virtualbox.org

I created and configured a Linux guest on a Win 7 host. I decided I want to run this VBox on a different host, on the same LAN. I successfully exported the VBox to the other host, and imported it into VBox there. (It got a little confused about the disks, but I straightened that out---I think.)

When I run the VM, it seems to run OK, but on restart, the disk contents are exactly as they were before exporting. It is as if the previous session never existed.

Am I just not understanding what "an appliance" is?

How do I get a cloned VBox that works the way it did on the original machine?

That would depend on what (It got a little confused about the disks, but I straightened that out---I think.) really means. Can you explain this in detail?

There are two disks, each 8 gigs. They are on an SATA controller.

Both were exported. However, when imported, VBox ignore the boot disk and mounted the extra disk as the first disk. Call that diskb. It then mounted another disk as, diskb_1. (Same filename, with "_1" as a suffix. As expected, boot failed.

I changed the disk assignment to make the actual boot disk as the first disk on the adapter, and diskb as the second disk. In this configuration, the guest boots up, and I am able to mount the second disk.

This sounds like a problem I found and reported here http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/7001
So now that you have that taken care of you are saying the any work that you do is not saved and every time you open the guest it is as it was when you installed it. Is this correct?

From the host command window VBoxManage showvminfo <VM Name> --details and post here. Replace <VM Name> with the actual name of the VM. Use "" if the name has a space in it.

I should mention the following:
(A) The VBox was exported to C:\VBoxes on the remote host.
(B) Both disks appear in that folder, with the .mf and .ovf files:
C:\VBOXes>dir
Volume in drive C is BOOTWIN7
Volume Serial Number is A841-0869

Directory of C:\VBOXes

09/13/2010 05:33 PM <DIR> .
09/13/2010 05:33 PM <DIR> ..
09/13/2010 05:50 PM 193 CentOSy.mf
09/13/2010 05:33 PM 13,840 CentOSy.ovf
09/14/2010 09:51 PM 3,231,207,424 CentOSy.vmdk
09/13/2010 05:33 PM 1,726,636,032 esllcbackups.vmdk
4 File(s) 4,957,857,489 bytes
2 Dir(s) 8,074,051,584 bytes free

(C) The .VirtualBox\HardDisks folder has:
esllcbackups.vmdk
esllcbackups_1.vmdk

(D) I added C:\VBoxes\CentOSy.vmdk to the Virtual Media Manager and then assigned it as the first drive in the VM config.

Following is the info requested:

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox>vboxmanage showvminfo CentOSy --details
Oracle VM VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.2.8
(C) 2005-2010 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

Name: CentOSy
Guest OS: Red Hat
UUID: 7eddbc4a-6dc6-4ce2-bf59-2031ea6fe1ea
Config file: C:\Users\Phil\.VirtualBox\Machines\CentOSy\CentOSy.xml
Hardware UUID: 7eddbc4a-6dc6-4ce2-bf59-2031ea6fe1ea
Memory size: 512MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 12MB
HPET: off
Number of CPUs: 1
Synthetic Cpu: off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): Floppy
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: off
PAE: on
Time offset: 0 ms
RTC: UTC
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: off
Nested Paging: on
Large Pages: off
VT-x VPID: on
State: powered off (since 2010-09-15T04:51:39.297000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Storage Controller Name (0): Storage Controller
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Name (1): Storage Controller 1
Storage Controller Type (1): IntelAhci
Storage Controller Instance Number (1): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (1): 30
Storage Controller Port Count (1): 2
Storage Controller (1, 0): Empty
Storage Controller 1 (0, 0): C:\VBOXes\CentOSy.vmdk (UUID: faae678d-8cc2-4c48-b2
c0-fd0db3a6fb9b)
Storage Controller 1 (1, 0): C:\Users\Phil\.VirtualBox\HardDisks\esllcbackups.vm
dk (UUID: c2acf135-151c-4911-9bf1-8f14e979250d)
NIC 1: MAC: 080027C3A713, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace:
off (file: none), Type: Am79C973, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0
NIC 1 Settings: MTU: 0, Socket( send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window( send:64, re
ceive: 64)
NIC 1 Rule(0): name = guestssh, protocol = tcp, host ip = , host port = 3456,
guest ip = , guest port = 2222
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: disabled
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
VRDP: enabled (Address 0.0.0.0, Ports 3389, MultiConn: off, ReuseSing
leConn: off, Authentication type: null)
Video redirection: disabled
USB: disabled

USB Device Filters:

<none>

Shared folders: <none>

Guest:

Configured memory balloon size: 0 MB

After more study I realize now that the intent of the import of the vdisks is to decompress the images. Using the "vboxmanage import" function with --dry-run I realized that the imported, decompressed image is supposed to be named the same as the original disk, with "_1" appended to the name. Instead, the import function is importing only one of the two disks, under both the compressed image's name and the decompressed name. That is:

As exported, I have two virtual disks;
CentOSy.vmdk (the boot drive)
esllcbackups.vmdk (an auxiliary drive)
(both are expandable to 8GB, but less than half that)

The import function imports two disks:
esllcbackups.vmdk
esllcbackups_1.vmdk

Neither of these is bootable, but VBox . They are identical in size. (The two actual drives are far from identical in size)

I have gone through the entire export/import process twice now with identical results, proving that the first result was not a fluke. (I was not present for all of the first go round, and the host rebooted in my absence, leaving no clue as to whether the process completed. Therefore, I repeated the whole thing.)

Can someone guide me on how to decompress the boot drive so that it can be used? The manual points me to the VBoxManage import function, but I see nothing in the description of that function that tells me how to simply decompress a single compressed drive.

Or, is there an earlier version of VBox where export/import worked? (I am using 3.28 r64453 )

Neither of these is bootable, but VBox .

I meant to say: but VBox added both of these disks to the imported VM.

That describes exactly what I said in the ticket. You might want to setup an account and post to it as well.

That describes exactly what I said in the ticket. You might want to setup an account and post to it as well.

The first time I read your report, I focused on the "shared storage" aspect and concluded it didn't describe my problem.

However, the subsequent comments by whiochon provided the info I needed. The .ovf had had to be edited with the correct UUID and the .mf had to be renamed to prevent its use.

All is well now. The exported appliance is running happily exactly as I wanted.