How do you boot .VDI files?

[mspencer]

I used the following command line utility in Virtual Box 3.1.0 to convert a raw dd file to VDI format:

vboxmanage convertfromraw "file.dd" "file.dd.vdi"

So now I have a VDI file, and it mounts fine in Virtual Media Manager, but how do I boot from it? It's a raw image of an entire hard drive, so I would like to boot it up in Virtual Box... not just access the volumes in a loopback fashion.

Thanks!

[mpack]

You need to create a new VM, then when you get to the hard disk part of the wizard, choose use an existing disk then select which one from the list offered to you (which will be all those registered in virtual media manager). The hardware settings for the new VM should be as close as possible to the original hardware the image expects, to avoid trouble. With Windows guests this would only be the start of the battle, especially if you didn't prepare it properly before imaging.

[mspencer]

You need to create a new VM, then when you get to the hard disk part of the wizard, choose use an existing disk then select which one from the list offered to you (which will be all those registered in virtual media manager). The hardware settings for the new VM should be as close as possible to the original hardware the image expects, to avoid trouble. With Windows guests this would only be the start of the battle, especially if you didn't prepare it properly before imaging.

Oh... I think I'm climbing up the wrong tree then. I have no idea what the hardware settings were, it's a really old dd image. Thanks for the response!

Update: I did give it a shot anyway and used all the default settings... My MacBook Pro panicked and I got the "Hold your power button down and restart computer" message from OS X.

[mpack]

I have no idea what the hardware settings were, it's a really old dd image.

An image of what? Note that Mac OS X guests are not supported.

[mspencer]

I have no idea what the hardware settings were, it's a really old dd image.

An image of what? Note that Mac OS X guests are not supported.

I think it was MS Win2K or WinXP... probably WinXP.

[mpack]

An image of what?

I think it was MS Win2K or WinXP... probably WinXP.

If it was Win2K or WinXP then you may have difficulty getting it to boot. Both need to be prepared properly first, for example by running MergeIDE (google for it, site: virtualbox.org). MergeIDE modifies the registry to let Windows recognize a wider range of IDE hard disk controllers. It is possible (but tricky) to apply these registry changes retrospectively - you need to boot the VM off a recovery CD with regedit on it, and use the option to open a registry hive in a specific location. Again, google for details.

I'm also not certain that you really have a whole disk image (I'm not sure how you can know that but not know what it's an image of). One thing you could do is mount your VDI in another VM, to ensure that the VDI is mountable and does indeed contain a usable filesystem - it may even be possible to find out what it's an image of...