Best way to convert a Windows XP Pro VM to a physical machine

[UlyssesOfEpirus]

The physical machine is too slow to run VM's but the VM contains tons of software that there are no installation CD's for.

Tried Acronis True Image to make an image of the VM's system partition and copy the image to the physical machine's system partition.

During the physical boot Windows XP shows that it loads a few drivers and then the screen goes blank with a blinking cursor.  No boot log file is generated in Safe Mode so the boot log (ntbtlog.txt) probably cannot be written to disk.  Both VM and physical machine use IDE drives.

Unfortunately no Windows XP Pro CD is available to do a Repair Install (the VM was created by imaging my old broken laptop and activation was done with the license number from a sticker at the bottom of the old laptop).

Is there a better way to do the conversion from VM to the physical machine, given the XP Pro CD is not available, only the license number?

[wila]

Hello,

I'm afraid you are in a bit of trouble here as you are clearly stating that the old laptop had an OEM version of Windows XP.

As a result the Windows XP itself was licensed specifically only to the hardware it came with (the sticker you mentioned)

Trying to get it running in a VM itself is already breaking that license even in the case where you would run the VM on that same hardware (at least in the case of Windows XP as it did not grant you to also install in Virtual Machines)

The virtual machine hardware is seen as different hardware (and thus the need to activate again)

Trying to move that VM back to physical hardware is only legal if you would put it back to the broken laptop.

I am aware it is a catch-22 but we're not allowed to discuss here on how-to work around that type of issue as that also violates the  VMware Community Terms of Use.

--

Wil