Converting standard Windows installation to image

[karl_lloyd]

I have a WinXP laptop with various bits of software set up in non-standard ways, so instead of starting from scratch and rebuilding the lot in a new virtual machine, can I make an image of the existing installation and run that? How is that achieved?

Many thanks.

[Technogeezer · Accepted solution]

One way is to use VMware Converter Starter edition to convert the physical system to a virtual machine. You can find it here http://www.vmware.com/products/converter.

The Starter Edition is free.

[karl_lloyd]

Brilliant! Takes about an hour to clone an 8GB WinXP installation.

Many Thanks.