virtualbox.org

I would like to do something like the following:

• Create a Windows XP clean image
• Use clean image to create a clean image with VS2008 and SVN
• Use clean VS2008 image to create build bots
• Use clean WinXP image for something else

The clean images would all be immutable after they were created (i.e. after windows is installed, or after VS2008 is installed, etc.). I would like to avoid copying the immutable WinXP image for space reasons. I know this is sort of like snapshots, but it appears that snapshots are connected to a specific VM. I would like to create something like a named immutable diff vdi that can be used with multiple vms just like any other image. Is this an existing feature that I simply can't find, or does this feature not yet exist?

Linked clones. Create a clone of your existing VM, select "Linked" rather then "Full" when you get to that dialog.

Well, that's not quite what I want because I would like to be able to name the images. However for the time being it's a good enough measure so thank you very much.

In addition, because the original image was immutable I had to do: on the snapshot generated for the new machine.

You are welcome. I must add however that while I felt obliged to tell you about the thing which was closest to what you asked for, I would not trust this arrangement with a bargepole, particularly for development. Like all snapshot/difference schemes it is cumbersome to move around and back up, and you stand to lose everything if the base image is corrupted, ditto for control files.

I would have used full clones, created at each of the milestones you mentioned.