Sharing virtual hard disk between different hosts???

[Okie2003]

I have used VB for a few years on a Linux host. I started in Mepis and have from time to time shared a vdi virtual hard disk between installations, especially when I was upgrading my production install say from Mepis 7 to Mepis 8. I never had any trouble doing this. Recently I tried using a vdi that was used in Mint 9 in a new install in Mint 10. It would not open. I don't remember the error message. VB in Mint 9 is 3.1.6 and VB in Mint 10 is 3.2.8. I would not thought that to be a problem since I am sure the versions were not the same when I have done this before. In fact when I went from Mepis 8 for my production install to Mint 9 I am sure I did not have any trouble. Anyway my vid corrupted and I had to reinstall Win 7 (now that is a difference, I had been using Win 2000 and Win XP). I thought it was a fluke, but I tried using the new one in Mint 10 and again it would not open. I stopped there and it is still working in Mint 9. I know I can clone it, but will it work and that takes up disk space. Any ideas?

[mpack]

Though not explicit, I'm guessing you are using different VBox versions on the two hosts. Therefore...

Others have reported that newer VBox versions (certainly v3) does not like the really old VDIs. Note that it's the version of VBox which created the VDI which is important, not which VBox version it was last used with, as the header format was set at creation time.

If it is a problem with "obsolete" VDI format then you can bring it up to date by cloning using CloneVDI tool (see sticky in Windows Hosts forum). This tool will need Wine if you want to run it on a Linux host. Note that you can't use VBoxManage, because the whole point is that the official VBox software won't like your VDI - though by all means you can try it!

[Okie2003]

Thanks so much. I will try this and report back.

[Okie2003]

Things were looking good for a few moments. The CloneVDI tool worked great in Wine and the new cloned drive worked fine in Mint 9. However, when I tried to start it in Mint 10 I was taken to a screen that gave me the option of starting normally or starting in repair mode. I tried normal, but it failed and Windows has run through several repair cycles, and still is, to no avail. On the first cycle I was asked if I wanted to restore to an earlier version of Window so figuring I had nothing to lose I said yes. Even that did not help. After about 30 minutes I tried to shut it down and VB went into a "not responding" state.

[mpack]

You don't mention what options you set in CloneVDI: hopefully you kept it simple - no options set, change one variable at a time. Also bear in mind that all CloneVDI does is copy a disk image: it can't cure any problems inherent in the image. If VBox now can start to boot with the drive then it can't be rejecting the drive because of an obsolete format, meaning that CloneVDI did its job.

[Okie2003]

Also bear in mind that all CloneVDI does is copy a disk image: it can't cure any problems inherent in the image. If VBox now can start to boot with the drive then it can't be rejecting the drive because of an obsolete format, meaning that CloneVDI did its job.

I agree completely. The cloned image worked fine in VB in Mint 9 so clearly there was not a problem there. I did enlarge the original vid size, but again it worked fine in Mint 9. I may try creating a vdi in Mint 10 and seeing if it will run in Mint 9. I just didn't want to reinstall all the software. But first I will try running Clone VDI without changing the disk size.

[mpack]

You talk about "creating a VDI in Mint 10" but that doesn't really make much sense. The VDI is fine, it's compatible with VBox, and that's all that is required. No version of Mint can even detect that the VDI exists, never mind be sensitive to the format version. That is a feature of the physical world, totally invisible to the virtual.

I think we are getting distracted here - I believe your current problem is that you have a Mint 10 image which you can't boot successfully. I would take that narrower question to the proper forum (Linux guests) and pursue it there. There may be a problem with Mint 10 that I certainly am not qualified to discuss, not being a Linux user.

[Okie2003]

Thanks for the feedback.

You talk about "creating a VDI in Mint 10" but that doesn't really make much sense. The VDI is fine, it's compatible with VBox, and that's all that is required. No version of Mint can even detect that the VDI exists, never mind be sensitive to the format version. That is a feature of the physical world, totally invisible to the virtual.

I think we are getting distracted here - I believe your current problem is that you have a Mint 10 image which you can't boot successfully.

I think we agree here. My thinking at this point is that there is something wrong with the VBox incarnation in Mint10/Ubuntu10. Hence the idea of working backward.

I would take that narrower question to the proper forum (Linux guests) and pursue it there. There may be a problem with Mint 10 that I certainly am not qualified to discuss, not being a Linux user.

Sorry, I guess I don't understand. Linux is my native OS and Windows as my guest. It is a Windows vdi that I am having trouble with. Sorry if I have this in the wrong place.

Thanks again.

[mpack]

Sorry, I guess I don't understand. Linux is my native OS and Windows as my guest. It is a Windows vdi that I am having trouble with.

Ah, sorry I had your situation reversed in my head. Your "creating a VDI in Mint" comment makes more sense now. Ok, Linux hosts would appear to be the proper forum - you should find more specialist expertise there, and as an added benefit people won't assume you use some other host...

[Okie2003]

Just a final follow up. I booted into Mint 10 ran CloneVDI again without enlarging disk and it worked! I tested in Mint 9 and it worked. I then ran Clone VDI again and expanded the disk and it works all around.

I have no idea what was done differently, but I won't argue with success.

Thanks for the CloneVDI tip.