virtualbox.org

I'm running ubuntu 10.10 as my host
& XP as my guest
I would like to make a nearly identical install on a laptop I'm going to work on next weekend
I'm probably not asking the question in the right way, so searching didn't find a solution

So in other words, you want to transfer your VM install to a native system (your laptop), correct? Then you need to prepare the system before imaging it with CloneZilla or similar software. A sysprep should be enough, but a reactivation will be required afterwards.

Sasquatch wrote:So in other words, you want to transfer your VM install to a native system (your laptop), correct? Then you need to prepare the system before imaging it with CloneZilla or similar software. A sysprep should be enough, but a reactivation will be required afterwards.

not exactly, but it does give me some stuff to read & understand...
I only need the VM,
the laptop isn't mine, I installed mint9 on my brother in laws laptop, who is fairly new to computers as they relate to the internet. he is a service tech & his companies website insists on internet explorer.
the laptop had a bad keyboard & hdd, so it is easier to get him started in the linux world, knowing it will be easier for me to deal with any problems that come up
I can try to reinstall win7 from recovery discs I burned right before the hdd died, but there is just more chances for a win system to get jacked up
I'm doing this vm to see the possibilities, I just recently got a desktop pc that has a fast enough cpu & enough ram to be practical. I do occasionally run into things that require IE myself, & have a separate hdd that I can boot into
this is probably a little too complicated for him.
I can set up a launcher & have it be relatively seamless
I have a few days to play around & try to figure it out

Oh, you just want to transfer the VM. That's fine, no problem with that. Just make sure that you transfer the full settings and all to avoid reactivation. If you use 4.0, then you can transfer the whole directory of the VM and import it there by opening the .vbox file.

Sasquatch wrote:and import it there by opening the .vbox file.

And for those having difficulty finding an "Open" option in the VBox File menu, it's actually the "Machine | Add..." menu option you should be looking for. On Windows machines, double clicking the ".vbox" file itself does not open an unregistered VM (which is rather unintuitive IMHO).

it looks like I need to go to doing a svn build/update to get to 4.0
I recently got an infusion of better hardware & am going over my 2 computers
doing things like cleaning house [organizing files], moving to newer distro's