I have used Virtual PC and VMWare, but am clueless how to make this work in Virtual Box.
I have XP installed on my C: partition (XP#1) and also on my E: Partition (XP#2). The configurations are slightly different.
I want to run Virtual Box on C:. Within Virtual Box I want to run XP#2, or a copy of it. Thats it.
I created a VMDK file using VMConverter but was unable to make it bootable because it would have meant including the huge C: partition (with the boot files on it).
1) How do I create a bootable VMDK or disk image VirtualBox will recognize and boot, from my E: partition? I have read the manual but don't understand how to do this.
I am not a PC programmer.
Thank you!
How do I add an exisiting XP partition into my Virtual Box?
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Sasquatch
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If you use a clone or RAW Disk Access to boot the other XP, you also need a proper MBR. There is a way to create one and add it to your VM. See the Tutorial: All about VDIs for how to do this properly. You can even use the Windows XP install disk and run a recovery of your install and install the MBR on it using fixboot.
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VirtualBox FAQ: Check this before asking questions.
Online User Manual: A must read if you want to know what we're talking about.
Howto: Install Linux Guest Additions
Howto: Use Shared Folders on Linux Guest
See the Tutorials and FAQ section at the top of the Forum for more guides.
Try searching the forums first with Google and add the site filter for this forum.
E.g. install guest additions site:forums.virtualbox.org
Retired from this Forum since OSSO introduction.
Sasquatch:
Thank you for your prompt reply. You are correct about the missing MBR; I followed your recovery instructions and ran Fixboot.
Please realize the following. I read the user manual from cover to cover and further requested help in the IRQ channel before taking the time to register and subsequently post my question in this forum. I have spent hours (days actually) trying to get this thing to work so if I sound frustrated, that is because I am.
I have tried to use fixboot and fixmbr with no success. I have rebuilt the Boot.ini. I only run windows XP Pro SP2.
VMWare's free converter requires a system partition (my C drive) which I do not have enough room on my hard drive to clone nor do I want an image of it. Please be reminded, I only want to clone my secondary E: partition of 7 GB, not the primary C: partition of 50GB which is the Host machine running VirtualBox. I am learning a lot about forgotten DOS along the way with no success at getting this to work. I have read the user manual numerous times and frankly I don't find much hope in getting what I need accomplished. The manual is good if I want a theoretical understanding of VM machines and the challenges associated with these, but is of minimal assistance to this average user. I am a senior IBM mainframe application software engineer with at least basic understanding of windows XP Pro, and the registry, yet I am unable to put all the scattered pieces of information together to make my XP partition work in VirtualBox.
I know that this is a common task but there does not seem to be any clear "How to" for the Windows user, which would be an asset to your product. While I have total respect for Linux, I have not had the opportunity to work with it.
VMware Converter is not producing a bootable VMDK. Like most people, I learn by example. I have not seen any CLEAR examples how to convert an XP partition to any kind of image VirtualBox can Boot. I have spent hours and hours and hours on this and I am getting close to abandoning VirtualBox and returning to VMware or Virtual PC. I have also looked through the error logs and see a lot of detail with no hope of finding any solution to my problem.
The VirtualBox article: “How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox”, makes the assumption that the user has “a suitable VMI or VMDK”. I am still clueless about how to create a VMI, and what "Hardware Abstraction Layer" has to do with any of this. I also don't know what constitutes a "suitable" VMDK, as this has not been defined and my VMDK will not boot, so is it suitable or not suitable or do I have to go read another manual to make sense of all this?
I am using a recent HP business notebook PC with Windows XP Pro SP2 with SATA 80 GB HD. Do I need to specify SATA controller in the HD settings? I read about this in the user manual, but even after several paragraphs of discourse it remains unclear.
Can I PLEASE get CLEAR instructions on how to create an image from my secondary XP partition (E:) that will boot in VirtualBox that is running on my primary XP partition (C:)?
Thank you!
