copy VM to new machine

[Peter-493]

Dear all,

I did a clean install for Mavericks and now need to set up my old VM again. I have the old Mountain Lion still on disk and can boot it, so no problem and I can copy or even export the virtual machine (XP) in all ways.

Some research brought up these options:

(1) Use the "Import/Export utility";
(2) Copy the entire VM folder, containing the .vdi and .vbox files; fiddle around with xml-files
(3) Clone the VDI using "Virtual Media Manager" and then recreate a VM on the target machine but using the cloned VDI as the hard disk.

I am not sure of the pros and cons, I tend to go for option 1 as I have no current snapshots I could loose. Also, one big file is easy to handle. Is this the way you folks would recommend or do I have any disadvantages of working with a OAV or VMDK machine?

When searching there also come up hundreds of posts with clonevdi, but as far as I remember this has now been become obsolete with the new export features, right?

Thanks!
Peter

[socratis]

(2) Copy the entire VM folder, containing the .vdi and .vbox files; fiddle around with xml-files

From the "Moving a VM" FAQ, it doesn't seem that you have to "fiddle" with the xml files. It just works as long as you're running VBox > 4.0.x.

[Peter-493]

Wow, indeed, went smoothly. Thanks!

Peter