Moving VM to different Host

[federicoma]

I have several VMs and I'd like to use them in different computers (work desktop, work laptop, home desktop, home laptop, a friend pc).
No cloud service possible.
What is the good way to do this?
- Is it important to use the same Virtualbox version over the different computers?
- Do I have to export them in OVF and import in the other pc, or can I just copy the file to the other pc?
- What should be the better way to use the same machine through different computer? I was wondering about a usb pendrive file storage to easily move them, there's another post by me for the usb speed limitation without the guest additions.

Thanks

[mpack]

Howto: Move a VM.

[federicoma]

Thanks for the howto, coming from a 5.x version I didn't consider the move feature, avaible on 6.x
Does this feature manage a "move to" different host hardware, such as intel to amd moving, or "different host moving", such as Windows host move to Linux host?

Sincerly I'm getting some trouble moving a 5.x VM to a 6.x, this is the detailed sistuation:
- Working situation: a Win7 host machine (laptop), 5.x Virtualbox running a win7 guest machine from a CF card. This CF card can work in another Win7 (desktop) pc either, where the Virtualbox version is the same, and the performance are very good.
- New situation: I get a new pc to replace the both of two
- What I did: get Virtualbox 6.x installalled, tried to run the machine from cfcard, but this is extremely slow, something is not working. I think there's a problem with file writing on the guest, maybe a driver issue, or a problem on that cfcard storage access from the guest, I think the fastest way will be I will delete this WM and I will build a new one (there's just one software installed) on the pc disk directly, forgetting the idea to use the cfcard for "easy move" feature.

Thanks

[mpack]

You can't use the move feature, that's only for moving the VM to another drive on the same host. Please read the FAQ, I really hate to put all that work in and then have to repeat myself anyway. The FAQ long predates the Move feature.

I frankly don't believe that compact flash (SDcard?) was ever fast, on any hardware. No way it's fast enough for a modern OS system drive.

[scottgus1]

The "How to Move a VM" FAQ only covers moving the VM to another place in the existing host computer.

To move or copy the VM to a different host computer also running Virtualbox, one only has to copy the VM's folder(*) to the new computer and register the VM's .vbox file with the new Virtualbox using the Machine menu's Add command.
( * If the folder with the .vbox file also has the VM's disk file(s) and Snapshots folder in it, then this VM is in the default format and can be copied to and registered on any capable computer with a supported host OS. If the drive file(s) or Snapshots folder have been moved outside the folder with the .vbox file, then paths to these files & folder are absolute in the .vbox file and must be duplicated on the new host, which can be a problem if the new host OS is a different species from the old one i.e. Windows to Linux.)

Switching from Intel to AMD or back is generally OK for modern OS's. A driver load and reboot of the VM might be necessary.

Re the CF card: If an ejectable drive is needed, get a USB3 SSD. Or even a regular SSD in a external-access port slot device in the case.

[federicoma]

You can't use the move feature, that's only for moving the VM to another drive on the same host.

Sorry for the misunderstanding, it's not easy to get so deep inside the feature at the first time someone need to, I can suggest a different name for the feature, for me the "move" word is not intended for the same machine, maybe a "change folder" should not land to a misunderstanding?

I frankly don't believe that compact flash (SDcard?) was ever fast, on any hardware. No way it's fast enough for a modern OS system drive.

The Sdcard (yes, it's an sd..) is a 100MB/s card, maybe the speed can be bottlenecked from the reader, I was wondering if the new pc have a usb emulated reader, but I really don't know. It's slower than a ssd drive, that's true, but if you often need to move (ehm ..) the wm from the desktop to the laptop, it should be a good compromise!

Thanks a lot

[mpack]

The "How to Move a VM" FAQ only covers moving the VM to another place in the existing host computer.

Uh... no it doesn't!

The FAQ covers moving a VM for any reason, including to a new PC, a scenario which is specifically discussed.

[multiOS]

"Change Folder" wouldn't be appropriate, and would probably more confusing to most new users, because it masks the fact that you can use the feature to move VMs to any attached drive (as mpack said while I was typing).

My real world example: Most of my VMs are moved to and run from an external SSD but I normally carry out initial installation on the internal drive. That external drive can also be attached to a different computer and it's possible to register the VMs on that PC's VirtualBox installation either temporarily or permanently - I did this earlier today with a Windows 7 VM (switching between my usual MacBook Pro and an HP Windows PC) and it worked perfectly after installing an additional device driver. But, you do, obviously, have to watch for some potential pitfalls such as unrecognised shared folders (and, of course i do have a backup procedure which includes that external drive).

[federicoma]

The FAQ covers moving a VM for any reason, including to a new PC, a scenario which is specifically discussed.

Thanks for the Faq, but onestly there's some possible improvement:
- it's not very clear if the same version of Virtualbox is a requirement for a good move experience between different host computer hardware/Os.
- it's not clear if, once a Windows VM move complete successfully, a new activation is necessary, as a new driver installation should fall in this scenario, isn't it?

I think faqs should deepen the topic with different scenario, for example, how to move an old VM, coming from a not Hyper-V host, to a win10 new pc with Hyper-V.
What can be the trouble? What can the user do to avoid VM loss? Anyway, thankyou very much for your work, I really appreciate it.

Most of my VMs are moved to and run from an external SSD but I normally carry out initial installation on the internal drive. That external drive can also be attached to a different computer and it's possible to register the VMs on that PC's VirtualBox installation either temporarily or permanently

Ok, do you copy the folder or do you use the move feature (if you're using the 6.x version of Vb)?
Do you have the same Virtualbox version on your computers?

I did this earlier today with a Windows 7 VM (switching between my usual MacBook Pro and an HP Windows PC) and it worked perfectly after installing an additional device driver

Did you have a new activation request for windows 7 VM?

[scottgus1]

Uh... no it doesn't!

Oops! Yes, you're right. I read it too fast.