Getting VMWare VM running inside VirtualBox

[FanPilot]

Hi all,

I have been trying unsuccessfully to get a VMWare vm running inside VirtualBox. This is because VMWare server is not stable inside a Windows 7 host. I would also like to get it running as I need another VM from one of my clients in order to test hardware and that is in VirtualBox.

Any pointers at all would be appreciated.

I had followed this...
blog. hutzoft. com/2010/10/18/importing-vmware-vmdk-disk-to-oracle-virtualbox/ to attach my existing disk (with disasterous consequences... see my previous post).

I want to give this a go, but when I boot the VM, I get the windows is starting but it just fails to fully boot.

[mpack]

There's no special trick. Remove the VMWare tools, create a VirtualBox VM around the VMDK, make the VM recipe as close as possible to what VMWare had. Make sure IO APIC is enabled.

[FanPilot]

OK, I will try all that later on a copy.

I am also assuming I need to turn off my snapshots as well on the VMWare VM.

Is all I need the .vmdk file or do I need any other files that VMWare has created?

I will keep you up to date.

[mpack]

I would get rid of all snapshots before attempting to port it to VirtualBox. If you have snapshots then you need all files (not just the base VMDK), control files too - and it's much harder to do.

[FanPilot]

Well, I removed my snapshots and also removed VMWare tools. I was then able to boot my Windows XP guest in VB.

I am still getting used to it and not yet sure what I can do... an example of what I would like, that was available in VMWare tools was that I could stretch the window that the VM is inside and that would be my screen resolution.

How can I do this?

All I can see at the moment in the guest is the default VGA options, which don't really suit my host.

I have installed the extension pack, but I can't see anything in there that will help me.

I have tried clicking Install Guest Additions, but I cannot see what this does. I cannot see any way to stretch my guest desktop (apart from Host C, which is not suitable for me).

[Perryg]

If you click on install guest additions in the top tab it will mount them in the guests CD drive. Now sometimes they don't auto-start due to various reasons including having auto-start turned off in the guest. If that happens you open the guests file manager (Windows) and execute the installer manually. Linux is slightly different but I will not go into that unless you state this is a Linux guest. Once they are installed you will be able to drag the screen to what ever size you want or use the host+f toggle to go in and out of full screen.

[FanPilot]

Ah, excellent... thank you very much guys for your help. I seem to be up and running now.