Is Windows and Linux VirtualBox compatible?

[Buvar]

Hi,
I used Windows Vista host to install Win Vista Business and Win 2008 into VirtualBox appliances.
Now I want to use both of these appliances in Ubuntu 9.04 host but with no success.
The startup slider looks like it's working, but it's neverending (well, I was patient for 10 minutes only).
Whe I start it using "safe mode", both of them stop on "crcdisk.sys" and nothing happens after that. Disk activity indicator is "silent".
I checked the setting of the appliances on both OSes, to make sure they are maximally identical.
Disk is "IDE" type, not SATA.
Appliances are placed on original NTFS disk, but I think it should have no influence or does it?

Is it generally possible to use windows appliances created in one host OS in another OS (use same appliance in both OSes respectively) ?
Thank you,
Petr Langer

[vbox4me2]

You should be able to move VM's around Hosts if they are in shutdown mode and all settings are exactly the same, double check them.

[Buvar]

Thanks for the answer, I cannot find any difference in settings. Could the problem be that I installed 32-bit Vista/2008 (appliance) in 32-bit Windows/VirtualBox (host) and Ubuntu host is 64-bit with 64-bit VirtualBox?

[Sasquatch]

You have to make sure that every single setting is the same. Open the XML file from the Windows system on Linux and compare it with the settings file in your home folder. You can use the program diff to see the differences. Snapshots and saved states will NOT work and can cause problems, so don't use them.

[hauraki]

I had this problem (Cloned Vista VM stopping at crcdisk.sys) and tracked it down to the option "Enable IO APIC" not being selected within the 'Motherboard' section of Settings -> System.

Checked the box, and cloned Vista image boots up with no issues.

[MatthewXanders]

@ Hauraki:

If you are reading this: I've wasted many hours trying to solve this issue, and your post has been the lifesaver. I rarely post on forums but I'm very glad you did.

[mpack]

This topic is obsolete in a number of ways. (1) It describes a folder structure and files which are no longer used, (2) VirtualBox has had built in VM cloning for quite some time now, which would preserve the state of the IOAPIC setting. If you create the VM in other ways then it's up to you to get the settings right.

For the record, there is no correct setting of the IOAPIC setting. XP and Vista will accept either one when you install Windows from scratch. If you copy Windows from an existing image then the correct setting is whatever that copy of Windows was installed with. Another useful thing to know is that VirtualBox defaults to having this setting disabled. VMWare defaults to having it enabled. Bear this in mind if migrating from a VMWare image.

Locking this obsolete topic.