virtualbox.org

My old XP SP2 computer stopped working Saturday and, rather than get it repaired, I'm considering whether I could use some form of virtualization to take over for it. The problem I'm having is that I'm not clear whether there's a migration method that handles this scenario. (I'd like to avoid installing from my SP1 distribution and going through a mess of updates and application installs.)

The machine had two hard drives, essentially system and data, and these have no problem. I can put them into an external USB enclosure and they're visible and readable on my Mac.

So, the question is, is there a way to make use of these drives in order to have a shortcut method of getting a configured Windows virtual machine?

Yes, the process is called a P2V migration, though the process would be easier if you could have run MergeIDE on the original PC first. This page describes some of the issues you may encounter, but the "step by step" bit is outdated and should be ignored.

One of the easiest (free) ways to create a virtual image of a drive is to use Disk2VHD. Be aware however that VHD is a pretty awful format choice, at least in VBox, so I would convert the VHDs to VDI before I started using them: do the conversion with CloneVDI.

Once you have the VDIs you would then build a VM around them, trying to keep the VM hardware recipe close to that of the old PC.

Then you would boot up the VM and see how it goes - don't be upset if it bluescreens or hangs, it would be kind of a miracle if it worked right away.

Thanks for the reply but I get the impression that the tools you mention run on a Windows machine...which is something of a Catch-22 for my situation. Or is the idea to create a basic VM and use it to build the "real" virtual disk?

Oh, sorry, I didn't notice that your question was Mac host specific - I'll move this topic to "Mac hosts".

If you have the hard disks available in a USB caddy then I assume you can borrow a Windows machine to run Disk2VHD - it's a tiny little tool which nobody should have much problem with you installing. You would also need a big USB drive to cart the images around in.

CloneVDI could be run on the same borrowed Windows host or under Wine on a Mac host.

My best guess is that converting physical windoze to VM will probably break your WPA authentication.
See http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php
Your windoze will prolly stop working unless you can reactivate, or get new licence key.
YMMV

bluegroper wrote:My best guess is that converting physical windoze to VM will probably break your WPA authentication.

What? The only thing that "breaks WPA authentication" is using a cracked version of Windows, or a stolen volume license CD key. That has nothing to do with what's discussed above. All that will happen to the OP is that he'll be prompted to reactivate.

mpack wrote: All that will happen to the OP is that he'll be prompted to reactivate.

IIRC, when I last tried this, windoze thought that the virtual "hardware" was more than 3 strikes different to the original physical hardware (of course), and therefore required re-authentication, with a phone call to Micro$oft.
In my realm, thats broken authentication. Its fixable too, perhaps without additional cost depending upon the attitude of call centre operative when you phone in.
YMMV's

A phone call is only required if online activation fails. It can fail for a number of reasons, e.g. no internet connection from the guest, or the same license was activated on different hardware less than 120 days ago, or the license key has been withdrawn because it is known as a stolen / hacked one.

Again, this is not what the OP asked about.

And please stop referring to "Windoze". There is no such product, the word is an unimaginative pun that gets rather tedious when you've heard it a few thousand times. Some versions of Windows have flaws - but so does every other OS. If Windows is so oustandingly bad then one might wonder why people go to such lengths to run it on their Macs: or to rip it off.

mpack wrote:A phone call is only required if online activation fails. It can fail for a number of reasons, e.g. no internet connection from the guest, or the same license was activated on different hardware less than 120 days ago, or the license key has been withdrawn because it is known as a stolen / hacked one.

Online activation might also fail when physical machine is converted to virtual machine, since the virtual hardware (at least by default) will have different mac address, different hdd serial, graphics adapter, etc.

mpack wrote:Again, this is not what the OP asked about.

I've re-read his first post, and believe he was clearly asking generally about whether conversion of physical to virtual might be successful.
I simply try to give suggestion/s. In my experience, thats how forums work well.

mpack wrote: And please stop referring to "Windoze". There is no such product, the word is an unimaginative pun that gets rather tedious when you've heard it a few thousand times. Some versions of Windows have flaws - but so does every other OS. If Windows is so oustandingly bad then one might wonder why people go to such lengths to run it on their Macs: or to rip it off.

Sorry if I've touched a sensitive nerve. Shall try not to offend in future.
There's many reasons why Mac and Linux users might also use the Redmond operating system.
In my experience, such use usually has nothing to do with preference, or good or bad OS, but much more likely to be driven by some small necessity. Those Mac and Linux users have already made their preferred choice of OS.
But thats certainly a topic for another time and place.

When the OP completes his physical to virtual conversion, we hope he'll be kind enough to return here and report upon his experiences.

bluegroper wrote:Online activation might also fail when physical machine is converted to virtual machine, since the virtual hardware (at least by default) will have different mac address, different hdd serial, graphics adapter, etc.

Nonsense, now you are just muddying the waters. The things you mention are among the things that might make reactivation necessary. None of them will make online activation fail. I listed the possible reasons above for actual activation failures.

You are entitled to your opinion of Windows. I saw no need for you to choose this place to tell us all about that opinion.

This additional discussion seems pointless, as well as ill informed. Locking the thread to avoid misleading readers any further.