Virtual Box & Windows -

[Richard Shaw]

On Tue, Mar 22, 2011 at 9:59 AM, Bob Goodwin <bobgoodwin at wildblue.net> wrote:
>        I've installed "virtualbox" on this F-14 computer and it appears
>        to be working, however now I need a copy of Windows to run in it
>        in order to solve my other problem. I have several copies of
>        WindowsXP Pro including the one that came with this computer but
>        refuses to run unless that drive is plugged into the first slot.
>
>        That problem occurs because initially I had a computer failure
>        and elected to replace the computer and install the hard drives
>        from the failed unit into the "new" one. The old one had a
>        Windows partition that was selectable from grub and would
>        operate normally if needed. Once the drives were swapped into
>        this computer and Windows selected it would protest that perhaps
>        I had a virus and refuse to boot. :-)
>
>        The details go on and on but my question is would I have to buy
>        a copy of Windows to use virtualbox or is there a way to make it
>        use the original copy on the disk containing WindowsXP that came
>        with this computer? If I swap data cables around Windows still
>        boots. It is installed by itself on an 80 gig sata drive.

As long as you don't mind using the original drive, you might consider
raw disk/partition access. It's in the VirtualBox documentation,
somewhere in chapter 9 I think.

I did this for a while before deciding I didn't need native Windows
anymore. What I did was setup a separate hardware profile in XP which
allowed me to boot natively or in VBox.

I managed this without sysprep but it might be a good idea.

Richard