virtualbox.org

Hello,

I want to make a clone of the host running Windows 7 into to a new VM, and use it on the same host. Is this possible and if so can someone please guide me?

Thanks,
Srinivas

We seem to be getting quite a lot of questions on P2V (ie Physical-to-Virtual) conversions at the moment. Look at some of the recent threads on this subject, and they will give you more information on how to make a copy than one more reply could possibly do.

A couple of things to note, though, before you spend too much time on it:

a) You clearly cannot fit an exact copy of the disk on itself. There isn't room. But if your disk has a lot of empty space, then you may be able to create a dynamic-sized disk which doesn't include this empty space, and the result might fit into the space you have.

b) There is no guarantee that the resulting virtual machine will work. It almost certainly will not work straight away because your physical and virtual machines have different characteristics and need different drivers for many devices. If the two machines are moderately similar, however, and you have the Windows 7 installation DVD available, it might just be possible to "repair" the virtual one and get it to run.

Remember that, if you succeed, the resulting virtual copy of Windows will have to be re-activated.

dlharper wrote:Remember that, if you succeed, the resulting virtual copy of Windows will have to be re-activated.

... and any attempt to do so may void the activation of the host, unless your license allows multiple concurrent installations using the same CD key.