virtualbox.org

VirtualBox 6.1.32 r149290 (Qt5.6.2)
On new Ryzen 5 5600G 64-bit cpu, with 2TB SSD system drive; 32GB Ram. Windows 11 Home Edition.

My old Dell Optiplex running Win7 64-bit, with 2x 1TB SATA drives, motherboard died.
Built new computer and put 2x 1TB Sata drives from old computer inside. I can see and successfully access these two old drives and their files on the new computer using File Explorer inside Windows 11.

I have used VirtualBox for years. One VHD from a very old XP machine that I paid the PC shop to convert to a VHD. Has worked wonderfully for 10+ years, and is still working on the new computer.

Now, I want to be able to boot that old Win7 64-bit machine using VirtualBox. I have been at this for a week.
I have tried several things:
- Using Disk2Vhd utility from SysInternals
- Using Windows Disk Management utility to create VHD
- Using VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk

These all successfully create a VHD/VMDK/etc files. And then I can successfully create the new machine in the VirtualBox GUI. But when I try to start the machine, I encounter a myriad of issues. From READONLY to INT18: BOOT FAILURE, and more. I have literally lost track over the past week. But these are the latest incarnations.

Working through each of these errors from the multitude of hits in Google on each error gets me nowhere or only leads to new problems.

Question
Where I truly want to start is here. It seems to me that this would be a common usage for VirtualBox. Old bootable OS on disk drive without a home. I want to boot it in a Virtual Machine using VirtualBox.

I can't seem to find any documentation on RECOMMENDED PRACTICE OF GOING FROM BOOTABLE HARD DRIVE TO VIRTUAL MACHINE THAT CAN BE USED BY VIRTUALBOX.

What is the recommended practice for doing this? Just a pointer, if it exists, is all I need. It seems to me that this info would be where everyone with an existing bootable OS drive would start. But I can't find it.

This is confusing to me. I have tried everything I have come across with a week's worth of hours mentioned in the list above (e.g. Disk2VHD, Windows Disk Mgt, and VBoxManage).
My preference would be to build a VHD from the previously bootable system drive and put it on my new SSD drive, instead of booting from the hard disk itself.

Then, I will try that method and seek further help if that gets me nowhere.

Let's start here.


vminfo from VHD created via internalcommands createrawvmdk

>> vboxmanage showvminfo "JTC2013" --details
Name: JTC2013-HD
Groups: /
Guest OS: Windows 7 (64-bit)
UUID: 1aeee947-4f04-4a5c-a441-074a2121361a
Config file: C:\VHDs\JTC2013-HD\JTC2013-HD.vbox
Snapshot folder: C:\VHDs\JTC2013-HD\Snapshots
Log folder: C:\VHDs\JTC2013-HD\Logs
Hardware UUID: 1aeee947-4f04-4a5c-a441-074a2121361a
Memory size: 8192MB
Page Fusion: disabled
VRAM size: 128MB
CPU exec cap: 100%
HPET: disabled
CPUProfile: host
Chipset: piix3
Firmware: BIOS
Number of CPUs: 1
PAE: disabled
Long Mode: enabled
Triple Fault Reset: disabled
APIC: enabled
X2APIC: disabled
Nested VT-x/AMD-V: disabled
CPUID Portability Level: 0
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device 1: HardDisk
Boot Device 2: Not Assigned
Boot Device 3: Not Assigned
Boot Device 4: Not Assigned
ACPI: enabled
IOAPIC: enabled
BIOS APIC mode: APIC
Time offset: 0ms
RTC: local time
Hardware Virtualization: enabled
Nested Paging: enabled
Large Pages: enabled
VT-x VPID: enabled
VT-x Unrestricted Exec.: enabled
Paravirt. Provider: Default
Effective Paravirt. Prov.: HyperV
State: powered off (since 2022-04-22T00:41:58.970000000)
Graphics Controller: VBoxSVGA
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: disabled
2D Video Acceleration: disabled
Teleporter Enabled: disabled
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Tracing Enabled: disabled
Allow Tracing to Access VM: disabled
Tracing Configuration:
Autostart Enabled: disabled
Autostart Delay: 0
Default Frontend:
VM process priority: default
Storage Controller Name (0): SATA
Storage Controller Type (0): IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 30
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Bootable (0): on
SATA (0, 0): C:\VHDs\JTC2013-HD.vmdk (UUID: 77517b4f-d84c-45ec-bf75-92a1ac0eac63)
SATA (1, 0): Empty
NIC 1: MAC: 0800274AAD56, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: 82540EM, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0, Promisc Policy: deny, Bandwidth group: none
NIC 1 Settings: MTU: 0, Socket (send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window (send:64, receive: 64)
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
UART 3: disabled
UART 4: disabled
LPT 1: disabled
LPT 2: disabled
Audio: enabled (Driver: DSOUND, Controller: HDA, Codec: STAC9221)
Audio playback: enabled
Audio capture: disabled
Clipboard Mode: disabled
Drag and drop Mode: disabled
VRDE: disabled
OHCI USB: enabled
EHCI USB: disabled
xHCI USB: disabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Bandwidth groups: <none>

