vdmk file. error: no bootable medium found

[Shmu26]

Yes, I am new to VirtualBox, so please bear with me. I created a VM, and when it asked me for the hard disk, I selected the vdmk file that is in my VMware machine (powered off, of course). It works fine in VMware. I did not copy this file over to the VB folder.
host: win10
guest: win10

[mpack]

If you did it successfully then I can only assume that the vmdk you selected is not a bootable disk. Was it the primary disk in the original VM?

Please provide a VM log file. With the VM fully shut down, right click it in the GUI. Select "Show Log" and save "VBox.log" (ONLY) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

[Shmu26]

Log attached

[mpack]

Was it the primary disk in the original VM?

save "VBox.log" (ONLY) to a zip file. Attach the zip here.

[Shmu26]

Yes, it is the primary and the only disk in the original VM.
I just played it again in VMware, just to make sure it is bootable. It is. I also tried disabling security softs, to make sure that's not the problem. It isn't.
Zipped logs attached, sorry I forgot to zip them the first time around...

[mpack]

I don't know what to tell you. The "no bootable medium found" error is simple and never wrong. If the virtual BIOS says that none of the disks attached to the VM are bootable, then I've never known it to be wrong.

Possibilities:

• The previous VM boots from a CD (not as likely with Windows as with Linux).
• The previous VM uses snapshots, and you copied the base VMDK which is not bootable (how large is the VMDK file?).
• The previous VM uses a boot mechanism that has not been configured in VirtualBox.
• You attached the wrong disk the VirtualBox VM.

[Shmu26]

Okay, so let's go on the assumption that my vmdk file has issues. (It was created by the VMware P2V standalone converter tool.)
So I want to convert physical to virtual. My physical machine is win10.
What is the recommended method, so it will work well with VirtualBox?
What about using Disk2vhd?

[mpack]

I have found Disk2VHD useful in the past, but I've never used it to P2V a working Win10 installation. My main concern would be whether or not the install requires UEFI, and how fancy has the Win10 boot manager gotten these days?

It would cost you nothing but time to give it a try. However, I would not recommend building a VM around the VHD format, as the format is frankly crap. I suggest converting the VHD image to VDI using CloneVDI, then build a VM around the VDI.

p.s. The container format has no bearing on your present problems (which are about disk contents not disk type), but having it in VDI format is the best way to prevent other problems.

[Shmu26]

So Disk2VHD lets you choose whether you want UEFI, and whether you want safe boot, when you virtualize your physical machine.
If I choose UEFI, is that a problem for running the disk in VirtualBox?

Maybe UEFI is the problem with the vmdk disk I was complaining about. I am pretty sure it does not have safe boot, because it let me install a beta program without co-signed drivers, and I know this won't work on my host machine when safe boot is enabled. But maybe it is UEFI, I don't know how to check.

[mpack]

So Disk2VHD lets you choose whether you want UEFI, and whether you want safe boot

No, neither of those, that is not what I said. Disk2VHD just images the disk and makes a VHD copy of it. It's you who has to consider the makeup of the source machine, so you can make something close in VirtualBox. UEFI is a concern because EFI support in VirtualBox is mainly intended for OS X guests.

I have not studied boot disks from a EUFI PC. However it's my understanding that it'll still have a sham boot sector (MBR) with a fake partition for the benefit of legacy apps. However it's possible that there's no legacy boot code, hence the error in VirtualBox.

In an MBR the code on the MBR sector itself decoded the partition map and jumped to the boot partition. I have a notion that a UEFI BIOS has a built in knowledge of hdd partitioning and hence doesn't need the early boot code that a legacy PC would have.

I have no idea how to test if a physical PC has an UEFI BIOS, I guess it would be in the docs for that PC.

[Shmu26]

Thanks for your informative reply.
EFI mobos almost always have support for legacy boot, that is surely the case with my physical machine. So I guess that is the MBR sector you were talking about.
So the upshot, if I understood you correctly, is that VB has better support for non-EFI-boot virtual disks. So when converting a physical machine, I should choose non-EFI, if at all possible.

[mpack]

So when converting a physical machine, I should choose non-EFI, if at all possible.

If the conversion tool has that option then yes, I'd go for that.