Cloning Virtual Machines

[aBoo]

Hei

Is it possible to clone a virtual machine or make VM templates?

[TerryE]

Welcome to our forum. You might want to take this opportunity to browse the Forum Posting Guide. This contains some useful tips on how to search for VBox knowledge and how to frame Qs. There have been many posts around this so have a browse.

The short answer is yes. There are pitfalls such as the disk UUIDs need to be unique so you can't just copy VDIs. You can share immutable VDIs between machines and you can also clone them or copy and the do a VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid <filepath> to assign a new UUID to the given VDI file. This way, multiple copies of VDI containers can be registered.

One trick to save disk space is to split your configuration over two VDIs, a common immutable one and a (cloned from template) private one.

[dewittdale]

Place ;C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox;C:\Documents and Settings\Dale DeWitt\.VirtualBox\VDI into environmental variable path ( my-computer properties advanced envir . . .)

with cmd navigate to the VDI folder using the cd command

type vboxmanage clonevdi xxxx.vdi D:\location\name.vdi

watch the countdown from 0% to 100% done

If you insist upon space in your location & name then enclose the whole thing in quotes.

D:\ is merely an arbitrary drive I chose.

[vba_djs]

I just upgraded from VB 1.5.? to 2.0.4.
I used the clonevdi command to make a copy of an XP guest.
The original XP guest starts perfectly, however, the cloned guest will not start.
Some error messages flash on the screen, but they happen so fast that I cannot read what the problem is.
Is there some other 'upgrade' function that I must do before cloning the device?

[dewittdale]

You obviously merged to no snapshots prior to copy. I don't know of any other suspect with the data you've provided.

[vba_djs]

So do I have to take a snapshot before cloning?

[Sasquatch]

Please see the VirtualBox FAQ for the possible cause. You need to make 100% sure that the VM settings are the same for the clone as you have for the original.

[dewittdale]

Me said: "You obviously merged to no snapshots prior to copy." I've kept a snapshot prior to copy and somehow it loaded but you're not supposed to have snapshots when using clonevdi. That is what is meant by merged. Did you have a snapshot when using clonevdi? That was the inquiry.

[vba_djs]

I don't remember ever creating a snapshot.

[vba_djs]

Please see the VirtualBox FAQ for the possible cause. You need to make 100% sure that the VM settings are the same for the clone as you have for the original.

The settings are identical to the original VM that starts.

[mpack]

The settings are identical to the original VM that starts.

I assume the "error message" is a BSOD coming from the guest? If so then the symptoms you describe are typical of getting the IDE Controller selection wrong, so please check this again.

Obviously, if two VMs behave differently then they cannot be identical.

[vba_djs]

The settings are identical to the original VM that starts.

I assume the "error message" is a BSOD coming from the guest? If so then the symptoms you describe are typical of getting the IDE Controller selection wrong, so please check this again.

Obviously, if two VMs behave differently then they cannot be identical.

Mpack was correct.

I started comparing the settings of the two machines, and found in the General Section/Advanced tab that the original (good) machine was using an IDE controller type of PIIX3, while the cloned machine was using PIIX4.

Once I changed the cloned machine to PIIX3, it worked!

Thanks a lot.

[Sasquatch]

The settings are identical to the original VM that starts.

I assume the "error message" is a BSOD coming from the guest? If so then the symptoms you describe are typical of getting the IDE Controller selection wrong, so please check this again.

Obviously, if two VMs behave differently then they cannot be identical.

Mpack was correct.

I started comparing the settings of the two machines, and found in the General Section/Advanced tab that the original (good) machine was using an IDE controller type of PIIX3, while the cloned machine was using PIIX4.

Once I changed the cloned machine to PIIX3, it worked!

Thanks a lot.

Didn't I tell you? You said they were all the same, but obviously, you were wrong. It is noted in the FAQ, where I pointed you to.