Emulating Ubuntu Mate for Raspberry Pi on a Windows 7 system?

What’s the best way to emulate Ubuntu Mate for Raspberry Pi on a Windows 7 system? The Pis I have around the house are basically headless that I use for simple tasks (i.e. - streaming music)… I have a tiny monitor that I can drag out if I absolutely need to but it’s a pain screwing with it. Surely a way exists to emulate these things? Has anyone around here had any success with QEMU? Because I sure didn’t… I’m sure it works but I could never seem to find a working tutorial with correct or up-to-date information.