Boot from pre-existing win partition

[stemaras]

Hello everyone. Some time ago I used the VMware Fusion version for Apple on an iMac (although I have a little doubt if it was Paragon ...). I had a double boot (win7 / mac) and I remember that I was able from a mac environment to boot the win7 partition inside a virtual machine. So I didn't need to create a VM from a physical machine or install a new VM. Would it be possible with VMware to make such a configuration? Thanks.

[scott28tt]

So still on a Mac? Therefore a Fusion question?

[stemaras]

yes...

[scott28tt]

A moderator should be along to move your thread to the Fusion area.

[wila]

Hi,

Not exactly 100% sure what you are asking.

It is possible to create a VM from an existing Bootcamp partition, but you cannot create a Bootcamp partition from a VM.

Note that the Bootcamp configuration has to work for VMware to be able to pick it up.

Not sure if you can still get Windows 7 to work as a Bootcamp partition in macOS as I don't think it is still supported. You probably need at least Windows 10.

Last year there was problems with getting a bootcamp machine to work in Fusion 12, but as of macOS 11.3 update and VMWare Fusion 12.1.1. this should work again.

Also note that this only works on intel based apple hardware as apple has no support for Windows bootcamp on M1/Apple Silicon.

Hope this helps,
--
Wil

[stemaras]

No, in fact it was something I did a little while ago. I had a working bootcamp and with Fusion I remember being surprised that I could activate the existing win7 partition. Now after the EFI upgrade, without knowing it I made my imac (2011!) No longer compatible with any win version (too old for win10, no longer installable win7 and in any case no longer supported and upgradeable if not paid for companies) . I'm actually thinking about this because I have a pc installed with win10 and I would like to install linux mint; I was wondering if it was then possible to apply the same concept, that is to activate the win10 partition from a VMware version in the same way, without migrating it to a virtual machine.

[wila]

So.. your question is a question for VMware Workstation Professional now it turns out (I'll move the thread one more time)

There's no automatic feature for this in Workstation.
Technically it can be done, but sadly I don't have the steps for you.

There's an option when you add a virtual disk to a VM to use a physical disk, which is roughly how you should do this.

--
Wil

[ColoradoMarmot]

No, you can't remotely run a PC as a virtual machine.

 You can do a physical to virtual conversion of your existing machine, but it's always best to install from scratch.  Converted machines tend to be bloated and unstable compared to fresh created ones.

[stemaras]

You are right, sorry. But it is a question that I would not know how to frame but that actually concerns more a workstation functionality

[stemaras]

As I repeat, it's something I did a while ago, but I'm sure what I'm saying. I had a dual boot with win7 and osx and could activate the existing win7 partition directly. The only doubt is that if the sw I used was actually fusion or paragon. But this allowed me not to create a new partition or virtualize an existing one. Since I was doing it long ago, I was wondering if this functionality was still possible or maybe improved ...

[RDPetruska]

As Wila already said, in order to do this you need to create a VM and use a physical disk instead of a virtual one.  When using the 'create virtual machine' wizard, you need to select 'custom' in order to expose the advanced options.

[stemaras]

Great! thanks, I will try as soon as possible and update on the result. Thank you!