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How to access old VHD file.
Posted: 16. Sep 2009, 08:59
by dougham
I have just had to reinstall Vista. I have a full backup of my data, including the .vhd file.
How can I access the virtual Windows 7 in there, without having to re-create it?
Regards
Doug
Re: How to access old VHD file.
Posted: 16. Sep 2009, 18:04
by mpack
Just run VirtualBox and create a new VM (DO NOT RUN THE VM UNTIL YOU COMPLETE THE CHECKS BELOW). When you get to the stage of creating a new hard disk, don't. Instead select "Use existing..." and point VBox at your existing VHD (you may want to copy the VHD to your preferred location before you do this). I assume btw that this VHD previously worked with VBox: VHDs that run under VPC don't necessarily run without problems under VBox.
Once you get the basic VM created, go through all the settings and check them carefully. Have the old machine.xml file visible in your favourite xml or text viewer for reference. In particular you should make sure the hard disk controller type is the same as before. Make sure that any enabled network card has the same MAC address as before. Ditto for the IO APIC option.
It should be safe to run the VM without encountering crashes or activation problems: provided, as mentioned, that it worked under VBox before.