjandrea
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Lowell Steed
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    What do you mean by "running along with"? Do you mean dual boot? – Pilot6 Feb 15 '17 at 13:47
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    Check this Ubuntu official document for dual boot – BDRSuite Feb 15 '17 at 14:14
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    It's not "a server", it's an operating system designed for usage on computers that are supposed to be servers. – gronostaj Feb 15 '17 at 19:03
  • One thing that may work would be to install the latest Insider build, enable Windows Subsystem for Linux, and then replace the default Ubuntu 16.04 build by Ubuntu Server, using the unofficial "distro changer" tool (the one that allows you to install Linux Mint or Fedora instead of Ubuntu) – zdimension Feb 15 '17 at 21:02
  • Intel, or AMD CPU? If intel, https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000005486/processors.html shows if your server hardware supports virtualization in its hardware. https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articles/Pages/GPU120AMDRVICPUsHyperVWin8.aspx shows some of their CPUs which do, but unable to find a universal answer. – K7AAY May 16 '18 at 18:03

4 Answers4

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Yes you can install both in a dual-boot situation and then run one or the other, but no, you can't run both OS's at the same time.

However, if you used Virtualbox... then you could run both OS's at the same time. You install Virtualbox into Windows 10 (Host OS), and Ubuntu Server (Guest OS) into Virtualbox.

heynnema
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    Alternatively, as the Pro edition of Windows 10 is being used, one could enable Hyper-V for virtualisation - Ubuntu Server is a fully supported guest environment. – Jason Musgrove Feb 16 '17 at 09:25
  • "You install Virtualbox into Windows 10, and Ubuntu Server into Virtualbox" or vice versa. – idmean Feb 16 '17 at 09:39
  • @idmean just as I said. Virtualbox is just another app to Windows, and Ubuntu Server is just another guest OS to Virtualbox. – heynnema Feb 16 '17 at 13:07
  • @heynnema: Idmean is pointing out that you can do it the other way around. – Lightness Races in Orbit Feb 16 '17 at 13:20
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit that won't work. Ubuntu Server doesn't have a GUI, and VB/Windows requires GUI. – heynnema Feb 16 '17 at 13:24
  • @heynnema: It doesn't require GUI; I use CentOS servers inside VirtualBox daily. – Lightness Races in Orbit Feb 16 '17 at 14:06
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit that's correct. Running the server inside of VB works fine. That's what I originally said. You indicated earlier that idmean wanted the reverse of that. Don't confuse Host OS with Guest OS. I'll go clarify my original answer with that... – heynnema Feb 16 '17 at 14:12
  • @heynnema: I do not believe I'm confusing anything. Read http://www.givemeit.com/content/create-headless-windows-7-64-bit-virtual-box-machine-linux. Vagrant does this. – Lightness Races in Orbit Feb 16 '17 at 14:17
  • @LightnessRacesinOrbit I suspect that the average user couldn't jump through those hoops to create a headless Windows Guest OS and RDP into it to use it. And I'm not even sure I understand the utility of that. Moving on... – heynnema Feb 16 '17 at 14:28
  • @heynnema: Headless Windows installations are perfectly common. I pointed out that it's possible because you claimed that it wasn't. But okay we can move on. – Lightness Races in Orbit Feb 16 '17 at 15:06
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There is another option that let's you run ubuntu inside1 Windows 10 Pro. Since Windows 10’s Anniversary Update (Windows 10 Anniversary Update build 14393) you can install Windows Subsystem for Linux.

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This will install the desktop edition however. However the differences are small between desktop edition and server edition and are within reach with some instructions.

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It is currently in beta and not Ubuntu server by default. There a some applications that won't work (as well) as on a "real" ubuntu machine 1

This is the first release of a brand new technology. There will be gaps. We know some of them, and we’re certain you will find many more. Again, this is a beta release – expect things to fail. Some tools will crash and/or not run. But please be sure to let us know when you run into issues – we’re working hard to fix problems and dramatically improve WSL over time.

Community
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Thomas
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    This is probably the best answer for OP. – Piper McCorkle Feb 15 '17 at 22:54
  • Isn't this just a Bash shell? No GUI? – heynnema Feb 15 '17 at 23:19
  • @heynnema just like Ubuntu server has no gui by default. However you can install it if you want. – Thomas Feb 15 '17 at 23:20
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    But it doesn't have the functionality of a server, does it? I thought it would just run standard bash shell commands... ls, more, cd, etc. No? – heynnema Feb 15 '17 at 23:22
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    @heynnema it has full apt-get support. Some apps will work, some won't. – Thomas Feb 15 '17 at 23:24
  • @ThomasMoors But you couldn't use it as a server, could you? – wjandrea Feb 16 '17 at 01:40
  • @wjandrea you should read the links ;) – Thomas Feb 16 '17 at 07:01
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    It's really just a Bash shell. It doesn't even run systemd, so you wouldn't even be able to start your server software unless you manually open the terminal and run it. No iptables either, and probably a ton of other stuff is missing. I wouldn't recommend wasting your time with that. – André Borie Feb 16 '17 at 11:22
  • @ThomasMoors I'm asking because your answer should include that info. It's the heart of the question, because why install the server version if you can't use it as a server? – wjandrea Feb 16 '17 at 14:39
  • @wjandrea That is a valid point, but my answer is just an addition referencing the "alongside" part. Wanting to run a server inside Windows 10 (a desktop operating system) likely suggests that this might be exaclty what the OP wants. I can only hope it won't be the dedicated server for something important. I think this question is meant to know how to thinker with Linux / Ubuntu from the safe environment of windows, which OP knows better. – Thomas Feb 16 '17 at 14:45
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In the context of Ubuntu, the "server" edition by default does not install a GUI, and has some other default packages that are useful for server installations, but is not limited to being used as a server, it just doesn't have the workstation/desktop software by default (Although you can install them).

(The desktop version by default has a GUI, as well as other useful software such as office/productivity, web browser, etc...)

If you're looking to learn Linux, and want to learn the command line, I would install it into a virtual machine such as VirtualBox or VMWare Workstation Player, much simpler to work with and if you tick the wrong box at installation you won't wipe out your Windows stuff. (You can install the GUI version in a VM if you have a powerful enough system, but for VM use I'd recommend a lightweight version such as Lubuntu or Xubuntu)

As far as running alongside Windows in a dual-boot scenario, even with it being a "server" it will still work just fine.

Andrew Bowers
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Yes, it is possible if your computer supports hardware virtualization technologies (Intel VT-x/AMD-V and Intel VT-d/AMD-Vi for your purposes).

One simple example is using Unraid (https://lime-technology.com/), which boots off a USB drive and which you can configure to run both Windows and Ubuntu in parallel as virtual machines and give each specific hardware assignments (eg. graphics card to windows). There are other alternatives also, but I have not used them.

NFA
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  • Having hardware virtualization such as Intel VT-x/AMD-V and Intel VT-d/AMD-Vi or the AMD equivalent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#AMD_virtualization_(AMD-V) makes virtualization much easier. If you don't have hardware support, Xen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xen should be considered. – K7AAY May 16 '18 at 16:45