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Share .vdi between 2 separate computers

Posted: 3. Jan 2011, 02:11
by laurav_00
I currently running VirtualBox 3.8.1. on my windows 7 laptop host. My guest os vm is Windows Server 2003. The .vdi is located on an external hard drive. I would like to be able to move that external hard drive between my windows 7 laptop and windows xp desktop and use the same .vdi file. I installed then newest version (4.0) of VirtualBox on the desktop, but cannot figure out how to access the .vdi. Is this possible? Do I need to upgrade to 4.0 on the laptop first? When I try to add it on the Desktop it is looking for a .vbox or xml file and I can't locate one.

Thanks
Laura

Re: Share .vdi between 2 separate computers

Posted: 3. Jan 2011, 02:31
by Perryg
If you have one in Version 4 you should have them both in Version 4 since they have changed the internal structure.

First write down the MAC (NIC) address so you can enter it in the second machine (really important!)
On the second machine create a new VM and instead of creating a new HDD tell VBox to use an existing one.
Once this is attached and before you try to use it. open the settings and put the MAC address in to match the first one.

Write down as many settings as you can to try to match the two and double check everything before you try to start the guest on the second machine.
If everything works and all the settings are identical you should have no problem running it this way.
Oh and one final thing. If you start one of the PC's and open VBox without the guest plugged in you will receive an error. Just click ignore and continue (do not tell it to remove of fix in anyway).

Re: Share .vdi between 2 separate computers

Posted: 4. Jan 2011, 17:20
by laurav_00
Thank You! It is up and running perfectly.