Shared folders:<none>

Capturing: active
Capture audio: not active
Capture screens:
Capture file: C:\VHDs\JTC2013-HD\JTC2013-HD.webm
Capture dimensions: 1024x768
Capture rate: 512kbps
Capture FPS: 25kbps
Capture options: vc_enabled=true,ac_enabled=false,ac_profile=med

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0MB

The process is called physical to virtual, usually abbreviated to p2v. Searching p2v :virtualbox should get you a few hits.

I have never had problems booting a vm using a .vhd file created by disk2vhd. Are you sure it created a .vhd file? The default setting these days it to create a .vhdx . When I created a vm from a physical Windows 7 using disk2vhd it booted OK and sorted out the driver problems on a reboot.

Did the Dell Optiplex have an Intel processor? That might cause problems.

Hi BillG, and thanks for the assist.

Obvioulsy, I am a bit of a newbie in this arena of p2v. Don't really understand boot records and the such either. I just know this was my OS boot disk on my Win7 machine and it had no problems.

Using disk2vhd, yes, I created a VHD file; also tried VHDX which wouldn't work and if I remember correctly found statements that VirtualBox doesn't support VHDX. (It has been a long week of trying many things.)

And yes, the Dell Optiplex did have an Intel I3 processor. Is this a known problem? Will it not work? What do I try now?

And yes, a Google search for p2v: virtualbox did find hits! Thanks. Side question... I thought I knew all the Google Search syntax. Just what does the colon after 'p2v' signify? I even Googled that question and found no answers.

Dell was one of the computer manufacturers who would lock the installed OS to the hardware, which would break activation if the OS was moved to new hardware, and the OS could not reactivate. But I think it should have booted.

I haven't heard of Bill's concern about the Intel processors, will stay tuned for that, myself.

Be sure you Disk2VHD all the old computer's partitions, not just the C drive. Then covnert the VHD to VDI with Mpack's CloneVDI. VHD has a design flaw that can kill the data inside.

JJJones wrote:I thought I knew all the Google Search syntax. Just what does the colon after 'p2v' signify?

Perhaps it was meant to be "p2v site:virtualbox.org", which you'll probably know. The colon wasn't after the 'p2v', but before the 'virtualbox', BTW.

Ah yes. Quite familiar with "site:" syntax in Google. And I mistyped the colon in my response. It appears that "p2v :virtualbox" has no real significance that I can discern; it seems to produce the same results as "p2v virtualbox". And it doesn't just limit the search to the website. But, using "site:" does do this quite well. Thx

scottgus1 wrote:Be sure you Disk2VHD all the old computer's partitions, not just the C drive. Then covnert the VHD to VDI with Mpack's CloneVDI. VHD has a design flaw that can kill the data inside.

Ok - due to my newbie-ness - I am unsure how to interpret this.

If I bring up the Disk Management app in Win11, I see that the Old OS Disk has 3 partitions:
- 39MB Healthy (OEM Partition)
- (E:) 13.78GB Healthy (Recovery Partition)
- OS (F:) 917.69GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition)

Now - after my first few attempts at creating a VHD, I probably did something that is at the root of my problem. I didn't see the point in keeping the E: drive around, so I did a Delete (or Recover, or whatever the Disk Mgmt action is to remove that E: drive partition).

It now shows as:
- 39MB Healthy (OEM Partition)
- 13.78GB Unallocated
- OS (F:) 917.69GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition)

Based on your comment RE: "be sure to Disk2VHD *all* the old computer's partitions, not just the C drive.", I am assuming that there is a high probability that I have FUBAR'd this situation.

Is that true? Can I recover from this? Do I have any options?

And, hoping beyond hope, that I haven't messed this up, how do I interpret your "disk2vhd all paritions"? That would create 2-3 different VHD files. What am I missing? Is the CloneVDI tool supposed to merge these so that VirtualBox can then mount the combined resultant file? I went to the CloneVDI link you provided and can't seem to readily discern its purpose.

Thanks much!

Some updates...

Half the learning curve is figuring out the nomenclature, what to search on, and what the base issues might be. With everyone's help in this forum, I am making progress.

NOTE: these forums do not allow me to enter URLs yet until I cross some threshold as a newbie. So pardon the lack of URLs.

