Is it possible to boot a physical disk in a virtual machine?
Is it possible to boot a physical disk in a virtual machine?
I have an old computer that the motherboard is faulty but the hard drive is intact. I would like to start a virtual machine on the hard drive to run the windows contained on the hard drive. Is this possible and if so how to proceed?
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Re: Is it possible to boot a physical disk in a virtual machine?
It is, it's called Raw Disk Access. But it is an expert-only feature that we don't try to explain, because a small mistake can destroy your computer's or the drive's data.
It is better to use Disk2VHD to clone the entire drive, while it's connected to a USB adapter to the host computer, to a VHD-format disk file. Then use Mpack's CloneVDI to turn the VHD into a VDI (CloneVDI can clone the USB-attached disk to a VDI directly, too, if you want to cut a step).
Once the VDI is ready, make a new VM as closely as possible to the original OS, and use the VDI file for the VM's disk.
This is called a Physical-to-Virtual, or P2V. Web-search
{the old computer's OS} P2V site:forums.virtualbox.org
to get ideas and error help, and post back if you have issues you can't fix.
It is better to use Disk2VHD to clone the entire drive, while it's connected to a USB adapter to the host computer, to a VHD-format disk file. Then use Mpack's CloneVDI to turn the VHD into a VDI (CloneVDI can clone the USB-attached disk to a VDI directly, too, if you want to cut a step).
Once the VDI is ready, make a new VM as closely as possible to the original OS, and use the VDI file for the VM's disk.
This is called a Physical-to-Virtual, or P2V. Web-search
{the old computer's OS} P2V site:forums.virtualbox.org
to get ideas and error help, and post back if you have issues you can't fix.
Re: Is it possible to boot a physical disk in a virtual machine?
Thanks that can solve my problem. I will try it.