Windows 98 SE .tib image to virtual machine

[ALGAR]

Hi

I have a Windows 98 SE .tib image that i want to convert into virtual machine.

Is it possible?

[mpack]

If you have a bootable Acronis recovery CD then yes, it's quite possible.

I discussed this a long time ago when I too was a VBox noob, still the discussion came up with several usable solutions - read to the end of the thread to be sure you haven't missed any: Accessing huge Acronis Images After a CD Boot.

[ALGAR]

I don't have a bootable Acronis recovery CD...

I still have one machine running Windows 98 SE, i've read somewhere that:
" I finally used Microsoft's free Virtual PC 2004 (there's a 2007 version out), created a blank virtual machine based on Win98, booted the SPD CD within that virtual machine and restored a Win98SE image to the virtual disk."

Is it possible in virtualbox?

[mpack]

Acronis "tib" is a proprietary/closed disk image format, so you need a copy of Acronis to unpack it. This would be true regardless of what VM or even physical environment you target. I don't know what "I've read somewhere" refers to, but what I've just said applied as much in 2007 as it does now.

That said, according to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acronis_Tr ... ile_format), VMWare Converter can convert .tib files, so that might be worth a try. The converted VM should be as usable in VirtualBox as any other migrated image (i.e. expect driver issues, but it should work).

[dlharper]

Acronis True Image (the source of .tib files) is still marketed, and you can download a free trial from http://www.acronis.com. Whether this will do what you want, or whether you would need to pay for a licensed version, I do not know. Please remember that, as with all such software, free trials are what they claim to be - the opportunity to try something out before you buy it. They are not intended to be a free method of doing a one-off task.

[ALGAR]

I don't know what "I've read somewhere" refers to, but what I've just said applied as much in 2007 as it does now.

Thats what i've read:
http://www.storagecraft.com/support/for ... windows-98

http://www.storagecraft.com/support/for ... ct-backups

VMWare Converter can convert .tib files, so that might be worth a try. The converted VM should be as usable in VirtualBox as any other migrated image (i.e. expect driver issues, but it should work).

I've tried VMWare Converter already and converted the tib file to vmdk but when i booted with virtualbox it shows Disc invalid..

Now i'm trying to do what's in those posts in a running physical machine with win 98SE OS and want to know if it's possible in virtualbox..

[mpack]

I'm not sure what either of those blogs have to do with your problem. You have an Acronis disk image, not a ShadowProtect backup. And as I've already said, Acronis "tib" is a proprietary format, so you'll find little that can read it other than Acronis. In short, you would need a copy of Acronis.

I suspect that you may not understand how a VM is used. A VM is a simulation of a PC. Inside that simulation you select and run any software as you might on any other PC; which could include a disk imager such as Acronis. You don't come to VirtualBox asking how to use an Acronis image any more than you would go to HP or Dell and ask that question.

As to whether a P2V of a Win98 system would be doable... I have my doubts. Win98 is much more brittle than modern Windows variants when it comes to hardware changes. At the very least you'll need to have the Win98 setup CD handy to fix driver problems. Do you have that?

On the other hand, most people have no problem installing Win98SE from scratch in VirtualBox. There are a couple of Howto's available, but note however that Win9x is not a supported guest, so no special drivers etc.