[Resolved] Copy VM or Export Appliance results in No bootable medium
Posted: 23. Aug 2019, 00:26
I have VirtualBox 5.2.30 runing on a Windows 10 version 1803 PC. I have a currently-working Virtual machines, running 64-bit Ubuntu 14.04.5 (old, but that's what I need !). The disk image is a VDI file that is sized at 128GB but dynamically allocated. Currently it has an actual size of about 34.5 GB.
I want to copy it to create a new VM, then update some of the software that was added to the base Ubuntu operating system (since I don't have enough space in the VDIs to install multiple versions side-by-side). This seems, at first look, pretty straightforward stuff.
So I start from the VirtualBox Manager GUI, right-click on the VM, and select Clone (in Expert mode). I choose a unique new machine name, then Clone type = Full Clone and Snapshots - Current machine state (which BTW was powered-off with no actual snapshot files in existence).
Then I try and run the new (cloned) VM. It always fails with "FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted."
I also tried using the File -> Export Appliance and then File -> Import Appliance process (which is much slower !) but still, I got the same result.
If I do a binary comparison of the original and new VDI files, there are significant differences. I expected just to see a changed UUID embedded somewhere near the start of the file, but the changes I see are more extensive and seem to be scattered right through the new VDI file.
I have previously used these methods and NEVER had a problem. I don't know if it's something to do with being on the 5.2.30 version. I have no idea what VirtualBox version(s) I last used Clone and Export/Import Appliance. It always "just worked"
I also tried going to the Virtual Media Manager GUI, and using the Copy function from there, and then attaching that newly-copied VDI file to the new VM.
I did a comparison of VBOX file for the old and new VMs and they are the same with the exception of the UUIDs.
So I am left wondering why the resultant (copied/cloned) VDI file for the new VM is so completely different.
Any ideas ???
I want to copy it to create a new VM, then update some of the software that was added to the base Ubuntu operating system (since I don't have enough space in the VDIs to install multiple versions side-by-side). This seems, at first look, pretty straightforward stuff.
So I start from the VirtualBox Manager GUI, right-click on the VM, and select Clone (in Expert mode). I choose a unique new machine name, then Clone type = Full Clone and Snapshots - Current machine state (which BTW was powered-off with no actual snapshot files in existence).
Then I try and run the new (cloned) VM. It always fails with "FATAL: No bootable medium found! System halted."
I also tried using the File -> Export Appliance and then File -> Import Appliance process (which is much slower !) but still, I got the same result.
If I do a binary comparison of the original and new VDI files, there are significant differences. I expected just to see a changed UUID embedded somewhere near the start of the file, but the changes I see are more extensive and seem to be scattered right through the new VDI file.
I have previously used these methods and NEVER had a problem. I don't know if it's something to do with being on the 5.2.30 version. I have no idea what VirtualBox version(s) I last used Clone and Export/Import Appliance. It always "just worked"
I also tried going to the Virtual Media Manager GUI, and using the Copy function from there, and then attaching that newly-copied VDI file to the new VM.
I did a comparison of VBOX file for the old and new VMs and they are the same with the exception of the UUIDs.
So I am left wondering why the resultant (copied/cloned) VDI file for the new VM is so completely different.
Any ideas ???