Now there are a few things you need to check about your new Windows system:
- How fast is it? It won't be quite as fast as a 'genuine' installation but it should be quite adequate for anything other than graphic-intensive games. Very slow operations can sometimes be speeded up a little by things like turning off the wallpaper display and other fancy graphics. Obviously if you are doing something in both Ubuntu and Windows at the same time, that will slow down both systems.
- Can you access the Internet? You may need to run the Network Wizard, but with luck you should be able to set up the installation as if it was just another Windows machine on your network. This will give you access to any Samba shares on the host PC as well as on other connected computers. If the real network is unavailable you can still share files with the host computer via a Shared Folder, which appears on the Windows system as a network location called VBOXSVRWindowsShared on VirtualBox Shared Folders -- a bit of a mouthful. but it works. You can set up shared folders when the virtual system is switched off via the VirtualBox Settings options.
- Can you install and access a local or network printer?
- Do you have sound? If not you may need to shut down and select the ALSA audio driver from the VirtualBox settings.
- Can you access CDs and USB devices? Again, this can be tweaked through the settings in VirtualBox when the system is shut down. I have had no problem accessing CDs under Ubuntu, but so far my attempts to access USB memory sticks (other than through the network) have all failed. You may have better luck.
- Can you run in Seamless mode? This attempts to treat the currently running Windows program as if it were just another Linux application. If it works for you you should be able to bounce back and forth between Linux and Windows programs like a tennis ball. Mine never quite made it. Even without this, you should still be able to switch between Windows and other applications running on the same desktop with Alt-Tab.
What can you do with Windows now that you have it? That's up to you. If your Internet connection is working you can bring it up to date with downloads and add-ons, and install all the Windows programs that you are unable or unwilling to live without. Because it's virtualized you can also save a 'snapshot' at any time. This will copy the current state of the system into a new 'hard disk' file. You can then go back to that file and start from there if any subsequent changes destroy data or disrupt the system. As mentioned above, you can carry it with you on a USB stick or external hard drive and run it on other PCs with VirtualBox. The sky is the limit!