virtualbox.org

1 - Closed VBox Manager.
2 - Launched VBox Manager.
3 - Highlighted "Comstock's Basic WinXP" VM.
4 - Right clicked and selected "Clone".
5 - Supplied name for clone: "Surfer's Basic WinXP".
6 - Put tick mark to create new Ethernet MACs.
7 - Clicked [Next >]
8 - Selected Full Clone (default).
9 - Clicked [Clone].
10 - Opened a file browser to watch the file progress.
11 - The cloning utility created folder "F:\Angie\Surfer's Basic WinXP".
12 - Watched the cloning utility's progress bar...........(snooze)....
13 - Watched the progress bar reach 100%.
14 - Got the aforesaid error from the cloning utility.
15 - Watched as the folder "F:\Angie\Surfer's Basic WinXP" disappeared.
16 - Dismissed the cloning utility (clicked [Cancel]).
17 - Launched "Comstock's Basic WinXP"... (It works).

Final status: The parent exists and works. The clone doesn't exist.

Ok one last thing to check before we go further. You can click file at the top left of the main manager and go to media manager. Go to Optical disks and find the iso that you have been using and right click the remove it from the media manager. Then see if it will clone the guest. Media of this type will not be deleted but make a backup just in case.

I'll this tomorrow, late here.

I successfully created the clone.

Test1:
1, I removed all CD ISOs from the Virtual Media Manager but left the CD ISO files in the parent VM's folder.
2, Then I cloned the parent VM.
This worked. Result: A parent VM & a child VM, neither of which contained any attached CD ISOs, plus a Virtual Media Mgr. that was empty.

Test 2:
1, I moved the CD ISOs to a different folder so that the parent VM's folder contained just the vbox and vmdk files.
2, Then I attached the CD ISOs to the parent VM (which caused them to be registered with the Virtual Media Mgr.).
3, Then I removed the CD ISOs from the parent VM.
4, Then I cloned the parent VM.
This also worked. Result: A parent VM & a child VM, neither of which contained any attached CD ISOs, plus a Virtual Media Manager that held the CD ISOs.

Test 3: Starting with the results of Test 2,
1, I attached the CD ISOs to the the parent VM.
2, Then I cloned the parent VM.
This also worked. Result: A parent VM & a child VM, both of which contained the attached CD ISOs, plus a Virtual Media Manager that held the CD ISOs.

Conclusion: The CD ISOs can be anywhere except in the same folder with a VM. (Nothing else really matters.)