- VirtualBox has one article entitled "How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox"; this seems specific to WinXP and doesn't seem to address my issues.
- The link provided to CloneVDI provided above has this note: "(*) [edit: VirtualBox v4.1.x finally added GUI support for cloning]"; so not sure that this is necessary or not.
- Knowing now that "P2V" and "DELL" are pertinent search criteria for solving my problem, a Google search on "p2v from dell windows 7 virtualbox" has brought up some interesting articles that seem to match, at least initially, my problems. So I am diving into those.

Will update with my findings. But if others still have experience and input, don't wait for me to reply. Thx.

Update:

Found that you can recover deleted partitions with tools like EaseUS. But they all cost in the range of 30-50 USD. I haven't done that yet as I don't know if that will help my problem.

There are a few places that mention issues with converting Dell PC hard disks. But none have provided solutions for me yet. One mentions a tool called VMware vCenter Converter. I haven't tried that yet.

Am I correct in that VirtualBox does not have a P2V utility in its toolbox? If so, I haven't found it.

So, at the moment I am still stuck with no clear direction on how to convert my Dell PC Win7 OS boot drive to a VD. Any pointers or assistance would be much appreciated. Happy to try anything and provide logs and info.

JJJones wrote:Am I correct in that VirtualBox does not have a P2V utility in its toolbox?

To the best of my knowledge, no, not a complete tool.

'VBoxManage convertfromraw' is supposed to take a Linux 'dd'-style disk image and make a disk file. I've never tried it.

JJJones wrote:I didn't see the point in keeping the E: drive around, so I did a Delete (or Recover, or whatever the Disk Mgmt action is to remove that E: drive partition).

It now shows as:
- 39MB Healthy (OEM Partition)
- 13.78GB Unallocated
- OS (F:) 917.69GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition)

If this delete was from the original drive, then the only fix is to put it back from the backup you took before modifying the original. If it was from the Disk2VHD image, then take a new Disk2VHD image from the original.

JJJones wrote:"disk2vhd all paritions"? That would create 2-3 different VHD files.

No, leaving all partition checkboxes checked and running Disk2VHD once makes one VHD file. (There is an option that makes a VHDx file, but Virtualbox doesn't use VHDx.

CloneVDI will convert the VHD (which has a design flaw) to Virtualbox's native VDI. CloneVDI can also make a VDI directly from the original disk drive.

How to migrate existing Windows installations to VirtualBox is rather old, yes.

JJJones wrote:tools like EaseUS. ... I don't know if that will help my problem.

I don't honestly know if it will either. It doesn't seem that a recovery partition ought to interfere with the booting of the other partition. But I've only seen recovery partitions at the end of the partition stack, not in front of the data partition. So there could be an unusual setup in your drive's OS.

If I remember correctly, VirtualBox will offer to convert the .vhd to .vdi when you create the vm.

BillG wrote:If I remember correctly, VirtualBox will offer to convert the .vhd to .vdi when you create the vm.

I believe you may be thinking of the OVA/OVF import feature. These always use VMDK, but VirtualBox has an option to convert VMDK to VDI during the import process. I don't recall VirtualBox offering to convert VHD in any copy context, though that would certainly be very nice.

Update:

I paid the 30USD for EaseUS Partition Recovery tool and recovered the partition that I had removed in my haste from the hard drive that was my old Win7 OS boot drive.

In the Windows Disk Management utility, it now shows as:

- 39 MB Healthy (OEM Partition)
- Recovery (E:) 13.78 GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Partition)
- OS (F:) 917.69 GB NTFS Healthy (Primary Parition)

I then reran Disk2vhd on the 'Recovery' and 'OS' partitions. The "39MB Healthy (OEM Partition)" on this hard drive does not show up as a volume/option in Disk2VHD.
- I did not check "Prepare for use in Virtual PC", nor "Use Vhdx", nor "Use Volume Shadow Copy"
The VHD was successfully created.

In VirtualBox I created the new machine and attached it to this new VHD.
Win 7 64-Bit
8192 MB ram
Video Mem 128 MB
Graphics Controller VBoxSVGA

FATAL: INT18 BOOT FAILURE

What now?
Where do I turn for help with this, if other than this forum? Is this the only, correct place?

As stated before, this Win7 Disk was from a Dell Optiplex desktop; if that has any significance. The motherboard is what fried, so the disk should be fine and appears to be.

Many Hits I get on the FATAL: INT18: BOOT FAILURE mention selecting the option under System for Enable EFI and that will trigger a startup repair.

This does not happen for me. When I select that option and start the VM, it simply boots to a Shell> prompt.

Worth noting, as mentioned in my initial post, that my new computer has a Ryzen 5 5600G processor and the old Dell PC had an Intel i3 Core. But I haven't read anything that indicates that this should be a problem.

fyi

Windows 7 doesn't work with Virtualbox's EFI.

Web-searching "FATAL: INT18: BOOT FAILURE" led me around to this: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=43939#p209004 Maybe some more Google-fu might help you get the VM going?