Arch Linux

GNA

Member

Registered: 2011-02-15

Posts: 57

How to clone my current arch installation to a VM?

Hey,
I would like to clone my current arch installation to a VM to test if awesome runs with my settings. I thought about making an rsync image and importing it into the vm.
Has anyone tried this before or do you have any recommendations?

thx 4 help

barabbas

Member

Registered: 2011-04-27

Posts: 6

Re: How to clone my current arch installation to a VM?

Hi!

Take a look at this Blogpost. There is an description how to create a disc image ponting to an real harddrive.

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename rawimage.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda

Warning:The downside of that approach: The disc image is actually linked to your harddrive, so any change in your VM will affect your host-system.

But I've found another useful command:

VBoxMange clonehd rawimage.vmdk realimage.vmdk

This will create a copy of your linked image. It seems to me, like the copy of the linked image is a *real* vmdk-image.

Of course this comes without any warranty - I did not test it: Please be very careful using these commands. But it seems to me, like this approach could be a solution for you.

Sincerely,

brb

Last edited by barabbas (2011-04-28 10:05:41)