virtualbox.org

have 2 machines loaded with virtual box
-windows 10 pro host
-OS X host

initially created guest file on fixed disk drive e: on the windows 10 pro host

purchased a portable disk drive, copied the guest file from the windows 10 pro to portable and re-named it

connected the portable disk drive to the OS X host, created new ... etc and works fine

do not want to delete guest file from drive e: on windows 10 pro host

tried to create another guest on the file residing on the portable and get the following error:
any ideas
thanks in advance for any help

Cannot register the hard disk 'H:\VirtualBox_VMs\Win7_x64_Portable\Win7_x64_Portable.vdi' {2f993670-d15b-41a6-8e9c-82385d2e09ad} because a hard disk 'E:\VirtualBox_VMs\Windows7_64bits\Windows7_64bits.vdi' with UUID {2f993670-d15b-41a6-8e9c-82385d2e09ad} already exists.


Result Code:
E_INVALIDARG (0x80070057)
Component:
VirtualBoxWrap
Interface:
IVirtualBox {0169423f-46b4-cde9-91af-1e9d5b6cd945}
Callee RC:
VBOX_E_OBJECT_NOT_FOUND (0x80BB0001)

Your procedure is fundamentally mistaken. Move the entire VM, don't scatter the files.

Howto: Move a VM.

mpack wrote:Your procedure is fundamentally mistaken. Move the entire VM, don't scatter the files.

Howto: Move a VM.

mpack
thanks again for the help, have read the article
>If you are running on a Windows host then be wary of moving VMs to removable storage. Windows has a nasty habit of changing the drive letters of removable drives, which will >invalidate the VM path stored when you used Machine|Add.

I have copied to a removable disk so I can use in different computers, and windows allocates different drive letters depending on the machine being plugged
any work around?

thanks in advance for any help

If you want a workaround for Windows changing drive letters on drives then you need to ask Microsoft about that. If there's any viable alternative to drive letters for non network drives then I'm not aware of that either (I'm aware of drive numbering, but that is no better than letters to identify removable drives).