Windows xp virtual machine doesn't startup

[melonbilly]

I do the following steps for virtualize windows from an existing windows xp partition:

1 - create a backup of the partition where windows xp is installed (in this case sda1) with partimage -> windows.img
2 - create a virtual disk: VBoxManage convertfromraw windows.img windows.vdi
3 - create windows xp virtual machine and atatch the windows.vdi virtual disk
4 - startup windows xp virtual machine with the windows xp instalation cd mounted and go to the recovery console, execute command fixmbr

The virtual machine does'nt startup.

can anybody help?

Thanks in advance.

[Sasquatch]

You have to do the same steps as you would do if you cloned your installation to a new hard drive for in a totally different computer. Did you also check the P2V guide at the top of this forum?

[mpack]

Looking at the VBox source code, all that "convertfromraw" seems to do is create a VDI which is the same virtual size as the image file, then copy the data in. The data is not interpreted in any way, so you can't expect anything smart from it. That means that the image file is expected to a disk image (which is in fact what the manual says), and not a partition image.

If you apply "convertfromraw" to a partition image that would leave the first sector of the partition (the boot sector) in sector 0 of the disk, which is where the MBR is supposed to be, hence all that "fixmbr" will do is trash your boot sector!

In short: start with a disk image, not a partition image.

[melonbilly]

This information is very helpful for me. Now i understand it's not posible to do what i'm trying to do.

I will just install the o.s. in the virtual machine with normal procedure because the complete image of this hard disk it's too large and there are other s.o. partitions i don´t want in the vdi.

Thank you.

[mpack]

I will just install the o.s. in the virtual machine with normal procedure

There's no need to abandon your idea completely, it just needs to be modified a bit to work.

The simplest way is to go ahead and install your guest from a normal CD, except you can stop as soon as the system partition is created (and this partition should be the same size as your image). Now boot up partimage from a rescue CD and restore your partition image over the first partition on your new guest. That should give you a working VM, provided you attend to other migration problems. Obviously the partition image will need to be available on a medium that the rescue CD can access: and without trying the partimage rescue CD myself I can't tell you what media it supports (eg. USB, network shared folder etc).

[melonbilly]

Now i have the o.s. installed from cd in a virtual machine and i am able to do my work good enough. When i have the time to test this procedure i will try to backup/restore the full disk image. Thank you very much for the information.