Virtualisation using an existing OS partition

[Bluecube]

It's easier to describe what I'm wanting to do with an example.

Say I have Linux and Windows on my PC on separate disks/ partitions. I load up Windows and want to use my Linux setup. Is there any virtualisation software out there that can use the exisiting Linux partition to run a virtual machine where any changes to Linux will be reflected on the original partition?

[Moby-Dick]

that might be a bit tricky - running a p2v on an internal partition could be hard enough...

[badass]

Whatever you're trying to achieve, if it's possible it's not worth the effort doing it the way you suggest.

Run one as your main OS and one virtualised all the time. Or use a "hardware" virtualisation solution like Vmware ESX and virtualise them both.

[Bluecube]

I've been doing some reading up on this and apparently it's possibly using Parallels. The issues are is that Parallels uses a different VM to the actual hardware you have (of course!) which the guest OS doesn't like at all not surprisingly.

This issue has come about as I've a Macbook on which I need to use a few Windows programs. Additionally I'd like to play a few (undemanding) 3D games which require direct access to the hardware. I was hoping that rather than faffing about with two separate installs of Windows that I could have just one and that a VM could access and use the Boot Camp install.