[Solved] Run a Virtual PC VHD in VirtualBox?

[DarkBeer]

I have a Windows Server 2003 machine that has Virtual PC 6.0.156.0 on it. There is a Windows 98 guest that I would like to transfer to a different host running VirtualBox. I have options for a Linux host or a Windows 10 host. I have installed VirtualBox on both systems, and then copied the Windows 98 .VHD file from Virtual PC to both of these VIrtualBox hosts. I can get VirtualBox to load the Windows 98 session in safe mode, but not without safe mode. Are there any other tips/tricks for migrating a Virtual PC guest to VirtualBox?

[BillG]

I am not surprised about that. The "hardware" of a VPC vm is quite different from a VirtualBox vm. Your vm will have drivers for the wrong devices.

For later Windows OS versions you can do a repair install of the OS to load the correct drivers. I can't remember if you can do that in Win98.

[mpack]

Are there any other tips/tricks for migrating a Virtual PC guest to VirtualBox?

That very much depends on the guest. As I recall, Win98 is particularly unforgiving of hardware changes, only really tolerable at all if you have a copy of the setup CD in an hd folder. There's no way of getting around the need to manually strip out all the old drivers and add new ones. Plug and play was a youthful concept at the time, not all hardware or drivers supported it even when the OS did.

You should convert the virtual disk from VHD to VDI as a matter of priority by the way. VHD is not a robust format when you're making lots of changes to the VM.

[DarkBeer]

I appreciate the responses! I will see what I can do about fixing the drivers.

[DarkBeer]

I converted the VHD to VDI, and fortunately still had the original Windows 98 CD. I mounted it to the guest and booted from the 98 CD and did an in-place reinstall. This took care of the hardware differences between the VMs and I am now able to get into the VM and run the 98 guest from my new host. Again, I appreciate the help!

[mpack]

Well done, and thanks for reporting back.

[yuhong]

With Win98 you could try deleting all devices in Device Manager.