virtualbox.org

I have some Vmware Workstation images that I want to convert over to VirtualBox 4.0.4. My 1st attempt is trying to bring over a WinXP SP2 image. I removed VMware tools and the image really has no other software installed. I copied the VMDK file to my VB box , created a new VB image and pointed it to the VMDK file. When I try to start up the WinXP image in VB I just get a black console and nothing else.

I then tried running Vboxmanage clonehd XP.VMDK XP.VDI -format VDI and that clones the HD fine. I then connected this to the XP image but still get black screen when trying to start it up.

Am I missing steps on converting a VMware image over to VB 4? Are there good instructions for this as I did not see any in the VB documentation and my Google searches seem to only find older VB versions.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

Turn on IO APIC.

There is no right or wrong setting for the IO APIC with an XP guest. However, if you turn it on and then install Windows then you can't just turn it off afterwards, the result is a black screen like you've seen. VMWare has IO APIC turned on by default, hence most VMs migrated from VMWare will require it turned on.