Is it possible to convert a non-bootable Windows disk to a virtual machine?

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Nocturnal

Gawd
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Jul 20, 2006
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Only option I have seen is with the VMware Enterprise Cold Clone disk but it's only available to enterprise customers.

Is there anything out that that will take a hard drive and convert it into a virtual machine image?

I have a computer with a bad motherboard and power supply but the hard drive is still good and we need to figure out how to get it back up and running. I know that Acronis has the universal restore. Is there anything else?
 
Nocturnal said:
I know that Acronis has the universal restore. Is there anything else?
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Depending on the OS, you may not need Universal restore. Once you create the image in TIB format, Acronis has an option to convert the TIB to a VHD (HyperV) or VMDK (Vmware) disk. Create your virtual machine, attach the virtual disk and boot it up.

If the guest doesn't boot correctly, you may need to repair the boot files. After that you'll need to update drivers since the hardware will have changed.
 
I'm pretty sure you can use imagex to capture the drive as WIM. Then there is a tool to convert the WIM to a VHD. Once you've got that VHD you just need to convert it to VMDK and you're good to go.
 
VMware Converter can do that for you. You'll need to pull out the HDD you want to virtualize, stick it in an external chassis or USB adapter or as another HDD in a computer. You'll want to select that HDD to convert into a VMDK.
 
Red Falcon said:
Sweet, I'll have to give this a try sometime.
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Also, a nice tip to know: if you're converting a physical Windows installation to a virtual machine, you will need to copy the HAL.dll from an existing and fully working virtualized Windows (of the same kind -- 2000, Server 2003, XP, Vista, Server 2008, 7, Server 2008 R2) and copy it over overwriting the existing HAL.dll into the virtual machine of the newly converted/ported Windows. You'll need to use something like UBCD/PartedMagic to get that file into the virtual machine (as you won't be able to boot it until it has a VM-friendly HAL.dll).

Hope this helps. :)
 
aronesz said:
VMware Converter can do that for you. You'll need to pull out the HDD you want to virtualize, stick it in an external chassis or USB adapter or as another HDD in a computer. You'll want to select that HDD to convert into a VMDK.
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I don't see the option to do it with VMWare Converter stand alone. Are you talking about an Enterprise version that you need to have a VCenter license for?
 
So just for reference sake you can't do it straight from an external drive, I looked high and low and even scoured the VMWare forums. There are slight mentions here and there that you can but from the looks of things, I don't see an easy option to do it. So I opted for the next best option which was to install my version of Acronis True Image 2010 and create a .tib file. I'll use the converter to then create the necessary files for my VM. Thanks guys.
 
Nocturnal said:
I don't see the option to do it with VMWare Converter stand alone. Are you talking about an Enterprise version that you need to have a VCenter license for?
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Nope, free version should be more than enough. I guess you need to attach it directly rather than do it through USB? I can't remember whether I did my conversion through a USB adapter or hooked up to the system as though a secondary..

:( maybe I am remembering wrong
 
aronesz said:
Also, a nice tip to know: if you're converting a physical Windows installation to a virtual machine, you will need to copy the HAL.dll from an existing and fully working virtualized Windows (of the same kind -- 2000, Server 2003, XP, Vista, Server 2008, 7, Server 2008 R2) and copy it over overwriting the existing HAL.dll into the virtual machine of the newly converted/ported Windows. You'll need to use something like UBCD/PartedMagic to get that file into the virtual machine (as you won't be able to boot it until it has a VM-friendly HAL.dll).

Hope this helps. :)
Click to expand...

I've never had to do that and I've P2V'd a metric ton of computers.

The only time I've not been able to boot due to HAL's is going from a single core physical to a multiple core vm, or a multiple core physical to a single core vm.
 
Eickst said:
I've never had to do that and I've P2V'd a metric ton of computers.

The only time I've not been able to boot due to HAL's is going from a single core physical to a multiple core vm, or a multiple core physical to a single core vm.
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Perhaps maybe that is why I had to copy HAL. The machine that was converted was a single-core, and I do not remember if I decided to take advantage of 2+ cores that I could use in VMware Workstation.

*shrugs*

Supposedly if you use the VMware Converter, it should just be a one-shot import-and-play deal.
 
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