Examine whether it is possible from a cost perspective to run VMware 

workstation on the client to create virtual Windows machines on those clients 

that still need to run the application natively in Windows.

Create dual boot clients if the application is not used very often.

Leave some clients out of the migration and consolidate all unmigratable 

applications on those shared clients, for use by all end users who need to.

4.7.2  Terminal Server, Citrix Metaframe, or NoMachine solutions

If the application can run centralized on a server, solutions like Windows 

Terminal Server, Citrix Metaframe, or NoMachine can be used to access them 

remotely. Before an application can be moved to a central server some 

conditions have to be met:

The application has to be able to run on a multi user environment. A 

multi user environment has several consequences:

  Settings are stored in multiple places in the registry and file system.

  More than one user can be running the application simultaneously.

The application license must allow running on a multi user environment.

Resource needs of the application have to fit with more than one instance of 

the application running or with multiple applications running on the server.

Client applications are available for Linux for Terminal Server, Citrix Metaframe, 

and NoMachine. The client for Terminal Server is OSS. The Citrix client is 

available when you purchase Metaframe solutions. NoMachine has the NX client 

available for download.

4.7.3  VMware solutions

Using VMware (or any similar application that runs on Linux), it is possible to 

create a virtual Windows machine that the end user can use to work with 

applications that cannot be moved to Linux or a central server.

The virtual machine will be a completely functioning Windows machine and could 

be loaded with the image of a Windows client already in use before the migration 

to Linux. When using a domain this means that the virtual machine has to 

become part of the domain as well. The virtual machine has to be connected to 

the network via bridging or NAT.

This solution has several disadvantages:

A full Windows license is needed for the virtual machine.

VMware software needs a license also; this will lead to extra cost.

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Linux Client Migration Cookbook   A Practical Planning and Implementation Guide for Migrating to Desktop Linux