Thank you for your prompt reply. You are correct about the missing MBR; I followed your recovery instructions and ran Fixboot.
Please realize the following. I read the user manual from cover to cover and further requested help in the IRQ channel before taking the time to register and subsequently post my question in this forum. I have spent hours (days actually) trying to get this thing to work so if I sound frustrated, that is because I am.
I have tried to use fixboot and fixmbr with no success. I have rebuilt the Boot.ini. I only run windows XP Pro SP2.
VMWare's free converter requires a system partition (my C drive) which I do not have enough room on my hard drive to clone nor do I want an image of it. Please be reminded, I only want to clone my secondary E: partition of 7 GB, not the primary C: partition of 50GB which is the Host machine running VirtualBox. I am learning a lot about forgotten DOS along the way with no success at getting this to work. I have read the user manual numerous times and frankly I don't find much hope in getting what I need accomplished. The manual is good if I want a theoretical understanding of VM machines and the challenges associated with these, but is of minimal assistance to this average user. I am a senior IBM mainframe application software engineer with at least basic understanding of windows XP Pro, and the registry, yet I am unable to put all the scattered pieces of information together to make my XP partition work in VirtualBox.
I know that this is a common task but there does not seem to be any clear "How to" for the Windows user, which would be an asset to your product. While I have total respect for Linux, I have not had the opportunity to work with it.
VMware Converter is not producing a bootable VMDK. Like most people, I learn by example. I have not seen any CLEAR examples how to convert an XP partition to any kind of image VirtualBox can Boot. I have spent hours and hours and hours on this and I am getting close to abandoning VirtualBox and returning to VMware or Virtual PC. I have also looked through the error logs and see a lot of detail with no hope of finding any solution to my problem.
The VirtualBox article: “How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox”, makes the assumption that the user has “a suitable VMI or VMDK”. I am still clueless about how to create a VMI, and what "Hardware Abstraction Layer" has to do with any of this. I also don't know what constitutes a "suitable" VMDK, as this has not been defined and my VMDK will not boot, so is it suitable or not suitable or do I have to go read another manual to make sense of all this?
I am using a recent HP business notebook PC with Windows XP Pro SP2 with SATA 80 GB HD. Do I need to specify SATA controller in the HD settings? I read about this in the user manual, but even after several paragraphs of discourse it remains unclear.
Can I PLEASE get CLEAR instructions on how to create an image from my secondary XP partition (E:) that will boot in VirtualBox that is running on my primary XP partition (C:)?
Thank you!
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fixedwheel
- Volunteer
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- Joined: 13. Sep 2008, 02:18
??!VMware Converter is not producing a bootable VMDK. (...) and I am getting close to abandoning VirtualBox and returning to VMware or Virtual PC.
what is VMI? you mean VDI?The VirtualBox article: “How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox”, makes the assumption that the user has “a suitable VMI or VMDK”. I am still clueless about how to create a VMI,
from the virtualbox GUI you select "virtual media manager" (or something like that, im not using the english version) and there you can create a virtual disk image (VDI). it is empty, and you can attach it to a virtual machine...
or by creating a virtual machine with the GUI, you will be guided to create a virtual disk for the new virtual machine
dump partition E: with Norton Ghost or g4l to somewhere outside your computer eg. a network share or external USB-diskCan I PLEASE get CLEAR instructions on how to create an image from my secondary XP partition (E:) that will boot in VirtualBox that is running on my primary XP partition (C:)?
in virtualbox: enable network or USB (depending where you stored the partition E: dump) access for the newly created virtual machine, boot it with the Norton Ghost or g4l (CDROM assigned to host drive containing Ghost/g4l CD or assigned to the Ghost/g4l ISO-image) and restore the partition E: dump into the (empty) virtual disk image attached to this VM (maybe you first have to create a partition inside the VDI, read below...)
now you probably have to make it bootable, booting the virtual machine with partition magic or gparted as well as the Windoze install CD (recovery) may help you - i dont know about how to make this with Windoze...