How to easily port VirtualBox machines?












19















I have used VMware for a long time.
VMware saves all the information for one machine in one directory.
This means it is easy to zip and copy.



Now I switched to VirtualBox.



VirtualBox seems to save the machine's information in more than one directory, e.g., a machine I called "Windows 7 Basic" is apparently saved here:



C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxHardDrivesWindows 7 Basic.vdi
C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxMachinesWindows 7 Basic…

(various directories and files)



What do I need to do to transport my "Windows 7 Basic" machine?



The fact that the data is saved under a "." directory and in various places suggests that there is some kind of export/import feature.



I found the "export appliance" feature so I assume this is it.



But I started it for an empty machine and it says "time remaining 1 hour 31 minutes".



Am I doing this right? Does it really take 1.5 hours to "export" a machine and perhaps 1.5 hours to import it again, so 3 hours to move a virtual machine?










share|improve this question





























    19















    I have used VMware for a long time.
    VMware saves all the information for one machine in one directory.
    This means it is easy to zip and copy.



    Now I switched to VirtualBox.



    VirtualBox seems to save the machine's information in more than one directory, e.g., a machine I called "Windows 7 Basic" is apparently saved here:



    C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxHardDrivesWindows 7 Basic.vdi
    C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxMachinesWindows 7 Basic…

    (various directories and files)



    What do I need to do to transport my "Windows 7 Basic" machine?



    The fact that the data is saved under a "." directory and in various places suggests that there is some kind of export/import feature.



    I found the "export appliance" feature so I assume this is it.



    But I started it for an empty machine and it says "time remaining 1 hour 31 minutes".



    Am I doing this right? Does it really take 1.5 hours to "export" a machine and perhaps 1.5 hours to import it again, so 3 hours to move a virtual machine?










    share|improve this question



























      19












      19








      19


      6






      I have used VMware for a long time.
      VMware saves all the information for one machine in one directory.
      This means it is easy to zip and copy.



      Now I switched to VirtualBox.



      VirtualBox seems to save the machine's information in more than one directory, e.g., a machine I called "Windows 7 Basic" is apparently saved here:



      C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxHardDrivesWindows 7 Basic.vdi
      C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxMachinesWindows 7 Basic…

      (various directories and files)



      What do I need to do to transport my "Windows 7 Basic" machine?



      The fact that the data is saved under a "." directory and in various places suggests that there is some kind of export/import feature.



      I found the "export appliance" feature so I assume this is it.



      But I started it for an empty machine and it says "time remaining 1 hour 31 minutes".



      Am I doing this right? Does it really take 1.5 hours to "export" a machine and perhaps 1.5 hours to import it again, so 3 hours to move a virtual machine?










      share|improve this question
















      I have used VMware for a long time.
      VMware saves all the information for one machine in one directory.
      This means it is easy to zip and copy.



      Now I switched to VirtualBox.



      VirtualBox seems to save the machine's information in more than one directory, e.g., a machine I called "Windows 7 Basic" is apparently saved here:



      C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxHardDrivesWindows 7 Basic.vdi
      C:Usersedward.VirtualBoxMachinesWindows 7 Basic…

      (various directories and files)



      What do I need to do to transport my "Windows 7 Basic" machine?



      The fact that the data is saved under a "." directory and in various places suggests that there is some kind of export/import feature.



      I found the "export appliance" feature so I assume this is it.



      But I started it for an empty machine and it says "time remaining 1 hour 31 minutes".



      Am I doing this right? Does it really take 1.5 hours to "export" a machine and perhaps 1.5 hours to import it again, so 3 hours to move a virtual machine?







      virtualbox virtual-machine






      share|improve this question















      share|improve this question













      share|improve this question




      share|improve this question








      edited Apr 28 '15 at 19:55









      G-Man

      5,597112357




      5,597112357










      asked Aug 2 '09 at 20:55









      Edward TanguayEdward Tanguay

      5,9633091123




      5,9633091123






















          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes


















          14














          You can just copy the files inside the directories you mentioned, that is, the virtual harddisk (.vdi) and the xml-based description of the virtual machine. I did this twice, even cross plattform (a XP geust from an OS X host to a Windows XP host, and an Ubuntu guest from a Windows Vista Host to an OS X host) and it worked fine.



          There may be two issues:




          • Both VDIs will have the same UUIDs, which is certainly not how it is intended

          • You may have to make minor changes to the XML-based machine defintion. I remember that it once contained an absolute path to the vdi, which was not valid after the host-to-host transfer. However, I think newer versions of virtual box do not use absolute paths.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 2





            I do this almost everyday between Linux, Windows and MacOSX with very little problems. In fact once you have moved it the first time you can actually just copy the VDI file over

            – BinaryMisfit
            Aug 3 '09 at 11:07











          • .vbox files use relative paths which work if everything is in the same directory; absolute paths will still be used in the "scattered" cases, like when there are disks which are not in a subdirectory of the .vbox file's location.

