How to create a Virtualbox image from a WindowsXP (host) physical partition

Question

How to create a Virtualbox image from a WindowsXP (host) physical partition. I want to reverse the Host--winXP and Guest--Ubuntu. First I have to be able to create a VDI Host of my winXP fisical partition. Who can tell me if it is possible and how to do it. With Acronis I have already done the HD-Immagine-backup.

thank you ..

Solution

Microsoft has a free utility called Disk2VHD that will let you create a .vhd or .vhdx file from a running Windows XP machine. It also works on Vista and later.

You should be able to just use the .vhd file if you have un-checked the "use vhdx format" box in Disk2VHD. If you create a .vhdx file you will need to convert it before using it as a VM because VirtualBox only has read-only support for .vhdx files.

Here's a command to convert the image:

VBoxManage convertfromraw /path/to/VHDX /path/to/new/VDI --format VDI

Comments

[Álvaro González]

For everything you love, don't forget to uncheck the VHDX option, which is checked by default, or you'll lose several hours of your life that will never come back.