Friday, June 18, 2010

Convert VDI file to VHD virtual hard disk format file

I had a dilemma , where I needed to run my VirtualBox virtual Windows XP OS, in another PC running Microsoft Virtual PC 2007. As you would know, Virtual PC 2007 would require the virtual OS harddisk file to be in VHD format. But my virtual Windows XP OS is in a VDI format file. So how ?

A check on the Internet shows VirtualBox comes with a command-line tool called VBoxManage, which includes functions to convert VDI files to VHD files. Cool !

Below is the command sequence which allowed me to convert the VDI file to VHD file. Phew !

Problem solved !

Command sequence as below :

a) Location of VBoxManage.exe -> d:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox
b) Location of VDI virtual OS file -> d:\virtual_os\Windows_2003_R2_30GB_11june10.vdi
c) Target output filename to D drive -> d:\sharepoint.vhd

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d:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox>vboxmanage.exe clonehd d:\virtual_os\Windows_200
3_R2_30GB_11june10.vdi d:\sharepoint.vhd --format vhd
Sun VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 3.1.6
(C) 2005-2010 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Clone hard disk created in format 'vhd'. UUID: bfb203e0-c7f0-43fe-a4a3-dcd02877b
b91

d:\Program Files\Sun\VirtualBox>


========================================

Check link below for more info on the VBoxManage command :

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=687&highlight=convert+virtual

You can also check the Sun VirtualBox Help files included, as it contains extensive documentation on usage of the VBoxManage command & it's parameters.

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