VirtualBox: New VM from BootCamp Partition

lilweezyana · Apr 22, 2009

Is this possible? I've searched the boards and found mixed answers. I have already installed XP via BootCamp and have several programs installed on that partition. I'd like to create a VM that is derived from this same system. Is it possible?

chscag · Apr 22, 2009

I don't believe that option is yet supported by Virtual Box. It is, however, supported by both Parallels and Fusion.

Regards.

lilweezyana · Apr 22, 2009

That's the answer I was expecting. One more question if you don't mind.

Say I download Fusion and create a VM from my BC partition. I assume this VM will be saved on my MacHD. If I find that Fusion runs all the programs I need, will I then be able to remove the BC partition and retain the XP VM through Fusion?

chscag · Apr 22, 2009

lilweezyana said:
That's the answer I was expecting. One more question if you don't mind.

Say I download Fusion and create a VM from my BC partition. I assume this VM will be saved on my MacHD. If I find that Fusion runs all the programs I need, will I then be able to remove the BC partition and retain the XP VM through Fusion?

No. If you choose to use your BC partition as a VM within Fusion, you must retain the physical BC partition. The only way would be to create another VM with Fusion first, reinstall Windows, activate it and so forth, then remove the BC partition.

BTW, I do not recommend using a XP BC partition as a Virtual Machine for Fusion or Parallels. There's a fairly good chance of causing corruption to the XP boot sector if you do. Believe it or not, Vista works well both ways but not XP. (Vista uses a different boot sector and method.)

Regards.

gagnerants · Apr 22, 2009

I know there is a company working on real time Multi boot chip sets, but that they are developing for the Gov. Basically what they are doing is you would have a multi partitioned comp with lets say two OSes install, when you power it up it would boot off of both partitions and with a key combo you would be able to switch between those Oses.

lilweezyana · Apr 22, 2009

chscag said:
No. If you choose to use your BC partition as a VM within Fusion, you must retain the physical BC partition. The only way would be to create another VM with Fusion first, reinstall Windows, activate it and so forth, then remove the BC partition.

BTW, I do not recommend using a XP BC partition as a Virtual Machine for Fusion or Parallels. There's a fairly good chance of causing corruption to the XP boot sector if you do. Believe it or not, Vista works well both ways but not XP. (Vista uses a different boot sector and method.)

Regards.

Thanks for the help.. after installing Fusion it was pretty evident this was the case. I'll give it a try for now and if all goes well I'll likely remove the BC partition and start fresh with a new VM.

SammySlim · Apr 23, 2009

I agree with chscag. Ultimately, I deleted my BC partition and related VM, and did a new VM with XP, as I didn't really need to reboot for my applications.

VirtualBox: New VM from BootCamp Partition

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