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glasskuter
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Newbie needs lots of help-can't convert existing installation

Hello, First let me say that I am brand new in the VM world.  This is my first post so if I am posting in the wrong place please let me know.  I have 2 PC's- one has dual boot Windows 7 and XP, the other Windows 7 and Windows 8.  My goal, if possible, is to convert XP and Windows 8 existing installations to VMs.  I have spent many many hours and remain unsuccessful.  When I tried VMware Converter 5 I was given no option of converting just one partition.  After reading around the web I found Converter 3.0 which gave me the option of converting one partition but when I did XP would never boot. ((I didn't try converting Windows 8 because I didn't think that version of Converter was compatible with Win8.  Besides, I didn't want to mess with my Windows 8 install until I knew for sure I was doing it right.)

I then attempted converting an XP Acronis backup but could never get the converter to recognize the file.  Then I set about setting up XP VM with fresh install which worked but it kept telling me I had to activate Windows (which I expected) but I couldn't because I did not have internet access from the host.

I have read extensively but the more I read the more confused I get.  Can anyone tell me if what I want to do is possible and if so tell me how to properly do it.  Remember, I'm very new at this so use small words. :smileygrin: Thanks for any help.

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JorgeBuitrago
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Contributor

Have you tried using VMware Workstation 9?. In the main menu you'll see Virtualize Physical Machine

VMware-Workstation_1.png


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