How to convert physical machine into virtual machine for VirtualBox? And how to do it in reverse, from VM to Physical?

Zachnik · May 22, 2022

Hello,

I recently changed my motherboard and i want to reinstall my OS, but I am amateur in Virtual Machines and I want to learn more about them and I want some usefulness with it.

How do I convert physical system into VM in VirtualBox? I tried Disk2vhd, it is on official Microsoft page so i wanted to try it, as VirtualBox uses VHD, but for some reason VirtualBox can't launch that VM and says that it failed. I tried on my additional, now external M.2 SSD that I got with older instaltion of Win10, but it didn't work, for clarification, i only selected the F:\ without any additional volumes.

I'd rather stay with Virtualbox but i'm not sure how to do this and if i should switch to VMware or just their conversion software.

And for second part of my title, how do I do it in reverse? Do I use something like Macrum on VM to make image of the system, and then i copy it to the drive where i want OS installed?

I'm sorry for my writing, English is not my primary language. Any help would be aprecieted

Kedohawyr · May 22, 2022

You can convert a machine to VirtualBox with Macrium .

Use Macrium Reflect to create a backup of the system you want to make into a VM. This will give you an .mrimg file.

Make sure VirtualBox or Hyper-V Manager is installed (not both!)

Open Macrium ViBoot, click New and follow the wizard to select your image file as the basis for a new VirtualBox or Hyper-V virtual machine.

Once the VM is created you may need to do some additional tweaks to its configuration (adding additional virtual hardware). Also keep in mind how this might affect your Windows activation - the VM will be seen as a new computer.