How to restore Virtual Machine from an old installation

This is for discussing general topics about how to use VirtualBox.
Post Reply
Jino
Posts: 1
Joined: 8. Oct 2018, 14:36

How to restore Virtual Machine from an old installation

Post by Jino »

Hey there,

I just made a fresh install of my host system (Arch Linux). I have installed virtualbox and I would like to run a virtual machine (Windows 10) which I have used on an old installation of my host system. I am not quite sure but probably I did a mistake by backing up the VM while it was in suspend to disk mode. I am not sure about this. When I open the .vbox file VBox-Manager says me that the VM is "saved".

I have a folder with two .sav files in it, as well as a subfolder with a .vdi file. Furthermore I got a folder, which contains a .vbox and a .vbox-prev file as well as folder containing log files.

When I am starting virtualbox I get a warning:
One or more disk image files are not currently accessible. As a result, you will not be able to operate virtual machines that use these files until they become accessible later.
Press Check to open the Virtual Media Manager window and see which files are inaccessible, or press Ignore to ignore this message.
When clicking "check" I get to the Virtual Media Manager. But here I cannot change the location of the .vdi file, I guess this is due to the "saved" mode?

So my question at this point is, how to accurately restore the VM in order to run it in the new host system.

I´ d be thankfully for any hint on this.
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: How to restore Virtual Machine from an old installation

Post by mpack »

For general guidance on how to move a VM (whether for disk space reasons, or for backup or restore) see FAQ: How to move a VM.

The folder with the .vbox and .vbox_prev files in it should also contain the main VDI file. If it doesn't then your VM is certainly dead, unless you can locate the missing file.

VDIs in the Snapshots subfolder are snapshots. You'll need those too.

Saved states are not always portable, but they can easily be discarded if the VM is otherwise working: just right click and choose "Discard saved state".
Post Reply