[SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

georgelappies · 2012-03-24 10:45:37

to the physical hard drive of the machine?

If I install Arch in the vm will I be able to transfer that install to the physical drive of the machine?

Last edited by georgelappies (2012-03-24 12:21:59)

cedeel · 2012-03-24 11:35:17

Short answer: Don't bother.

Longer answer:
While Arch installations are highly portable and doing such a transfer is definitely possible, it's usually just as quick to install from scratch.
What I'd suggest you do instead is generate a list of installed packages and use that to install the same in a new install.

If you really want to transfer, it would be easiest to do from within VBox itself. Just attach a physical HDD in addition to your vdi, then either dd over the partition or tar - untar it.

georgelappies · 2012-03-24 11:41:17

Thanks, reason I am asking is that I am not on uncapped internet connection. I would like to try out Arch Linux very much. If I decide to use it downloading all the packages for KDE and X etc. again will eat heavily into my data plan.

How much download is involved with a standard KDE installation?

Your dd method sounds good.

Xyne · 2012-03-24 11:59:09

Pacman stores downloaded packages in /var/cache/pacman/pkg. You can just copy the packages from the virtual system's cache over to the new system's cache to reuse them (assuming both systems are the same architecture).

If your virtual system is accessible on the LAN, you can also use pacserve to avoid redundant downloads.

If you want to install the same packages on the new system, run this on the virtual system:

pacman -Qet > pkglist.txt

then copy the pkglist.txt file to the new system and run

pacman -S $(cat pkglist.txt)

Roken · 2012-03-24 12:01:01

The one time I have recommended a VB installation to subsequently migrate is to prepare a pendrive version. It's much faster to install in VB and then copy to a pendrive than to install directly to the pendrive.

georgelappies · 2012-03-24 12:13:06

Xyne wrote:

Pacman stores downloaded packages in /var/cache/pacman/pkg. You can just copy the packages from the virtual system's cache over to the new system's cache to reuse them (assuming both systems are the same architecture).
If your virtual system is accessible on the LAN, you can also use pacserve to avoid redundant downloads.
If you want to install the same packages on the new system, run this on the virtual system:
pacman -Qet > pkglist.txt
then copy the pkglist.txt file to the new system and run
pacman -S $(cat pkglist.txt)

Thanks, this looks like the preferred method to do it. I can install in virtualbox and play around until I get it just right and then move the packages over to a partition on the host.

P.S. how do we mark the threads solved here

Last edited by georgelappies (2012-03-24 12:14:51)

Xyne · 2012-03-24 12:19:56

Just edit the first post and prefix the subject with "[SOLVED]".

Arch Linux

#1 2012-03-24 10:45:37

[SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

#2 2012-03-24 11:35:17

Re: [SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

#3 2012-03-24 11:41:17

Re: [SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

#4 2012-03-24 11:59:09

Re: [SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

#5 2012-03-24 12:01:01

Re: [SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

#6 2012-03-24 12:13:06

Re: [SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

#7 2012-03-24 12:19:56

Re: [SOLVED] Possible to transfer an installed system from virtualbox?

Board footer