            – Kaz
            Mar 13 '15 at 18:35



















          5














          The export feature saves the image in OVF format. From the manual:




          OVF is a cross-platform standard supported by many virtualization products which allows for creating ready-made virtual machines that can then be imported into a virtualizer such as VirtualBox




          I believe you want the VBoxManage clonehd command.




          This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a new image file with
          a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be transferred to another host
          system or imported into VirtualBox again using the Virtual Disk Manager...




          VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile>
          [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>]
          [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
          [--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
          [--remember]





          share|improve this answer
























          • I used VBoxManage CloneVDI (instead of cloneHD) and it worked nicely.

            – Ash
            May 31 '10 at 5:37











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          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes








          2 Answers
          2






          active

          oldest

          votes









          active

          oldest

          votes






          active

          oldest

          votes









          14














          You can just copy the files inside the directories you mentioned, that is, the virtual harddisk (.vdi) and the xml-based description of the virtual machine. I did this twice, even cross plattform (a XP geust from an OS X host to a Windows XP host, and an Ubuntu guest from a Windows Vista Host to an OS X host) and it worked fine.



          There may be two issues:




          • Both VDIs will have the same UUIDs, which is certainly not how it is intended

          • You may have to make minor changes to the XML-based machine defintion. I remember that it once contained an absolute path to the vdi, which was not valid after the host-to-host transfer. However, I think newer versions of virtual box do not use absolute paths.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 2





            I do this almost everyday between Linux, Windows and MacOSX with very little problems. In fact once you have moved it the first time you can actually just copy the VDI file over

            – BinaryMisfit
            Aug 3 '09 at 11:07











          • .vbox files use relative paths which work if everything is in the same directory; absolute paths will still be used in the "scattered" cases, like when there are disks which are not in a subdirectory of the .vbox file's location.

            – Kaz
            Mar 13 '15 at 18:35
















          14














          You can just copy the files inside the directories you mentioned, that is, the virtual harddisk (.vdi) and the xml-based description of the virtual machine. I did this twice, even cross plattform (a XP geust from an OS X host to a Windows XP host, and an Ubuntu guest from a Windows Vista Host to an OS X host) and it worked fine.



          There may be two issues:




          • Both VDIs will have the same UUIDs, which is certainly not how it is intended

          • You may have to make minor changes to the XML-based machine defintion. I remember that it once contained an absolute path to the vdi, which was not valid after the host-to-host transfer. However, I think newer versions of virtual box do not use absolute paths.






          share|improve this answer





















          • 2





            I do this almost everyday between Linux, Windows and MacOSX with very little problems. In fact once you have moved it the first time you can actually just copy the VDI file over

            – BinaryMisfit
            Aug 3 '09 at 11:07











          • .vbox files use relative paths which work if everything is in the same directory; absolute paths will still be used in the "scattered" cases, like when there are disks which are not in a subdirectory of the .vbox file's location.

            – Kaz
            Mar 13 '15 at 18:35














          14












          14








          14







          You can just copy the files inside the directories you mentioned, that is, the virtual harddisk (.vdi) and the xml-based description of the virtual machine. I did this twice, even cross plattform (a XP geust from an OS X host to a Windows XP host, and an Ubuntu guest from a Windows Vista Host to an OS X host) and it worked fine.



          There may be two issues:




          • Both VDIs will have the same UUIDs, which is certainly not how it is intended

          • You may have to make minor changes to the XML-based machine defintion. I remember that it once contained an absolute path to the vdi, which was not valid after the host-to-host transfer. However, I think newer versions of virtual box do not use absolute paths.






          share|improve this answer















          You can just copy the files inside the directories you mentioned, that is, the virtual harddisk (.vdi) and the xml-based description of the virtual machine. I did this twice, even cross plattform (a XP geust from an OS X host to a Windows XP host, and an Ubuntu guest from a Windows Vista Host to an OS X host) and it worked fine.



          There may be two issues:




          • Both VDIs will have the same UUIDs, which is certainly not how it is intended

          • You may have to make minor changes to the XML-based machine defintion. I remember that it once contained an absolute path to the vdi, which was not valid after the host-to-host transfer. However, I think newer versions of virtual box do not use absolute paths.







          share|improve this answer














          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer








          edited Aug 3 '09 at 11:17

























          answered Aug 3 '09 at 11:01









          Lena SchimmelLena Schimmel

          4553711




          4553711








          • 2





            I do this almost everyday between Linux, Windows and MacOSX with very little problems. In fact once you have moved it the first time you can actually just copy the VDI file over

            – BinaryMisfit
            Aug 3 '09 at 11:07











          • .vbox files use relative paths which work if everything is in the same directory; absolute paths will still be used in the "scattered" cases, like when there are disks which are not in a subdirectory of the .vbox file's location.

