can I load a physical system as Virtual PC?

[merlin666]

I finally got Virtual PC installed and checked out XP Mode. I also have recovered the harddrive from my old laptop (dual boot XP and Ubuntu), and am wondering if it is possible to load one of these systems into Virtual PC via USB, instead of creating a virtual drive with a completely new system and re-instaling all applications.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
I'm sure Kari will be able to advise on Virtual PC but there is NO problem in powering on a Virtual Machine stored on a USB stick when using VMWARE or VIRTUAL BOX.

When you create your VM just define the Virtual disks as existing on your USB stick.

I use this a lot for "Portable VM's".

You can create a VM from an existing REAL XP system by backing it up with ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE and Restoring via ACRONIS UNIVERSAL RESTORE or use other P2V (Physical to Virtual) software -- or create directly from the XP disk if you have it.

You will have to reactivate again but just do it by phone and say you've moved the XP system to a new machine -- you don't have to say it's a Virtual machine.

As far as Linux systems are concerned --absolutely no probs in creating either REAL or Virtual machines directly on to a USB stick. For a Linux REAL machine the USB will be directly bootable too if your BIOS allows USB booting. For a Virtual machine the VM software will handle the boot from the USB.

I don't think Virtual PC itself is particularly "Linux Friendly". The other two main Virtual software providers VMWARE and VBOX have no problems with Linux VM's.


Cheers
jimbo

 

[Kari]

I don't think Virtual PC itself is particularly "Linux Friendly". The other two main Virtual software providers VMWARE and VBOX have no problems with Linux VM's.

Exactly.

Virtual PC Integration Features work only with XP, Vista and Seven virtual machines, whereas VirtualBox Guest Additions and VMware Tools provide better integration with host also for older Windows and Linux vm's.

Kari

 

[merlin666]

You can create a VM from an existing REAL XP system by backing it up with ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE and Restoring via ACRONIS UNIVERSAL RESTORE or use other P2V (Physical to Virtual) software -- or create directly from the XP disk if you have it.

Thanks, I had imaged the old XP system before its graphic card died, but just deleted the backup last week to make room on my backup drive for my new backups I didn't think that through ...

I found a utility disk2vhd that I will try on the XP partition of the drive. I anticipate issues with drivers, and have no idea if the GRUB bootloader will come along as well or just XP boot.

 

[jimbo45]

You can create a VM from an existing REAL XP system by backing it up with ACRONIS TRUE IMAGE and Restoring via ACRONIS UNIVERSAL RESTORE or use other P2V (Physical to Virtual) software -- or create directly from the XP disk if you have it.

Thanks, I had imaged the old XP system before its graphic card died, but just deleted the backup last week to make room on my backup drive for my new backups I didn't think that through ...

I found a utility disk2vhd that I will try on the XP partition of the drive. I anticipate issues with drivers, and have no idea if the GRUB bootloader will come along as well or just XP boot.

Hi there

you probably WON'T have driver issues with an XP Virtual machine since the basic "Virtual Hardware" set is fairly limited. Windows should handle all of these issues.

Even if the GRUB bootloader is still there you can get rid of it after you've powered on your VM by running a DOS command FIXMBR and re-booting your Virtual machine.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[merlin666]

you probably WON'T have driver issues with an XP Virtual machine since the basic "Virtual Hardware" set is fairly limited. Windows should handle all of these issues.

Even if the GRUB bootloader is still there you can get rid of it after you've powered on your VM by running a DOS command FIXMBR and re-booting your Virtual machine.

Thanks, so I created a vhd file and used Virtual PC to create a new virtual machine pointing to the vhd file. When I load it GRUB starts and reports Error 17. How can I get to DOS and run the FIXMBR command?

Is there a way to access the boot partition on the physical harddrive (invisible in Windows Explorer) to change this. I also have access to another computer with Ubuntu where I could plug the external drive in.

 

[MikeVirtual]

Hi merlin666

If it were a real machine, you would boot from xp cd to get to the Recovery Console and run the fixmbr command.

Similarly, if you have the xp disc, put it in your cd drive and boot the virtual machine from your cd drive, or if you have an xp iso file boot from that, as if you were going to install windows on the vm.

Allow windows install to begin, and continue to the screen that says "Welcome to Setup"

Press R to enter the Recovery Console - (basically a command prompt)

Select the Windows XP installation to log into - there's only one (press 1 then enter)

Log in with the administrator password - I'm presuming you know this - let me know if not

At the prompt, type fixmbr

Eject CD

type exit to reboot the virtual machine.

Should get you up and running.
Mike