virtualbox.org

I have a SSD that has windows installed on it. I created in such a way that I can put it on any computer and it boots.

Is there a way that I create a VHD or VHDX or any other format and mount it in Virtual box and use?

Web-search "Windows P2V" and "Windows P2V site:forums.virtualbox.org" for options.

Dynamically-expanding VHD has a design error that will cause complete data loss if a host disk error or some such happens while the disk is expanding. I don't know if VHDx has the same problem.

J K wrote:Is there a way that I create a VHD or VHDX or any other format and mount it in Virtual box and use?

As Scott says, Google for "P2V site:forums.virtualbox.org", and note all of the mentions of Disk2VHD. As Scott also says, VHD is a poor choice, so you should convert VHD to VDI before use - how you do that is also covered by past discussions.

scottgus1 wrote:I don't know if VHDx has the same problem.

It doesn't, but nor is VHDX officially supported yet AFAIK - no mentions in the manual. VMDK would be the obvious choice, or Macrium Reflect again. Personally when I do it I use Disk2VHD assuming I'm converting directly from physical to VM. If I'm going to physical then I'd always use Macrium, and then once I have the Macrium backup then "restoring" into a VM is always an option too.

I don't shill for Macrium btw, just a fan. Back in time I used to be a fan of Acronis, but then they bloated up the user interface to a confusing mess.

Thank you guys for replying....

I have wasted countless hours trying to make it happen and it never worked for me....

I finally installed it in Hyper-v and it is working allowing me to do what I wanted to...

I wish there was a software to convert a physical hardi disk to virtual box and then simply use it in VB

J K wrote:I wish there was a software to convert a physical hardi disk to virtual box and then simply use it in VB

There is, it's "Disk2VHD". The recommended web searches would have shown you this. Disk2VHD is only mentioned a couple gazillion times. One of which was Mpack's post above yours...

And any P2V/V2P is going to have some glitches *. You're taking the brain out of one body and putting it in another body. Frankenstein moments are to be expected.

*Glitches unless you pay for software to fix them. One free disk-image backup program (Macrium Reflect) has a pay-for different-hardware restore mode that is supposed to handle the Frankenstein stuff. In free software, the user & Google are the different-hardware-restore mode...)

scottgus1 wrote:One free disk-image backup program (Macrium Reflect) has a pay-for different-hardware restore mode that is supposed to handle the Frankenstein stuff.

AFAIK, the free version handles all of the stuff I mentioned above - and I'm sure because I have not bought the non-free version. I assume you are talking about the "Re-deploy" feature that they mention on their website. I've never used it (being non-free), but it seems to take care of all the Windows software stuff (as opposed to the hardware/GPT/MBR stuff) you might have to do after you get Windows to boot, e.g. fetching device drivers etc. TBH I don't entirely see the point: Win10 all by itself will go online and get new drivers when it detects hardware changes, so I'm not sure what's on offer there.

The paid version does have encrypted backups and so forth that I have no use for. I expect that the only people who pay for Macrium are business users, a bit like VirtualBox itself.

The "Re-deploy" or 'dissimilar hardware restore' functions are something I read about some time ago, back in Windows 7 or XP days. I haven't stayed up-to-date though. 10 may be a lot more capable in switching hardware.