Why can´t I use old VMs?

[olavn]

I tried to use my old VMs, a few months old, on my new computer, and Virtual Media Manager can see them all correctly,
but VirtualBox evidently refuses to use transferred VMs.
VMware has no problems with using transferred VMs, so it really seems I will be going with VMware, but I will give VirtualBox one more chance.
Can anybody show me a way out of this trap - or is Sun in Microsoft`s pocket?

[mpack]

What is "virtual media manager" when it's at home? And what format are your old VMs in? Note that in last question I am not simply asking which virtual disk format was used, I'm asking which virtual PC product the VM settings were created for.

[olavn]

I made those virtual machines in April/May with VirtualBox (v2.2?)
I had certainly placed them correctly on the new computer, as they are correctly listed (with sizes) when I click Virtual Media Manager,
first in VirtualBox 3.0.4, then 3.0.6.
And when I tried to register a VM from a command line, I got this strange response:

on@Aspire:~$ VBoxManage registervm "Win7"
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.0.4
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ERROR: Assertion failed at '/home/vbox/vbox-3.0.4/src/VBox/Main/MachineImpl.cpp' (5034) in nsresult Machine::loadSettings(bool).
Unexpected exception 'N3xml11EInvalidArgE' (In 'xml::File::File(RTFILE, const char*)', '/home/vbox/vbox-3.0.4/src/VBox/Main/xml/xml.cpp' at #207).
Please contact the product vendor!
Details: code NS_ERROR_FAILURE (0x80004005), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
Context: "OpenMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]), machine.asOutParam())" at line 219 of file VBoxManage.cpp

[Sasquatch]

The correct use of the VBoxManage command is like this, and you have to make sure NO media is attached to the VM config file, modify the xml to do that (create a backup to be safe).

Code: Select all

VBoxManage registervm /media/disk/vm/win7.xml

Of course I used an example location, but you have to point to the previous xml file. Another thing you can do, if you don't have any VMs registered and you have a backup of the entire VirtualBox folder from the old system, is copy the files back to the original location.

[olavn]

I tried the suggested command - with .xml - like this:

on@Aspire:~/VirtualBox$ ls Win7/Win7.xml
Win7/Win7.xml
on@Aspire:~/VirtualBox$ VBoxManage registervm Win7x/Win7.xml

But I get the same nonsense message. (The ls command shows the path was right). As Virtual Media Manager sees these VMs,
they certainly are in the right place. (Virtual Media Manager really should be able to do the registring!)

[baf]

Try using the full path.

Code: Select all

VBoxManage registervm /media/disk/vm/win7.xml

[olavn]

I tried to use the full path, and now my virtual machine files seem to be found and analyzed, but were found incorrect.
Seems the VM files from VirtualBox 2.2 were useless for VirtualBox 3.
The output was:

ERROR: Could not load the settings file '/home/on/VirtualBox/gOS/gOS.xml'.
Element '{http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings}VirtualBox', attribute 'version': The value '1.7-windows' does not match the fixed value constraint '1.7-linux'.
Element '{http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings}AudioAdapter', attribute 'driver': [facet 'enumeration'] The value 'DirectSound' is not an element of the set {'Null', 'OSS', 'ALSA', 'Pulse'}.
Element '{http://www.innotek.de/VirtualBox-settings}AudioAdapter', attribute 'driver': 'DirectSound' is not a valid value of the local atomic type
Details: code VBOX_E_XML_ERROR (0x80bb000a), component VirtualBox, interface IVirtualBox, callee nsISupports
Context: "OpenMachine(Bstr(a->argv[0]), machine.asOutParam())" at line 219 of file VBoxManage.cpp

(Similar error messages when the virtual machine was Fedora, Debian and Win7)

[Sasquatch]

The problem isn't that the VM comes from VB 2.2 and you want it on 3.0. The real problem is that you can't use the settings file from one OS on a different one. Windows to Linux, vice versa, Mac to Windows, etc. all won't work. They all have different names for the audio and network system, file locations are different, totally incompatible. The only way to get it working now, is to create a new VM and manually set every setting the same as in the XML file you wanted to import. You can do that from the GUI, while having the XML file in notepad or another editor next to it.