            – Kaz
            Mar 13 '15 at 18:35














          • 2





            I do this almost everyday between Linux, Windows and MacOSX with very little problems. In fact once you have moved it the first time you can actually just copy the VDI file over

            – BinaryMisfit
            Aug 3 '09 at 11:07











          • .vbox files use relative paths which work if everything is in the same directory; absolute paths will still be used in the "scattered" cases, like when there are disks which are not in a subdirectory of the .vbox file's location.

            – Kaz
            Mar 13 '15 at 18:35








          2




          2





          I do this almost everyday between Linux, Windows and MacOSX with very little problems. In fact once you have moved it the first time you can actually just copy the VDI file over

          – BinaryMisfit
          Aug 3 '09 at 11:07





          I do this almost everyday between Linux, Windows and MacOSX with very little problems. In fact once you have moved it the first time you can actually just copy the VDI file over

          – BinaryMisfit
          Aug 3 '09 at 11:07













          .vbox files use relative paths which work if everything is in the same directory; absolute paths will still be used in the "scattered" cases, like when there are disks which are not in a subdirectory of the .vbox file's location.

          – Kaz
          Mar 13 '15 at 18:35





          .vbox files use relative paths which work if everything is in the same directory; absolute paths will still be used in the "scattered" cases, like when there are disks which are not in a subdirectory of the .vbox file's location.

          – Kaz
          Mar 13 '15 at 18:35













          5














          The export feature saves the image in OVF format. From the manual:




          OVF is a cross-platform standard supported by many virtualization products which allows for creating ready-made virtual machines that can then be imported into a virtualizer such as VirtualBox




          I believe you want the VBoxManage clonehd command.




          This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a new image file with
          a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be transferred to another host
          system or imported into VirtualBox again using the Virtual Disk Manager...




          VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile>
          [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>]
          [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
          [--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
          [--remember]





          share|improve this answer
























          • I used VBoxManage CloneVDI (instead of cloneHD) and it worked nicely.

            – Ash
            May 31 '10 at 5:37
















          5














          The export feature saves the image in OVF format. From the manual:




          OVF is a cross-platform standard supported by many virtualization products which allows for creating ready-made virtual machines that can then be imported into a virtualizer such as VirtualBox




          I believe you want the VBoxManage clonehd command.




          This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a new image file with
          a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be transferred to another host
          system or imported into VirtualBox again using the Virtual Disk Manager...




          VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile>
          [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>]
          [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
          [--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
          [--remember]





          share|improve this answer
























          • I used VBoxManage CloneVDI (instead of cloneHD) and it worked nicely.

            – Ash
            May 31 '10 at 5:37














          5












          5








          5







          The export feature saves the image in OVF format. From the manual:




          OVF is a cross-platform standard supported by many virtualization products which allows for creating ready-made virtual machines that can then be imported into a virtualizer such as VirtualBox




          I believe you want the VBoxManage clonehd command.




          This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a new image file with
          a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be transferred to another host
          system or imported into VirtualBox again using the Virtual Disk Manager...




          VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile>
          [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>]
          [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
          [--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
          [--remember]





          share|improve this answer













          The export feature saves the image in OVF format. From the manual:




          OVF is a cross-platform standard supported by many virtualization products which allows for creating ready-made virtual machines that can then be imported into a virtualizer such as VirtualBox




          I believe you want the VBoxManage clonehd command.




          This command duplicates a registered virtual hard disk image to a new image file with
          a new unique identifier (UUID). The new image can be transferred to another host
          system or imported into VirtualBox again using the Virtual Disk Manager...




          VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile>
          [--format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>]
          [--variant Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX]
          [--type normal|writethrough|immutable]
          [--remember]






          share|improve this answer












          share|improve this answer



          share|improve this answer










          answered Aug 2 '09 at 23:23









          McDowellMcDowell

          26138




          26138













          • I used VBoxManage CloneVDI (instead of cloneHD) and it worked nicely.

            – Ash
            May 31 '10 at 5:37



















          • I used VBoxManage CloneVDI (instead of cloneHD) and it worked nicely.

            – Ash
            May 31 '10 at 5:37

















          I used VBoxManage CloneVDI (instead of cloneHD) and it worked nicely.

          – Ash
          May 31 '10 at 5:37





          I used VBoxManage CloneVDI (instead of cloneHD) and it worked nicely.

          – Ash
          May 31 '10 at 5:37


















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