VMware Communities
robinbayeux
Contributor
Contributor
‎06-29-2010 02:47 AM

Migration of win xp from bootcamp partition

I want to migrate win xp installed in bootcamp on my old macbookpro to a new virtual machine (not bootcamp partition) on a brand new macbookpro.

I've booted old macbookpro into win xp, installed and started PC migration agent and launched vmware fusion on new macbookpro, started 'migrate your pc' from the file drop down, entered the numbers from migration agent, entered administrator and password and off it goes looking promising.

But it doesn't move on from the preparing migration window. Left it for a couple of hours and there appears to be no activity. It also hangs the old macbookpro so I have to restart it.

Migration Assistant is also asking for 215Gb of space which seems a lot as the bootcamp partition on the old machine is only 30Gb. I only have 230Gb available.

I'm using Fusion 3.1.0. The partition on the bootcamp win xp is Fat 32 but I've attached a drive formatted NTFS as advised.

Is it pilot error on my part or is it not possible to migrate from bootcamp or should I leave it longer overnight?

Has anyone else succeeded at this?

Thanks to anyone who can help

0 Kudos
1 Reply
mudaltsov
Expert
Expert
‎06-29-2010 09:06 PM

I haven't personally tried to do a migration from a Boot Camp install, but it should work the same as any other PC. If it's not reporting progress, then something is most likely wrong, and it won't help to wait any longer.

Could you please attach the log files from the following location in Windows?

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware vCenter Converter Standalone\logs


Since this is a Boot Camp installation on another Mac, there is an alternate way to convert it into a VM if you have a FireWire cable:

  1. Start your old Mac (with Boot Camp on it) in Target Disk Mode by holding down T on start up (or using the Startup Disk preferences).

  2. Connect it using the FireWire cable to your new Mac and wait for the disks to be mounted.

  3. Launch Fusion and select the automatically detected Boot Camp entry in the VM Library.

  4. Click the Import button on the bottom toolbar in the Library.

  5. Pick a location you want to save your VM. You should probably also change the name from the default "Boot Camp" to something more useful.

  6. Click Save and wait for the Import process to finish. The imported VM should be automatically added to the Library.

  7. Quit Fusion and eject the old Mac's mounted partitions.

  8. Unplug the FireWire cable and power off the old Mac by pressing the power button.


The imported VM will only take up the amount of space that is used by the Windows partition, however the virtual disk settings will report it as the full disk size, because the layout of the virtual disk will match the physical disk it was imported from. The old Mac partition data will just be omitted from the VM's disk.

In general, this should also be the case with the Migration Assistant. It's possible that it's just reporting the maximum possible space including the Mac partition, which won't actually be transferred.

0 Kudos