Rebuilt the host machine, have vb files, how to restore?

[hangerglide]

I reformatted the machine that was hosting vb (VirtualBox-4.2.18-88781-Win). I copied all of the files off to a separate disk, and after the reformat put them back in the original location. I installed vb to the same location and changed the path to the vb machines, and restarted vb. I had hoped that the list of vms would appear in the list, but it's still empty. How can I restore vb and the vms it listed to the same state that I had preformat without manually recreating each entry? I've found some interesting articles/postings around this subject, but so far none seem to match what I want to do exactly.

One article I found that was close to my scenario seemed to say that as long as I installed to the same location, and then repointed vb to the actual machine and disk dirs, the list of vms would appear at the next vb start. But they didn't appear...and there is no way to spec the disk dir any more, as far as I can tell.

[mpack]

It would help if you were specific about which files you backed up. If you backed up the "VirtualBox VMs" folder then you add back each VM one at a time using Machine|Add... and browsing to the .vbox file inside the VM folder. You can also double click .vbox files in Windows.

[hangerglide]

Thanks for the reply mpack. My vbox setup installs into
e:\virtualbox
and inside it I have folder for the disks and machines
e:\virtualbox\machines
e:\virtualbox\disks

I have all files in e:\virtualbox.

From what you say there is no way to rebuild the list automatically? I read the list and settings for each vm was an xml file which could be used to restore the set of vms just like it was. But as I mentioned, while the current vbox does have a 'default machine folder' it does not have a 'default disk folder' like that article shows.

[hangerglide]

When I try Add, and select the vbox file, I get and error

Failed to open virtual machine located in E:/virtualbox/machines/vbox-o2010 (w7 32-bit office 2010 32-bit)/vbox-o2010 (w7 32-bit office 2010 32-bit).vbox.

Could not find an open hard disk with UUID {b89b7ec0-d64b-4bf8-b155-6e8cad2bd7cb}.

Result Code: VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)
Component: VirtualBox
Interface: IVirtualBox {3b2f08eb-b810-4715-bee0-bb06b9880ad2}

Is this because vbox does not know where to locate the disk? I mentioned before, they're in a separate set of folders, and vbox does not seem to have a way to point to the default disk folder any more. And the virtual media manager dialog does not have a way to "Add" disks. Should I put the assets of each vm into the same folder?

[mpack]

and inside it I have folder for the disks and machines
e:\virtualbox\machines
e:\virtualbox\disks

That's the old v3 layout - from back when VMs were not portable. I wish you had said so earlier. In this case the "Machine|Add" command is not available, as that only works for v4 VMs.

Is there a "VirtualBox.xml" file in your VirtualBox folder? If yes, then perhaps all you need to do is override the default home location by creating a global environment called VBOX_USER_HOME=<path to VirtualBox.xml>.

Note that any VMs created by VBox v4 or later will have been created in <userdoc>\"VirtualBox VMs". Did you back that folder up too? Or perhaps you have no VMs created using v4 and later?

I suggest that you convert the VMs to V4 format as soon as possible. Tips on how to do that here.

[mpack]

When I try Add, and select the vbox file, I get and error
Failed to open virtual machine located in E:/virtualbox/machines/vbox-o2010 (w7 32-bit office 2010 32-bit)/vbox-o2010 (w7 32-bit office 2010 32-bit).vbox.

Well, given that you aren't even using v4 format VMs, I don't know how you're finding a .vbox file at all. If you've been using some kind of homebrew hybrid layout then I'm afraid I can't advise you because I've no idea what you've done.

[hangerglide]

I didn't realize there was a machine/disk layout change since v4 came along, so I didn't communicate anything about that.

I do have a copy of the user profile docs but there is nothing like "VirtualBox VMs". Everything is in e:\virtualbox\machines and e:\virtualbox\disks. Some of the vms date from v3, but many are v4.

There is nothing homebrew or hybrid about this setup other than the path setup I've used since day one. I don't know what that message meant.

More on that error message, the Copy button does not copy all of the text. What was missing was "Failed to open vm located at xxx" and "Could not find and open hard disk with UUID {etc}.

It looks like I'll recreate by hand.

[mpack]

If you do at least have the VDI files, and you haven't used any snapshots, then as you say it should be possible to create new VMs around the existing disk. The new VMs will be in v4 format, which is good in itself. Try to ensure that the hard disk ends up inside the VM folder (i.e. move it there before telling the VM wizard about it), otherwise you'll be creating similar problems for your future self.

I do have a copy of the user profile docs but there is nothing like "VirtualBox VMs". Everything is in e:\virtualbox\machines and e:\virtualbox\disks. Some of the vms date from v3, but many are v4.

I'm not sure what you mean by "the user profile docs". The folder structure is described in section 10.1 of the user manual: Where VirtualBox stores its files.

[hangerglide]

You had asked if I'd also backed up "Note that any VMs created by VBox v4 or later will have been created in <userdoc>\"VirtualBox VMs"." and that's what I meant by user profile docs.

I've been able to create a couple 'new' vms and link them to the vdi media files. As you suggest, after spec'ing a name in the new vm wizard, vbox creates a folder named like that, and I move the vdi file into it, and then in the disk dialog associate the vdi with the new machine.

The one I'm having an issue with so far is a vmdk file. It was a machine which I retired and wanted an image of. When I start it, it's just a black window (no cmd prompt or other startup artifacts appear). It should be windows xp. I'll fiddle with it some more, and look at your 'convert' link in case that applies.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated! Not the exact solution I hoped for, but getting your input has helped me proceed along the path that seems to be open to me.

[mpack]

On the black screen XP: I'm taking a guess that the VMDK was created by VMWare, in which case the XP VM is probably expecting IO-APIC to be enabled (that being the VMWare default).

[mpack]

I've been meaning to say: if all your VMs are in v4 format then there's no advantage in having your VBox home folder on drive E:\, since the contents of C:\VirtualBox is trivially small (just the global settings xml and a couple of log files). Your VBox preferences however can specify E:\SomeFolder as the container for all new VMs you create - so all the large files will go to drive E, which I assume is what you want.

[hangerglide]

Yes I bet you're right, re IO-APIC, it's been a couple of years since I set that up so I'd forgotten.

Since I already have vbox installed on e again I'll just let it be. Yes the idea of hosting the disk and machine files on e was about disk space.

Thanks again

[hangerglide]

I realize this thread is a bit stale, but I still have some issues with vbox on the new machine and the old vms I had.

First, IO-APIC settings have been important for getting some of the machines to run.

But I can't get one important windows 7 pro vm to start. It was originally created with vbox 3, so it had it's files in two folders, one for the vm config and one for the media (went through that above). I've tried to follow the pattern that has worked for other vms but the vm fails to boot - windows 7 starts and then crashes, offers to try to fix itself and fails.

What I did (same pattern as has worked for other vms) is to start creating the vm, and at the step when it's asking for a media file, I copy the old vdi file to the just created folder for the new vm. I tell vbox to use that as the hard disk. At first it says the disk is inaccessible but by the time I've completed the new vm wizard it says 'normal'. But the vm won't boot. It's not using IO-APIC, and none of the other machines that use vdi files are either.

What else can I try?

[mpack]

I think you should start a new thread for this problem, and provide complete diagnostic info, e.g. error message, VM log file.

[hangerglide]

OK, I'll do that.