Windows in VMWare on Debian Etch: any Gotchas?
I'd like to make my wife happy by keeping her Windows environment, but I'd also like to move her gradually into Linux. My plan is to build a VMWare Windows environment on Etch. Question is: Has anyone been able to recover a full backup of their Windows setup (extra programs and all) onto the newly installed VMWare Windows setup? Or do I really have to go thru all the updates and patches and add-ons and crap to get the "pristine" just-off-the-disk virtual install up to the current state she expects?
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As far I know, backup of original windows does not work in viryual machine, You have to go through the whole process from scratch.
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Hi.
There is this item: Quote:
However, the converter looks like it could save a lot of work -- provided it does the job correctly. There is also a step-by-step at: Quote:
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The only issue with the converter I think, would be if you had a LOT of programs and bloat on the windows machine. Your vmware image could end up being HUGE !!! For that reason alone you may want to consider a fresh clean install to the VM. I Dunno about you, but I had Hundreds of gigs worth of applications and data on my old windows box.
I guess it depends on how much of your Linux Hard Drive you are willing to sacrifice to the vmware image for that windows machine :) |
thanks folks - update: VMware Converter did the job sweet and easy, instructions were right on. BUT:
farslayer is right - my Win2k image is close to 50Gb. I installed vmplayer on my debian machine and tried to load the image off the windows machine thru the network - PLONK - The file is larger than 2Gb. Won't play. How do i get debian to work with larger files? I use ext3 filesystem. |
Hi.
Page 3 of the step-by-step on the Import Wizard illustrates a check-box for splitting the disks into 2 GB files, similar to the process for creating new virtual machines. Was that not there in your version? ... cheers, makyo |
yes it was there - i didnt check it when i created my first image, i only checked the option to allow the disk size to grow as the instructions said this is usually a good choice. I didnt expect to have this problem :) I will create another image, but this time I'll check that box; will post results asap. Thank You!
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OK. As instructed, i checked the important box to split the disks into 2GB chunks. I now have a wonderful clone! Talk about gotchas :) Thanks everyone.
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