virtualbox.org

Hi All ,

I created a windows disk image using the in built MS tool which outputs .vhdx files . see screen shot below
I selected the drive with the arrow pointing to it as this matched my C: drive size

I then converted this to a .vdi file using Virtual box converter

when I try start the machine I get the following
thanking in advance for your help

Those vhdx's aren't full bootable backup copies of the OS, and other partitions of the original drive are needed to boot, not just the C drive partition.

It appears that you are trying a P2V, for Physical to Virtual. You don't mention the version of Windows you have, but it looks like Windows 10. Web-search "P2V Windows 10" for ideas on how to do this, and "P2V Windows 10 site:forums.virtualbox.org" for ideas from this forum.

Be aware that you'll have to activate the transferred OS on the new virtual "hardware", and if you intend to use the original OS as well as the copy, one of them will deactivate. Also, copies of Windows provided by big manufacturers like HP and Dell have been known to be locked to the original hardware and won't survive the P2V transfer.

Microsoft's "Disk2VHD" is the forum's go-to tool for making a P2V copy of an existing Windows OS as a VHD file (don't use VHDx). Copy all partitions, not just the C drive. After the copy is complete, use Mpack's CloneVDI to turn the VHD into a VDI, then use the VDI in your VM.

Thank you ,

but I don't have access to the machine any more .. I do however have the boot partition as a separate vhdx file . is there any way to merge these two ?

also VB have an inbuilt tool ( command line ) for converting vhdx to vdi .. so that is not an issue

porhealy wrote:I do however have the boot partition as a separate vhdx file . is there any way to merge these two ?

Practically speaking, no. A hard disk consists of a partition map giving the location and usage details of each of the partitions, boot sectors, and all partitions referenced by the map. You can't reconstruct the original disk image from just one or two partitions.

The fact that the backup elements use vhdx as a container does NOT guarantee that they contain disk or even partition images. What you have is a backup set. You would have to use the matching backup restore tool to "restore" that set into a replacement PC, which can be a VM. I guess that would require you to boot the VM using an ISO of a Windows recovery DVD (WinPE). I've never used Windows Backup so I can't offer tips, if it was me then I'd hit Google.