Mirroring a system in a virtual machine












1















I have an “old” desktop computer that runs Windows 7 Pro, with a number of hard drives, where the C: drive is >500 GB.
I have a new laptop that runs Windows 10, with a solid-state drive with a 200 GB capacity.



I would like to run a Window 7 Virtual Machine from my laptop that mirrors the desktop computer from and external USB hard drive. In other words, I would like to plug an external USB hard drive into my laptop and run a virtual Windows 7 machine that mirrors my “old” desktop system.



It seems like I need to do two things: mirror my desktop computer onto an external USB hard drive, and setup a Windows 7 virtual machine on my laptop. My first question is whether this is even possible. My second question is how do I find help on performing this combination of tasks (I can find help on mirroring my desktop, or on setting up a virtual machine, but not the combination)? Thank you.










share|improve this question

























  • (1) Define “mirror”.  (2) Have you chosen a virtualization product?  If so, please identify it.  Otherwise: are you asking us which one to use?    Please do not respond in comments; edit your question to make it clearer and more complete.

    – Scott
    Jan 24 at 1:23











  • This is referred to as a "physical to virtual" migration or p2v for short. You should be able to type "<virtualization product> p2v" into google and get valid results. E.g. vmware p2v

    – ssnobody
    Jan 24 at 2:13
















1















I have an “old” desktop computer that runs Windows 7 Pro, with a number of hard drives, where the C: drive is >500 GB.
I have a new laptop that runs Windows 10, with a solid-state drive with a 200 GB capacity.



I would like to run a Window 7 Virtual Machine from my laptop that mirrors the desktop computer from and external USB hard drive. In other words, I would like to plug an external USB hard drive into my laptop and run a virtual Windows 7 machine that mirrors my “old” desktop system.



It seems like I need to do two things: mirror my desktop computer onto an external USB hard drive, and setup a Windows 7 virtual machine on my laptop. My first question is whether this is even possible. My second question is how do I find help on performing this combination of tasks (I can find help on mirroring my desktop, or on setting up a virtual machine, but not the combination)? Thank you.










share|improve this question

























  • (1) Define “mirror”.  (2) Have you chosen a virtualization product?  If so, please identify it.  Otherwise: are you asking us which one to use?    Please do not respond in comments; edit your question to make it clearer and more complete.

    – Scott
    Jan 24 at 1:23











  • This is referred to as a "physical to virtual" migration or p2v for short. You should be able to type "<virtualization product> p2v" into google and get valid results. E.g. vmware p2v

    – ssnobody
    Jan 24 at 2:13














1












1








1








I have an “old” desktop computer that runs Windows 7 Pro, with a number of hard drives, where the C: drive is >500 GB.
I have a new laptop that runs Windows 10, with a solid-state drive with a 200 GB capacity.



I would like to run a Window 7 Virtual Machine from my laptop that mirrors the desktop computer from and external USB hard drive. In other words, I would like to plug an external USB hard drive into my laptop and run a virtual Windows 7 machine that mirrors my “old” desktop system.



It seems like I need to do two things: mirror my desktop computer onto an external USB hard drive, and setup a Windows 7 virtual machine on my laptop. My first question is whether this is even possible. My second question is how do I find help on performing this combination of tasks (I can find help on mirroring my desktop, or on setting up a virtual machine, but not the combination)? Thank you.










share|improve this question
















I have an “old” desktop computer that runs Windows 7 Pro, with a number of hard drives, where the C: drive is >500 GB.
I have a new laptop that runs Windows 10, with a solid-state drive with a 200 GB capacity.



I would like to run a Window 7 Virtual Machine from my laptop that mirrors the desktop computer from and external USB hard drive. In other words, I would like to plug an external USB hard drive into my laptop and run a virtual Windows 7 machine that mirrors my “old” desktop system.



It seems like I need to do two things: mirror my desktop computer onto an external USB hard drive, and setup a Windows 7 virtual machine on my laptop. My first question is whether this is even possible. My second question is how do I find help on performing this combination of tasks (I can find help on mirroring my desktop, or on setting up a virtual machine, but not the combination)? Thank you.







windows-7 windows hard-drive usb external-hard-drive






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Jan 24 at 1:23









Scott

15.9k113990




15.9k113990










asked Jan 23 at 23:55









James ChristianJames Christian

61




61













  • (1) Define “mirror”.  (2) Have you chosen a virtualization product?  If so, please identify it.  Otherwise: are you asking us which one to use?    Please do not respond in comments; edit your question to make it clearer and more complete.

    – Scott
    Jan 24 at 1:23











  • This is referred to as a "physical to virtual" migration or p2v for short. You should be able to type "<virtualization product> p2v" into google and get valid results. E.g. vmware p2v

    – ssnobody
    Jan 24 at 2:13



















  • (1) Define “mirror”.  (2) Have you chosen a virtualization product?  If so, please identify it.  Otherwise: are you asking us which one to use?    Please do not respond in comments; edit your question to make it clearer and more complete.

    – Scott
    Jan 24 at 1:23











  • This is referred to as a "physical to virtual" migration or p2v for short. You should be able to type "<virtualization product> p2v" into google and get valid results. E.g. vmware p2v

    – ssnobody
    Jan 24 at 2:13

















(1) Define “mirror”.  (2) Have you chosen a virtualization product?  If so, please identify it.  Otherwise: are you asking us which one to use?    Please do not respond in comments; edit your question to make it clearer and more complete.

– Scott
Jan 24 at 1:23





(1) Define “mirror”.  (2) Have you chosen a virtualization product?  If so, please identify it.  Otherwise: are you asking us which one to use?    Please do not respond in comments; edit your question to make it clearer and more complete.

– Scott
Jan 24 at 1:23













This is referred to as a "physical to virtual" migration or p2v for short. You should be able to type "<virtualization product> p2v" into google and get valid results. E.g. vmware p2v

– ssnobody
Jan 24 at 2:13





This is referred to as a "physical to virtual" migration or p2v for short. You should be able to type "<virtualization product> p2v" into google and get valid results. E.g. vmware p2v

– ssnobody
Jan 24 at 2:13










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