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VirtualBox is a virtual emulator like VMWare workstation. It has many of the features VMWare has, as well as some of its own.
Note:- Before Converting make a backup copy of your vmware image
Solution 1
We are going to use qemu-img tool to this.QEMU disk image utility
First Install qemu qemu-img is included with qemu package using the following command
sudo apt-get install qemu
Convert a VMWare Image to VirtualBox Image
Convert VMWare image called debian.vmdk to /tmp/debian.bin
qemu-img convert debian.vmdk /tmp/debian.bin
Now use VBoxManage to get back image in native format:
VBoxManage convertdd /tmp/debian.bin debian.vdi
Solution 2
VirtualBox can run VMs created by VMware Workstation or Server for this you need to import vmdk files using the following procedure
- Start Virtual Box
- Goto File > Virtual Disk Manager
- Click Add. Locate and select the copied .vmdk file. Click OK.
- Create a New VM as usual using the added vmdk file
- Boot the VM
If you have any other solutions let us share with us.
thanks??it’s work,,
and what about vice versa? is it possible?
thx
Xen is also GPL.
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xen
@Xyz
If you want to convert virtualbox image in to vmware image you can use following procedure
First you need to convert .vdi file in to .raw file using the following command
vboxmanage internalcommands converttoraw debian.vdi debian.raw
Now you need to convert this .raw file in to .vmdk file using the following command
qemu-img convert -O vmdk debian.raw debian.vmdk
Ok… I want to take a HDD windows XP partition and move that to a Virtualbox image that I can run inside of Ubuntu… Any pointers on how to convert that?
To convert an HDD windows xp partition into a VM just use the vmware converter tool. Then follow the steps above to convert from vmware to virtualbox.
There’s more than one way to do it! How? Knoppix.
Essentially you have two working VMs, one is VirtualBox with your Windows partition already to go--fully installed.
In VirtualBox settings, point the CD to either a Knoppix iso, or a Knoppix CD, either will do, which will cause VirtualBox to boot the VirtualBox VM into Knoppix such that the VM mount point is *known* to Knoppix, e.g., /dev/hda.
Set up VMware to open with Knoppix also, and start from the KDE->KNOPPPIX menu sshd server. Open a terminal window and type sudo /sbin/ifconfig to get the VMware ip address. Jot it down. Leave VMware running and switch to VirtualBox and open a Knoppix terminal window there and su to root.
Essentially, you are going to *copy* the /dev/hda filesystem directly over to your VMware VM which has an sshd server listening. This essentially does what ghosting would do except you are using ‘dd’ and ’ssh’ as follows:
dd if=/dev/hda bs=15M conv=sync,noerror | ssh -o TCPKeepAlive=yes \ root@vmware_host_ip “dd of=/dev/hda”
When all is complete, you should have ‘dd’ return some info:
#dd if=nt_backup bs=15M conv=sync,noerror | ssh -o TCPKeepAlive=yes \
root@192.168.114.128 “dd of=/dev/hda”
The authenticity of host ‘192.168.114.128 (192.168.114.128)’ can’t be established.
RSA key fingerprint is 23:d6:0e:b7:7b:23:47:9f:f6:45:a6:cc:5b:f1:d4:b1.
Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)? yes
Warning: Permanently added ‘192.168.114.128′ (RSA) to the list of known hosts.
20971520+0 records in
20971520+0 records out
10737418240 bytes (11 GB) copied
20969319+4402 records in
20971520+0 records out
10737418240 bytes (11 GB) copied
----------------
Close Knoppix on VMware and remove the Knoppix iso from your settings and VMware should find your newly imaged partition!
And there you have it! Knoppix!
--Dietrich
I’m looking for a VPS hosting service which will accept a Virtual Box vdi file and run that.
Any pointers?
Now you can use directly command
VBoxManage convertfromraw
--format vmdk--variant Standard /tmp/debian.bin debian.vdisorry should be /tmp/debian.vmdk instead of /tmp/debian.bin
Thats very nice, thank you.
I have a problem, cause if I use this tutorial what I am importing is the hard drive, but VirtualBox seems to use a different set of virtual hardware and my XP vm isn’t even booting.
Is there a way to import my computers hardware configuration or i’ll have search for a turnaround by fixing my os’s installation instead of changing my VBox configuration?
Thanks again,