[GRLUG] VirtualBox question

[Bill Littlejohn]

On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 1:06 PM, John-Thomas Richards <jtr at jrichards.org>wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 12:05:34PM -0500, Bill Littlejohn wrote:
> > On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 11:40 AM, John-Thomas Richards <
> jtr at jrichards.org>wrote:
> > > I'm confused about why I need to move the partition into another
> > > partition (on a USB drive).  Is it so it has a bootloader?  Can I not
> > > install a bootloader into the restore partition and accomplish the same
> > > thing?  (Perhaps my ignorance is showing here...)  The restore
> partition
> > > would only be used to install the VM and then it could be removed (at
> > > the least unmounted).
> > >
> > > > If you have a spare drive large enough to copy your existing drive
> into,
> > > > then you can attach that to the VM and boot the VM using a live CD
> ISO,
> > > > repartition the drive to turn sda2,sda3,sda4 into one ntfs partition,
> > > reboot
> > > > the VM without the live cd and run the restore, then when it's all
> done
> > > and
> > > > youv'e successfully booted the restored OS, shrink the OS partition
> as
> > > small
> > > > as practical (and obviously somewhat <38GB).
> > > > After all that you'll have a working VM, and all you have to do is
> > > convert
> > > > the physical drive into a virtual one and change the VM config to use
> the
> > > > new virtual disk.
> > > > I may be wrong, but other methods seems to get rather complicated
> rather
> > > > quickly.
> > > > This of course all hinges on having another 130GB+ drive laying
> around.
> > >
> > > Why would I repartition sda2-4 into one ntfs partition?  I don't want
> to
> > > get rid of my Linux install.  I just want to boot the restore partition
> > > via VirtualBox to create a VM of the factory install of my laptop,
> after
> > > which I can delete the restore partition and continue running Debian as
> > > my operating system, booting <gulp> the Vista VM as needed.
> > > --
> > > john-thomas
> >
> > Apologies for being unclear.
>
> I'm pretty sure it's not you being unclear.
>
> > I essentially meant to make a copy of your existing disk, and then to
> modify
> > those partitions. In the end having a single (restored) OS in a VM, no
> > dual-boot.
>
> I'm still confused why I would modify the partitions on my drive.  Do you
> mean the USB drive?
>
> > I also did not mean to confuse the issue by sending something mildly
> > related, that was only to provide that Virtualbox can boot a partition
> and
> > some associated commands that may help shed some light.
> >
> > I'm installing V.B. on another pc right, and I'll be back shortly.
>
> I think I need to reread this thread.  Thanks for your help!
> --
> john-thomas
> ------
> Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it.
> Henry David Thoreau, naturalist and author (1817-1862)
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I'm still confused why I would modify the partitions on my drive.  Do you
mean the USB drive?
Yes.
I'm making an image of the restore partition on this pc I have right now.
I'll try to see if there's a way to boot it without using another drive.
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