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Virtualizing a physical computer

Froyorst Posted messages 23 Status Member -  
avion-f16 Posted messages 19182 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   -

Hello,

I'm looking to virtualize one of my computers (running on W8.1)

The idea is that instead of booting physically on my machine, I want to start it under a virtual machine.

(Note that I'm not trying to virtualize my hard drive to access it via a VM. The goal is really to virtualize the computer)

I've made several attempts. For disk virtualization, no issues, but it's the use on a virtual machine that crashes.

I've tried with VMWare and VirtualBox, but each time I encounter the same problem, the machine cannot find a boot sequence.

I admit I'm a bit stuck on what might be wrong, but I think I'm probably not the only one who has tried to do this.

Does anyone have an idea of what I can check to achieve a result?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

1 answer

  1.
    avion-f16 Posted messages 19182 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   4 511
     

    Hello,

    Is the disk you are passing to the virtual machine the entire disk with the partition table and all its partitions?

    Passing only the Windows partition will not be enough.

    Keep in mind that a virtual machine operates like a real machine, and you want to move your Windows 8.1 from one machine to another. Of course, the new machine needs to receive the entire disk.

    In the case of a virtual machine, it will therefore be a complete disk image, or a "pass-through" to the disk if it is connected to the host.

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    1. Froyorst Posted messages 23 Status Member
       

      Yes, the disk is indeed the entire image of the disk, all partitions included.

      I used disk2vhd for virtualization and Starwind V2V converter to create a VHDK image.

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    2. avion-f16 Posted messages 19182 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   4 511 > Froyorst Posted messages 23 Status Member
       

      Could you specify the options and partitions you checked in disk2vhd, along with a screenshot?

      Is the physical machine BIOS or UEFI type?

      Is the virtual machine of the same type?

      What is the exact result displayed by the VM (screenshot if possible)?

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    3. Froyorst Posted messages 23 Status Member > avion-f16 Posted messages 19182 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention  
       

      Here is for disk2vhd

      So the machine is in UEFI

      If I enable the EFI option in VM, I get this result

      Without enabling this option I get this result

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    4. avion-f16 Posted messages 19182 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention   4 511 > Froyorst Posted messages 23 Status Member
       

      Hello,

      GRUB? So you have a dual boot with Windows 8.1?

      Since the actual machine is UEFI, you need to include the EFI partition in the virtual disk and the virtual machine must also be UEFI.

      It seems that disk2vhd does not display this partition in the list and you first need to assign it a letter for it to appear.

      I don't know how disk2vhd works regarding the creation of the partition table in the virtual disk, but the GPT partition table also needs to be copied with the same UUIDs.

      Are you not selecting C:? Is Windows installed on E:?

      To be virtualized, a virtual disk must be copied in its entirety, from the first sector to the last used one, without even trying to read the partition table or select partitions. On Linux, this can be done with the "dd" tool.

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    5. Froyorst Posted messages 23 Status Member > avion-f16 Posted messages 19182 Registration date   Status Contributor Last intervention  
       

      No, no dual boot, I don't know where this grub comes from.

      Yes, indeed, one of the partitions is missing in disk2vhd.

      I tested another method, which is a disk backup with clonezilla and then restoring it on the disk of a VM.

      But I have the same problem...

      It is the Windows disk that is selected, I took the screenshot on another config (Boot USB but the result is the same)

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