Run a VDI file outside of VirtualBox

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
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hack3rcon
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Joined: 28. Feb 2016, 10:44

Run a VDI file outside of VirtualBox

Post by hack3rcon »

Hello,
Is it possible to run ".vdi" file except of VirtualBox?

Thanks.
Last edited by socratis on 10. Nov 2019, 04:36, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Changed title to something more appropriate.
multiOS
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Re: Run a VDI file outside of VirtualBox

Post by multiOS »

It depends what you mean by "Run". If you are asking if there is any other virtualisation software that will natively accept a .vdi file (virtual hard disk) as the basis for creating a Virtual Machine then I believe the answer is "No", but VirtualBox can save existing vdi's to various alternative formats, although if you are talking about Windows VMs you will probably lose activation because the OS will recognise the conversion as a change in the virtual hardware it is running on.

If you are asking whether there is any software that can open/read the content of a vdi file then there are several. including 7-Zip and PowerISO. Just ask the question in your favourite search engine and you'll no doubt find more.
fth0
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Re: Run a VDI file outside of VirtualBox

Post by fth0 »

multiOS wrote:If you are asking if there is any other virtualisation software that will natively accept a .vdi file (virtual hard disk) as the basis for creating a Virtual Machine ...
... QEMU can use VDI files. But QEMU and VirtualBox emulate different hardware, so hardware drivers already installed in the guest OS may cause problems ...
socratis
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Re: Run a VDI file outside of VirtualBox

Post by socratis »

Change the title from ".vdi file" to something more ... appropriate.

And the question itself has no meaning, it would be similar to "Run my hard disk outside my computer". Well, *if* you could find a "computer" that could run your special-interface "hard disk", then yes. If QEMU can read VDIs, look at the answer from 'fth0'.
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