1 Base-Image for different VMs?!

[bjklkhjfgf]

Hey there.

I'd like to use some Win XP-VMs. I'd be great if I could use 1 "base-image" and "differ-images" (1 per VM) to save storage. Is this possible using vbox?

[mpack]

Yes. Probably easiest is to create linked clones of your first running VM. See section 1.12 of the user manual.

And just to eliminate a common misconception: bear in mind that the shared base image must be frozen, you cannot apply OS updates to it later, these would have to be applied to each individual child VM.

[bjklkhjfgf]

It is not? I thought tghis would be realized as some kind of 2-layer-file system. So if a file is not present in the individual image, it will be searched in the base image?!

[BillG]

It is a two-layer system. The second layer holds only changes to the base image. That is why you cannot change the base image itself.

[Leak]

It is a two-layer system. The second layer holds only changes to the base image. That is why you cannot change the base image itself.

Yeah, it's a two-layer system - but a 2-layer disc-sector-system, not a 2-layer file-system. VirtualBox's VHD files are totally file-system agnostic, otherwise you could only use a handful of file-systems that were supported by VirtualBox...

[stinkyfingerjones]

Hey there.

I'd like to use some Win XP-VMs. I'd be great if I could use 1 "base-image" and "differ-images" (1 per VM) to save storage. Is this possible using vbox?

see http://www.electricmonk.nl/log/2011/09/ ... -on-write/