best way to reinstall the host, and use the existing guest

[oldfogy74]

My Windows XP died, and I had to install a backup copy from a separate partition.
The Windows XP backup was created before I installed virtualbox.
The guest (also XP) is located on a different physical drive.
What is the best way to install virtualbox in the new XP host and use the existing guest OS?
oldfogy74

[Sasquatch]

If you don't have the settings of the VM you installed the Guest with, it's best to create a backup of the VDI in case you mess up the Guest due to wrong settings. All you need to do, is create a new VM and when it asks for a hard disk, select existing and point the Media Manager to the existing VDI on the other partition. After you changed the VM settings to what you think it was, you can start the VM and hope for the best. If you get a BSOD on the Guest, you need to change a few settings until it no longer crashes. Things the VM can crash on are IDE controller type, hard drive controller (IDE, SCSI or SATA), disabled I/O APIC when it was installed with it enabled. That's the few I can think of that could cause problems on Windows.

[oldfogy74]

Thanks,
I'll reinstall vbox in a day or so. Right now I'm really busy, but I don't think I'll have any problems now.
Thanks again,
oldfogy74

[oldfogy74]

I finally found time to do the reinstall.
There were no problems, and this issue can be considered resolved.
oldfogy74