Question

Cloning a VirtualBox VM

Asked by: peetm

What's the best way to duplicate a VirtualBox VM?  I have an XP Pro VM that's fully up-to-date, and I want to clone that, and then customise the clone/s in various configurations, e.g., one for development, one for graphics etc.

I know about VBoxManage clonevdi, but I wonder if this is the best way, e.g., would a cloned VM have name clashes etc?

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Asked On
2008-12-30 at 08:01:12ID24015776
Tags

Virtual Machine

,

VirtualBox

Topic

Virtualization

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Answers

 

by: MikeKanePosted on 2008-12-30 at 08:47:17ID: 23263861

The 2 things you'd need to worry about when cloning Virtual box is creating a unique hard drive identifier and a unique SID on XP.  

As far as clonevdi, the virtual box forums has plenty of info, one of the users even whipped up a GUI version of it http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=8015  

In XP, you would have to update the SID on the box so its unique each cloned image.   Sysinternals has the utility to do that for you:
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx

Aside from that, It sounds like you would be familiar with the basics of renaming the box, assigning a new IP, etc...  drop a note here if you want info on those.  

 

by: peetmPosted on 2008-12-30 at 09:09:23ID: 23264057

>>As far as clonevdi, the virtual box forums has plenty of info, one of the users even whipped up a GUI version of it http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=8015  

Hmmm, tried this app, set it up, hit clone, and it instantly said 'done', although I can't find the clone - so I don't thinkit worked!

>>Aside from that, It sounds like you would be familiar with the basics of renaming the box, assigning a new IP, etc...  drop a note here if you want info on those.  

If you fancy giving a small blow-by-blow, well, I'd appreciate it.

 

by: peetmPosted on 2008-12-30 at 09:23:45ID: 23264172

Just as 'an add'.

I tried clonevdi and, once it completed, I then added that machine.  However, they 'appear' to be the same machine, i.e., although I've added it, only one VM shows up in the list of VMs.

 

by: MikeKanePosted on 2008-12-30 at 09:40:51ID: 23264306

OK - step by step  

1) use Clonevdi to create a copy....  http://www.pcsympathy.com/2008/12/29/clone-your-virtualbox-image/
2) Load up the new, cloned copy.   Following the example above, your copy should be given a new name.   Search the filesystem for it if it doesn't readily appear.
3) After the Vm is booted, perform the following windows maintenance:
    a) Use the SID to create a new SID on the machine....  I suggest it not be a domain member when you do this.   http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897418.aspx
    b) Assign a new IP address if your box is statically assigned. http://www.home-network-help.com/set-ip.html
    c) Assign a new name to the cloned host.  http://support.microsoft.com/kb/295017
4) Reboot the guest OS and you should be in business.

 

by: MikeKanePosted on 2008-12-30 at 09:42:18ID: 23264318

BTW, in virtual box, you've cloned the Hard disk.  So you would need to create a new Guest OS and assign the cloned HD to it.  
http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-create-new-virtual-machine-in-virtualbox.html

 

by: peetmPosted on 2009-01-02 at 07:58:26ID: 23280199

C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox>vboxmanage clonevdi "C:\Users\peetm\.Virtual
Box\HardDisks\XP Pro SP3.vdi" "C:\Users\peetm\.VirtualBox\HardDisks\CloneXP.vdi
"
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.1.0
(C) 2005-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Clone hard disk created in format 'VDI'. UUID: 61bddf01-4ab5-4fea-bee7-7add61720
301

At this point I created a new VM, and added CloneXP.vdi as an existing boot drive [see attachment Image1]

However, when starting the VM, I get this error [attachment - Image2]

The cloned harddrive info is here:

C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox>vboxmanage showhdinfo "C:\Users\peetm\.Virtu
alBox\HardDisks\CloneXP.vdi"
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.1.0
(C) 2005-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

UUID:                 61bddf01-4ab5-4fea-bee7-7add61720301
Accessible:           yes
Logical size:         10240 MBytes
Current size on disk: 5536 MBytes
Type:                 normal
Storage format:       VDI
In use by VMs:        Clone (UUID: 59ce4455-dd1b-417b-b880-b523df9ecbc2)
Location:             C:\Users\peetm\.VirtualBox\HardDisks\CloneXP.vdi

 

by: MikeKanePosted on 2009-01-02 at 11:21:42ID: 23281779

The process is correct.   The HAL.DLL error is a windows load error where the file just can't be found on the drive usually indicative of hard drive corruption or partition issues...  


Just to be certain, let me run through the same setup....   Standby

 

by: peetmPosted on 2009-01-02 at 16:12:26ID: 23283349

>>Just to be certain, let me run through the same setup....   Standby

Thanks.

BTW, I re-did the process, cloning the existing working hd again, whilst keeping the previous clone.  Same result when trying to start the new clone.

 

by: peetmPosted on 2009-01-03 at 04:33:26ID: 23284934

I believe I've found a work around for this:

http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/2813

I.e., cloning to VMDK format seems to work.  Apllying the new SID and changing the name using newsid.exe also worked fine.

 

by: MikeKanePosted on 2009-01-04 at 07:15:45ID: 23290015

Good then.     But there should be no reason why cloning in the virtual disk format wouln't work.....   I'll finish up that on Monday when im back in the office

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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