[Solved] No way to restore a VM from .vbox & .vdi ?

[QuentinThavaux]

Hi to all,

Please apologize about my english.

I'm kind of a newbie .. I know that there is a Vbox Manager to export a VM in order to run it on an other computer, but that time, I've just forgotten to do it ...

My mac had serious problems so I had to delete what was on the disk and reinstall OS X on it... Before doing it, I've copied the .vdi file which was in a truecrypt container I made, and i've copied the folder with the debian.vbox file (my VM is titled "DEBIAN"), debian.vbox-prev file, and the "Logs" folder which was in it.

Please, please, please, please, ... tell me there is a way to get my VM up and running ... I really need the content which is in it.

Before reinstalling OS X on my mac, I was on Yosemite and had the version 4.3.6 of VirtualBox.

Now I'm on Mountain Lion (cause my mac was so slow I had to change the OS to sell it on eBay in a couple days), and I have the version 4.3.20 of VirtualBox.

As I said, please, please, please, please, ... tell me there is a way so I can get my VM up and running..

I will appreciate any help !!! I'm so dumb I know .. I knew it .. But I've just did it to quickly ..

Thanks in advance !!!

[mpack]

Put the folder structure back how it was, then use Machine|Add... to register the VM (the .vbox file). If the .vbox and .vdi files are in the same folder then it should work. The Logs folder isn't required. There is sometimes also a Snapshots folder, hopefully you didn't overlook that, or at least didn't use snapshots - because if you did then the VM is gone.

For future reference read Howto: Move a VM.

[QuentinThavaux]

Thank you so much for your answer !!! I can't thank you enough !!!

In order to help people in the future who would have the same problems as me, I'm just gonna explain briefly what I've done (it's really simple).

I had created a truecrypt container and installed my VM in it. Consequently, the .vdi file was into the truecrypt container while the .vbox file and the LOGS files was into a dedicated folder into my VMs directory. When I've backup all my files and entirely erase my computer disk, I obviously copied the truecrypt container, and copied the folder of my VM.

To restore it by following the advices of mpack, I've simply dragged and dropped the .vbox file into the truecrypt container, so both .vdi file and .vbox file were in the same place.

As it was required to, I downloaded the last "VirtualBox Extension Pack" and the appropriate VirtualBox version compatible with the extension pack, then I've clicked on "Add" and not on "New"' in the drop-down menu of VirtualBox, to add my VM ( + A). I've then chosen the .vbox file of my VM, and all was back and running !!!

Thanks you so much again mpack !!! You probably save days of my life retrieving all my files, etc ... I love you !!!

[mpack]

You're welcome. I would suggest that you now make backups of those important files, and institute a policy of regular backups of the VM folder. Avoid all use of snapshots, they only complicate backup, restore and (particularly) repair tasks.

[QuentinThavaux]

Thanks a lot ! I'll do it each 2-3 months now ! Thx again !! Long life to free source softwares !!