Copy and Paste VM
Installs
Windows 2000, XP, W6-7-8
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Perhaps the quirkiest way to install Windows 2000, WIndows XP,
Vista, Windows 7 or WIndows 8 in VirtualBox.
It's basically copying and pasting all files from an existing VHD OS
install into an empty VHD, with a tweak or 2.
While I've only tested this using VirtualBox, I can't see any reason
for it not to work with a physical install - although
given the futzing around involved in doing it I think it's not worth
the effort.
So far I've tested it with Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 7 and
Windows 8.1 and they all work fine
(I haven't tested this with Vista and Windows 8 but
they use the same boot method as Windows 7 and 8.1).
If you want to try it for yourself, here are the things you'll need:
- For the simplest
option, which is Windows 2000 or Windows XP:
- VirtualBox (or equivalent)
- 1 x VHD with Windows 2000 /
XP installed and working without issues
- 1 x VHD that is < un-initialised
and unformatted > and large enough for the install
- Optionally, 1 x Windows 2000
/ XP install CD (in case you encounter errors - I didn't)
- 1 x VM with
any version of Krusty the Clown's favourite OS
(Linux) for the file copy process
- A sense of humour
- For the not quite as simple
option, which is Windows 6 - 7 - 8 - 8.1
- VirtualBox (or equivalent)
- 1 x VHD with Windows 6 - 7 -
8 - 8.1 installed and working without issues
- 1 x VHD that is <
un-initialised and unformatted > and large enough for the install
- 1
x Windows 6 - 7 - 8 - 8.1 install CD or install CD image/ISO
that
< must > have the Recovery option included - I'll assume
you
have this as you've already done an install into a VM
using it
- 1 x VM with
any version of Krusty the Clown's favourite OS
(Linux) for the file copy process
- An even bigger sense of humour
Please
note - I use "VHD" for the virtual machine's hard disk image - yours
could be VDI, VHDx, QCOW, etc. and "VM" for the Virtual Machine created
by the virtualisation software (in my case VirtualBox).
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The copy process for
Windows 2000 or Windows XP:
- Have a VM running
Krusty's favourite OS (aka Linux) or your preferred joke OS available
- Have a VM with the Windows OS
you want to copy available ("Win-Old")
- Create a new VHD
to copy the Windows OS to ("Win-New")
- Attach the
"Win-New" VHD to the Windows 2000/XP VM you've already
installed the OS on ("Win-Old")
- Boot the VM
- In the VM, right click "This
PC" or "My Computer" select "Manage" then select "Disk Management"
- A dialog will appear asking
to initialise the new disk, click OK (or whatever)
- When initialised, create a
new simple (NTFS) volume on the new disk using the whole disk space
- Set
the partition "Active" - this is important as it sets the disk as a
boot volume and writes the correct OS specific boot code to the MBR
- Your disk is now ready for
the OS copy process
- Right
now you'll be tempted to simply copy the OS files from the hard disk
you booted from to the new hard disk you just initialised and formatted
- but that won't work as Windows will refuse to copy certain system
files and you'll not get a bootable install. You must use a non-Windows
OS for the file copy (i.e., Krusty's favourite OS)
- Shut down the Windows VM
- Release both Windows VHDs
from your Windows VM
- Attach both VHDs to
the VM that has Krusty's favourite OS, or your preferred joke OS
- Boot Krusty's favourite OS
- In
the VM, open Krusty's file manager - you'll see both the "Win-Old"and
"Win-New" VHDs showing as 2 drives that are both "Unmounted" drives
- Mount both of these (Windows)
drives and then open each drive in a separate file manager window
- Now for the guts of it -
select all the files in "Win-Old" and copy them to "Win-New"
- Krusty's file manager will
copy without whining about protected files, permissions, etc.
- Unmount both drives and
shutdown Krusty's favourite OS
- Detach both Windows VHDs
- Attach the "Win-New"
VHD to the Windows VM that you used to format it
- Boot the VM
- Welcome to Windows 2000 or
Windows XP
- This
process worked fine for me with both Windows 2000 and Windows XP. In
the event this doesn't work for you and you get nothing / a BSOD /
Windows hangs then your optional CD comes in
- Re-boot
the VM using the original Windows install CD and on the "Enter to
Install" screen select the "R to Recover this PC" option
- This will take you to a
command prompt where you'll enter your credentials to log in to Windows
(no GUI)
- After logging in, at the
command prompt type "FixMBR" then "Y" to confirm
- Then remove the CD and reboot
the VM
- Welcome to Windows 2000 or
Windows XP
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The copy process for
Windows 6 - 7 - 8 - 8.1:
- The
same process as detailed for Windows 2000 / XP above - but when you
shut down Krusty's favourite OS after copying the files to "Win-New"
and attach the VHD to your Windows VM, the
following restore
boot files process < must > be done - NeoSmart Technologies https://neosmart.net/wiki/fix-mbr/ has a good guide
on doing this
- just ignore the advertising for the Easy Recovery Essentials software
at the top of the page
- The restore boot files
process is:
- Re-boot
the VM using the original Windows install CD and on the "Enter to
Install" screen select the "R to Recover this PC" option (lower left of
screen)
- This
will take you to a command prompt where you'll enter your credentials
to log in to Windows (no GUI)
- After logging in, at the
command prompt enter 4 commands (one at a time):
- bootrec /FixMbr
- bootrec /FixBoot
- bootrec /ScanOs
- bootrec /RebuildBcd
- After each command, wait for
the operation to finish before entering the next command
- When
complete, remove the CD and reboot the VM
- Welcome to Windows 6 - 7 - 8
- 8.1
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Both of these processes
worked for me in installing Windows 2000, XP, 7 and 8.1.
If it doesn't work for you . . . you'll need to consult
Dr. Web.
And
when it does work and you're thinking "Hey, I'll use this to update
Nan's PC" you'll need to sysprep the hard drive done using
this
method before attaching it and booting a real PC, otherwise
you'll
get a BSOD.
And if you're wondering what sysprep is . . . you'll need to consult
Dr. Web.
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