How to duplicate VM

[satimis]

Hi all,

I expect to duplicate a VM on PC1 to PC2. Please advise an easy way to complete it.

Thanks in advance.

Regards

[scottgus1]

Moving Copying a VM

Fully shut down the guest from within the guest OS.

Find the guest folder that contains the guest's .vbox file. Copy that whole folder, along with any guest disk files stored outside the guest folder, to the new computer.

If a guest disk file was outside the guest older on the old host PC, reproduce the exact path on the new PC and put that floating guest disk there.

On the new PC, in the main Virtualbox window's Machine menu, use the Add command to add the copy's .vbox file. The guest should now appear.

If you have any problems, note the exact error message you got and what step you were doing.

[satimis]

Hi scottgust1,

Thanks for your advice and link.

On VirtualBox Manager, it displays

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13 VMs
New group 2
New group 3
New group 4
New group 5

They are stored in "VirtualBox VM" folder. But on the folder it only displays 12VMs plus 4 groups. The VM named "multisite03" disappears. It is very strange to me. All VMs are NOT running.

Please advise how to get "multisite03" back.

Thanks

Regards

[scottgus1]

Please advise how to get "multisite03" back.

I have not got the foggiest idea. I wasn't watching what you did.

Did you move the guest instead of copy it?

[satimis]

Please advise how to get "multisite03" back.

Did you move the guest instead of copy it?

Hi,

No. I haven't done anything on it.

At the beginning I have no idea where the VM images are retained. Then I searched and found /home/satimis/"VirtualBox VM" folder. I counted the numbers of VMs on the folder against that on VirtualBox Manager and found multisite03 VM missing on the folder.

It is very strange to me. The multisite03 VM is still working. I have cloned about 20 websites from the Live websites of Godaddy server on this VM. The websites can be browsed on local network without problem.

Any idea to re-discover it on the folder? Thanks

Regards

[scottgus1]

If you can find "multisite03" in the list of VMs in the Virtualbox Manager, right-click it and click "Show in File Manager". This will open the file manager inside the guest folder. Look at the file manager's displayed path to find where the guest folder is located on your host's drive.

[satimis]

If you can find "multisite03" in the list of VMs in the Virtualbox Manager, right-click it and click "Show in File Manager". This will open the file manager inside the guest folder. Look at the file manager's displayed path to find where the guest folder is located on your host's drive.

I got it;

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/home/satimis/VirtualBox VM/LAMP-ub2004pciessd/multisite03/multisite03.vbox

It is inside the folder of LAMP-ub2004pciessd VM

How to move it back to VirtualBox Manager? Afterwards, would it affect the working of multicite03 ?

Regards

[scottgus1]

Right-click the guest in the guest list and choose Move. The guest must be shut down to do this. The guest should still run fine after the Move.

[satimis]

I got it done. multisite03 is now in /home/satimis/"VirtualBox VM" folder. Thanks.

A further question.
PC configuration:
HD-1 SSD 1TB Running OS
HD-2 WD HD 4TB for data storage

"VirtualBox VM" folder is now on HD-1 SSD which is nearly full. Can I move all VMs to HD-2 in the same way?

Regards

[scottgus1]

Yes. Move will go to different physical drives.

I would strongly recommend a complete disk image of the 1TB disk, so the existing guests are backed up in case something goes wrong. And it is a computer, something might possibly go wrong

[satimis]

Yes. Move will go to different physical drives.

I would strongly recommend a complete disk image of the 1TB disk, so the existing guests are backed up in case something goes wrong. And it is a computer, something might possibly go wrong

I got it. Thanks.

HD-1 SSD 1TB
Still having about 230G space left.

Regards