Can you virtualise directly from a hard-drive?

[Passey92]

Hello,

I have been passed a hard-drive from a colleague. We cannot use it to log into but can access the files.

It has Windows 7 installed and has run correctly. Is it possible to virtualise from just the hard-drive and if so what would the process be?

Thank you

[peetz]

Greetings and welcome to the forums!

What virtualization product are you targeting?

If it's Workstation Pro for Windows then you can attach the hard disk to the Windows host machine, create a new Windows 7 VM in Workstation and use the attached physical disk with that VM.

With an ESXi host you could do something similar if the hard disk is a USB disk.

Alternatively you can use a tool like Starwind Converter (https://www.starwindsoftware.com/starwind-v2v-converter) to convert the physical disk to a virtual disk (VMDK file), and then build a VM with the VMDK file.

- Andreas

[Passey92]

Hi Andreas,

Thanks for the reply.

I'm using Workstation Pro to try and create the VMs but everytime the OS fails to load properly.
I'm doing this via a guest OS as I don't have an ISO for a fresh Windows 7 install. The hard disk itself does have Windows 7 installed on it with all system files present and correct.

I have tried creating the VDMK of the physical disk but that wouldn't even load the OS and would fail to boot properly.

Thank you

[clay_2023]

Virtual hard drives can be created in VHD format where the minimum size is 3MB. To create a virtual disk, right-click on 'My Computer' and select 'Manage' or use "diskmgmt.msc" in the start search bar.

Step 1: The Computer Management window will open. Click on 'Disk Management', then 'Action', and then 'Create VHD'.

Step 2: browse to the directory where you want the disk to reside, select the size, and select dynamic or static. Dynamic disks expand as you add files, while static disks remain the same size.

Step 3: The virtual drive will be listed as an 'unallocated space' in Disk Management.

Step 5: Right-click and select 'Initialize disk'.

Step 6: Click 'OK' after selecting Master Boot Record.

Step 7: Right-click the unallocated space to create a volume, select 'new simple volume', and complete it by following the instructions.

Step 8: On the set volume, specify the amount of space in MBs you wish to use.

Step 9: Give the volume a unique letter, such as a V, and then click 'next'.

Step 10: To speed up the process, format the new system as FAT32, or NTFS, and then select 'perform quick format'.

Step 11: To complete the wizard, click 'Finish'.

You can now use your newly created virtual hard drive. It will appear along with other drives on your computer.

Like any other hard drive, you can lose data from a virtual hard drive. You may lose data from the virtual hard drive by accidental deletion, improper operations, corruption, etc. It is recommended that you always back up before performing operations like detaching a virtual hard drive to prevent data loss.