is it possible to clone a hard disk (maybe with dd) into a vdi file for virtualbox so i can run that os.

When i try to install xp with the install disk i get a error saying that a file opn the hd is missing ( i assume a anti piracy protection).

how would i create a vdi of the hard disk and load into Vbox,

thanks in advance

Seems maybe Clonezilla could do that;
( http://lnxpowered.org/2009/06/08/vir...he-vdi-larger/ )
at least it can make a vdi bigger, it can probably also clone a partition and make it vdi?

looks promising, only i can't figure out how to get my dd clone of the hard disk into virtual box so i can copy it to the virtual vdi disk,

There shouldn't be any problem installing Windows XP on Vbox. If you describe the procedure and the error message exactly, somebody can probably help you with that. There are quite a lot of howto's about on the subject as well.

If you want to perform a P2V (physical to virtual) migration from your harddisk to Vbox, then you could use vmware's free convertor program to make a vmdk file which you can either run directly under vbox or convert to a vdi file.

Here's an example howto:
http://blog.subaquatic.net/archives/...x-p2v-success/

Regardless of what you do you will have to renew your Microsoft authentication after the installation, just as you would have to after moving to any other hardware.

Hope that helps.