ISO To VDI VBoxManage convertfromraw Not Bootable

[dangling]

I am trying to make a bootable vdi from a bootable ISO for linux guest. I am running

VBoxManage convertfromraw source.iso output.vdi

I get a valid vdi that I can attach and read but I cannot boot from it. Any idea how to solve this.

Thanks
Paul

[mpack]

You can't convert an ISO that way.

To use "convertfromraw" your starting point (as the name implies) has to be a raw image of a hard disk - which an ISO image most certainly is not. All that "convertfromraw" does is wrap the input file with a VDI header and block map. The result is "valid" in the technical sense of being legal, but it isn't formatted like a hard disk and the data will not be accessible.

An ISO is just an image of a CD or DVD (so-called because the International Standards Organization defined the data CD file system standard). The correct way to process a CD image depends on exactly what the CD or DVD was intended to do. For example, if it's an image of a OS install disk then you create a VM, mount the ISO file as a virtual CD/DVD, and boot from it. If the ISO is an image of a data CD/DVD (not bootable) then you need to boot some other VM and mount the ISO as a CD - or use a suitable software tool on your host OS to extract files from the ISO.

(*) I note that you said that the ISO was an image of a bootable CD. I'm taking that assertion with a pinch of salt. Maybe you are right, maybe not. I've told you how the ISO should be handled either way.

(**) I also just noticed you say that after using convertfromraw you get a VDI file which you can attach and read. Yes you can mount it (it's a legal VDI file after all), but it contains no valid filesystem for any guest, so I'd be fascinated to know how you can read it!

[dangling]

Hello,

Thanks for the info, nothing is ever simple. Lots of stuff on the web claiming you can do this. The iso file is a bootable linux image.

I want to to create a vdi so I can edit the boot files. the idea is to create a VM by booting from the iso image with the vdi copy attached. I can then edit the files on the vdi and then boot from that and check the result.

Just saw your update yes I can attach and read the vdi it just wont boot

thanks
Paul

[mpack]

Lots of stuff on the web claiming you can do this

That doesn't surprise me. There seems to be a lot of ignorance around concerning the ISO 9660 format. A lot of people seem to believe that "ISO" is a generic term meaning a raw hard disk image file, which is totally false.