Trying to convert existing physical XP to a VM on a new host

[virgil_machine]

I am trying to convert a physical xp machine to a virtual machine that I will run on an Ubuntu host on a separate physical machine (so I can keep the existing XP configuration and free the computer for other use).

Th XP machine is currently part of a triple boot configuration (no virtualization), with Ubuntu 8.10 desktop 32 bit and Windows 7 (OK, it's dual-boot Ubtuntu and Windows, choosing windows off the grub menu brings the windows bootloader with Win7 and XP as the options so I have a total of 3 OSs). That's computer #1. #2 (the new host) has Virtualbox up and running under Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop 64-bit.

My first attempt to convert the XP machine was to create a .vmdk with vmware. I booted into xp on #1, installed VMWARE vCenter Converter Standalone and ran it. I followed the prompts for what I wanted to do (same physical machine etc.)--saving the target on a network drive (on #2). In the setup process, I was notified that I needed to download sysprep. I did some research and determined that sysprep might not be necessary.

After running for 7.5 hours and claiming to be 95% finished, the conversion failed. The log file has this error: "Can't reconfigure a source that does not have system volume. I've looked around, but have not found much on this error.

While I research that, I thought I'd try other options. One is createrawvmdk, but the way I read section 9.10 of the user manual, I think that I cannot move the resulting vmdk to another host so that won't give me what I want. Is that right?

I would appreciate any thoughts on the two paths I've tried so far or suggestions for other options to convert an existing XP machine to virtual. I've read the tutorial that starts with "first you get a .vdi or .vdmk"...but I'm stuck on that first step. I've found Virtualbox to be very easy to install and found it very easy to create VMs from install CDs, but I'm not making progress with this specific effort.

Thanks.

[Sasquatch]

You want the physical install of PC1 as a VM on PC2? If that is the case, do a clean install of XP in a VM, so the VDI has a proper MBR. You can use any XP version/release you want, activation isn't needed as the install will be replaced anyway. It's just so you have an MBR.
Now on PC1, run a backup program like CloneZilla or Acronis TrueImage and create an image from the OS partition. Transfer the image to the VM Host. Run the same software inside the guest and restore the newly created image on to the VM drive. The VM should be bootable after it's done. Now boot it into Safe Mode and remove about every piece of hardware you can see (video, chipset, network etc). Now reboot the VM again to safe mode, so it will detect the new hardware and install some basic drivers for it. After that, reboot to normal mode and wait for it to install the final pieces of hardware drivers.
You can also make some preperations on PC1 before the image. That is to create a new hardware profile and make sure it's empty. Then upon boot inside the VM it should fill it with the correct list and drivers. See the sticky for more info on the process.

[vbox4me2]

CloneZilla is your friend.

[virgil_machine]

Thank you for the fast and helpful response. I have Acronis TrueImage, so I might as well go with that.

I want to be sure I understand "Run the same software inside the guest and restore the newly created image on to the VM drive" --do you mean that I should install Acronis in the XP that I just installed as a VM and then run the restore on top of the VM that's running? Even if I can install Acronis without activating XP, will the rest work?

Just want to be sure I understand. Forgive me if I'm a little sense.

Also "See the sticky for more info on the process."--where do I find it?

Thanks again. This is great.

[vbox4me2]

It means run Acronis from CD inside the VM.

[Sasquatch]

STICKY!!

Acronis comes with a recovery CD, so that is what you need to run on both the Host and Guest. I prefer software that can image the system without the use of installing it. Norton Ghost was able to do that, until version 9. That's when it went downhill, especially demanding .NET Framework. Acronis isn't like that luckily.

[virgil_machine]

Sasquatch and vbox4me2, thank you very much.

I will follow this path and post the results here--it may be a couple of days before I can get to it.

[virgil_machine]

OK. I haven't made a lot of progress. I created a new VM with a clean XP install.

I haven't gotten to a Vbox question yet, but I hope to, so please bear with me.
Acronis live cd would not recognize other machines on the network (I wanted to create an image on the new host), so I tried clonezilla. I figure out the right clonezilla designation for a network drive, so I created an image on the current XP machine and copied it to the new host.

Next, I booted the new XP VM from the clonezilla cd. This is pretty basic, but I can't get clonezilla to find the image, on either system. I'm in the VM, so I assume that I want to direct it to a samba server...or should I get into a shell and mount the directory containing the image as /home/partimag? Neither has worked for me yet, but I expect that I'm missing something.

Thanks again.

[vbox4me2]

Use Host networking for the new VM, you should then be able to access the server where your image is on.

[virgil_machine]

Use Host networking for the new VM, you should then be able to access the server where your image is on.

Thanks. I'm booting the VM from clonezilla...how do I turn on host networking?

[Sasquatch]

Use Host networking for the new VM, you should then be able to access the server where your image is on.

Thanks. I'm booting the VM from clonezilla...how do I turn on host networking?

It's in the VM settings. Using NAT would also work, just connect to the Samba share using it's IP address, and not the computer name.

[virgil_machine]

Thanks.

In the VM Settings, I click "network" on the left panel--network adapter is enabled.

In clonezilla, when I choose Samba server as the location, I enter the address I get from pinging the host from another computer on the network. I give it my userid instead of "adminstrator" and supply the directory /home/[user name]/Documents/VM...

I use dhcp, but I tried it both dhcp and static.

I get error 113 no route to host unable to mount /home/partimage.

Am I missing a step?

UPDATE (3/30 10:20 US EDT): this morning, I added the directory clonezilla created that contains the image to the path (2009-03-26-20-xp-img)--although I swear I tried that last night, too. Now I get return code -6, "no such device or address."

[Sasquatch]

If you have Acronis TrueImage, use that instead. I have more experience with that than CloneZilla, 'cause I've never used it. I can help you with that if you're still stuck. Unless someone comes along here with CloneZilla experience .

[virgil_machine]

I tried the Acronis live cd.

It does not find any "computers near me" on the network, so I can't clone to the server. It finds my linux partition when analyzing the disks (as E:, etx3). However, only the XP and Windows 7 partitions show up on the copy screen, so I have no place to store the image. That's what I went with clonezilla.

I'm thinking that this has something to do with permissions. but I'm not making progress yet.

[vbox4me2]

With linux live CD's its a 50/50 chance samba must be loaded manually(or via menu), lemme fireup my laptop and clonezilla to see what the bugger is lacking of.