[ale] Is there a way of copying existing Windows partition to VM?

[Brian Mathis]

On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 11:29 AM, Neal Rhodes <neal at mnopltd.com> wrote:
> So, I get one of those off-lease desktops.
>
> I plan to shrink the Windows 7 partition down to 80GB, and install Centos
> 6.X on the rest.
>
> Is there a reasonably simple way of getting a VirtualBox or KVM Virtual
> Machine with a copy of this Windows 7 install in it which doesn't involve
> reinstalling Windows 7?   Yes, I hate Windows 7 as much as the rest, but
> occasionally have to use it, and would rather use it in a VM under Centos.
>
> I'm thinking that there isn't an install media for Windows provided,
> although it looks like I can burn a recovery media.    Will that HP recovery
> media install within a VM, or will it detect that it's not seeing "real"
> hardware and barf?
>
> Neal


Nothing wrong with Win7, it runs quite well.  However, you will
probably have problems with licensing.  The currently installed OS is
most likely an OEM version, and it will not stay activated if you run
it inside a VM.  There may be ways around this if your VM platform
allows you to expose the BIOS SLIC table to the guest OS.  This would
most likely be considered a hack.

The OS recovery media will not install into a VM, but there are many
ISOs of clean install media floating around, such as here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/428068-legal-windows-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html
.  MS doesn't really care about the ISO media so much these days, as
long as you have a license.  You can also find the SHA1 sums pretty
easily if you want to verify what you download has not been tampered
with.

I would also recommend backing up the Windows activation before you do
the reinstall.  I have written a small program to backup OEM
activation, please email me off list and I can send it to you.


❧ Brian Mathis