Importing a Bootcamp partition?

[fbx]

Can VMWare successfully and seamlessly import a Bootcamp partition from Win XP yet? I'm ready but last time I tried this (8 months ago) it did not work. Thanks.

[WoodyZ]

Can VMWare successfully and seamlessly import a Bootcamp partition from Win XP yet? I'm ready but last time I tried this (8 months ago) it did not work. Thanks.

You can create a Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine or you can use VMware Converter to convert Physical Machines to Virtual Machines. Your choice!

[fbx]

I guess I wasn't clear enough. I already have a Bootcamp partition running on XP on an iMac Dual Core that's running Leopard. I boot into Win/Bootcamp all the time.

Now I'm thinking of trying to convert the existing Bootcamp Windows installation into a Virtual Machine running under VMWare within Leopard. I do NOT want to create a Boot Camp virtual machine (ie, one that has Bootcamp Win install functioning as a virtual machine; REASON: two different types of access to the materials (from VMWare and directly from Bootcamp) seems to have all kinds of risks, since the same material is being handled by two different systems, thus opening all kinds of possibilities for the systems to get out of sync. Have heard many tales of VMWare rendering Bootcamp installs unbootable, for example).

I guessed that a straight VMWare VM made out of the Bootcamp install and housed in Leopard and totally DISCONNECTED from the actual Bootcamp installation, with the actual Bootcamp install erased or just left for safekeeping, would be the safest strategy.

Is this not so?

[WoodyZ]

You do not need to be clearer as it doesn't change what I said! You can either run the Boot Camp partition as a Virtual Machine, which you've expressed you don't want to do, or as I've previously stated use you can use VMware Converter to convert Physical Machines to Virtual Machines! Which is why I said it's your choice! Your other option is to create a new native Fusion Virtual Machine however you would then have to reinstall all the software you have already installed on the Boot Camp partition which I assume from your original question that is not what you want to do. So, no Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine and no create new native Fusion Virtual Machine leaves you one choice and that is to use VMware Converter to convert Physical Machines to Virtual Machines! Do I need to be more clear?!

[admin]

There's also the other choice of using vmware-vdiskmanager to import a Boot Camp partition's .vmdk to a normal file, though you lose the resizing flexibility of Converter.

[fbx]

Thanks for your patience. I'll give it a try I guess.

I was thinking that being a Bootcamp partition did not qualify as being a "physical machine," since it's really part of the iMac HD.

[WoodyZ]

I was thinking that being a Bootcamp partition did not qualify as being a "physical machine," since it's really part of the iMac HD.

Installing an OS onto a physical hard drive regardless of how it's partitioned and booting that OS natively from the physical machine can only be a physical machine as under those conditions how could it be anything else!

[fbx]

I'm sure this is a walk in the park for you, seeing as you da king, but I downloaded the VMWare Converter, ran it, and was immediately lost utterly. Then I tried using the VMWare Converter Import Wizard and was even more lost when I got to the 3rd panel where I specified "Import this local machine" and found that the Authentication section was grayed out, with (I supposed) my Win USERNAME and PASSWORD already in place, so I clicked on through only to get the Unable to determine guest operating system" error msg.

So let me rephrase my original question:

Is there a seamless and EASY, "one button" way any damn fool can convert a Bootcamp partition into a VMWare VM to run under Leopard? I am guessing that teh answer is a resounding NO! and that there may be a very clear 28-step process for doing it, but for mere mortals, well, it would be easier to build a new VM in VMWare/Leopard, copy all the contents of the My Documents directory, and reinstall all software.

Is that about right?

[WoodyZ]

I'm sure this is a walk in the park for you, seeing as you da king

So let me rephrase my original question:

Is there a seamless and EASY, "one button" way any damn fool

Yes there is an easy one button approach you can take...

Look on the back of you iMac for a button that look like this and press and hold for 5 seconds!

[fbx]

How'd an earnest fellow like you get to be king?

[admin]

Try this: Download vdiskmanager GUI from . Open it and go to the Convert tab. For Input, navigate to your Boot Camp virtual disk (somewhere in /Users/yournamehere/Library/Application Support/VMware Fusion/Virtual Machines/Boot Camp/); for Output, choose something like /Users/yournamehere/Documents/Virtual Machines/bootcamp.vmdk. Then press Go. This should convert your disk from a physical partition map to a normal virtual disk.

Then just create a new virtual machine using that disk.

[fbx]

thanks. will try that. may just leave it as is. best--

[fbx]

I'm guessing this involves first making the Bootcamp partition a VMWare virtual machine, and then converting that to a non-bootcamp virtual machine? Anyway, tried that, and got the Bootcamp VM made, but then when running the wrapper, picking the Convert tab, locating the Bootcamp VM and setting an Output location, thing ran into an error msg which I cannot now recall. And, since I've rebooted into the Bootcamp Wininstall and had to reactivate (natch) the Win install, I really don't want to mess with the Bootcamp VM again, since just by running it I screw up the Win install and have to reactivate.

So, appreciating your suggestions (all) I now conclude again, as I did last summer, that there is no EASY way to do what I want to do, which is convert a Bootcamp partition (not a VM) into an independent VM in VMWare.

I'll check back here and at Parallels from time to time to see if there's any progress with this kind of conversion/import.

Thanks again--

[Technogeezer]

I don't think you're going to get around the issue of re-activating when converting the VM anyway. Even if you were to find a way to copy the BootCamp disk partition to a file that could be used as a Fusion VM, the minute you fire up Fusion on it, Windows will detect that the underlying "hardware" is different. Re-activation may be necessary.

[fbx]

Have no problem with a single reactivation, what I am less comfortable with is serial reactivation necessary to try that various ways of getting this done. That is, "Here's another way to convert your Bootcamp partition," which doesn't work, and then you have to reactivate to use the computer. And then try this! Whoopee! And when THAT doesn't work you reactivate AGAIN. And again, and again.

So far I've reactivated my Win install on Bootcamp maybe 3 or 4 times while trying different sure fire ways to accomplish what seems to me ought to be a rudimentary task that the VMWare people would (should?) have made fundamental to their project -- conversion TO their project.

But apparently this isn't how the VMWare people operate. Or maybe it's too hard to convert a Bootcamp partition cleanly, directly, easily.

Meanwhile, I've reactivated my old Parallels virtual machine with its Windows install and it's working fine, so maybe I'll just copy over the My Docs directory from the Bootcamp install and forget about converting the Bootcamp installation itself. Somebody mentioned this early on as an alternative, and I'm thinking now that this IS the "clean, direct, easy" way to do what I want done.

Thanks for all help and ideas--