Is there a way to recover the files in a Linux OS in VirtualBox?

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Windows hosts.
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VirtualBoxuser3
Posts: 5
Joined: 26. Jun 2020, 02:27

Is there a way to recover the files in a Linux OS in VirtualBox?

Post by VirtualBoxuser3 »

Could anyone help me with, is there any way to recover the files in a Linux OS in VirtualBox that worked previously but one could not start now? Many thanks.
BillG
Volunteer
Posts: 5106
Joined: 19. Sep 2009, 04:44
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows 10,7 and earlier
Location: Sydney, Australia

Re: Is there a way to recover the files in a Linux OS in VirtualBox?

Post by BillG »

Yes.

Just like a physical disk, you do not need a virtual disk to be bootable to read files from it. Attach the virtual hard disk of the Linux vm to a working vm as an additional drive. That is the simplest way.
Bill
scottgus1
Site Moderator
Posts: 20945
Joined: 30. Dec 2009, 20:14
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: VirtualBox+Oracle ExtPack
Guest OSses: Windows, Linux

Re: Is there a way to recover the files in a Linux OS in VirtualBox?

Post by scottgus1 »

On a Windows host, 7-zip (free, BTW) can open Virtualbox .vdi's, interpret Linux filesystems in the .vdi, and extract files to the Windows host.

I just successfully tried this on Ubuntu, Kali, and Puppy guests.
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