VirtualBox Windows System Restore

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1

I have a query over my VBox installation.

It generally works fine - a couple of issues which I’m trying to get resolved elsewhere.

My question is this: My laptop currently dual-boots Windows 7 and openSUSE, with openSUSE being the default. I have XP as a guest under VB. Is it possible for me to create a system image of the Windows 7 operating system, install W7 as a guest under Linux and then restore the backed-up OS so that I would have W7 as a guest (no more XP) but with the same configuration / apps as the original OS?

In summary, this is what I want to achieve:

Current:
Dual-boot openSUSE 11.1 & Windows 7
VBOx Guest = Windows XP

Desired:
Dual-boot openSUSE 11.1 & Windows 7
VBox Guest = Windows 7 (identical config as the dual-boot version)

Why have two the same? Fed up rebooting into W7 when I need to use the installed apps.

Is this possible?

2

No that won’t work because the existing W7 installation expects different hardware from what the VM offers.
However, there’s no reason why you can’t install W7 as a VM, provided you have a full installation DVD. You might run into problems with Microsoft’s validation routine (I did) as installation as a VM is regarded as installation on a different machine.

3

Thanks - of course there is different hardware. You’ve saved me a great deal of time and effort in trying to do something impossible.