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Add Solution

Migrating Copy Of Drive

Source: microsoft.public.virtualpc
Sent: 12/23/2005
From: John Schneider
Message:

I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.

Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from the
old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On that
secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example "Old
Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the folder on
the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
(250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old images
running under VPC, just for the heck of it.

I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
(http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1), which
contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the old
physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the copy of
them on one huge drive.

Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy of
the C: drive?

Thanks,
John Schneider

Post Reply | This is Spam! | Mark as Spam

Related Messages

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/23/2005
From: Josh Assing <(email address - cut out)>
Message:

w/o the boot data, I don't hink you'll make the "file copies" work.
registry, etc won't be there if you just load up a new copy of the os -- unless
you copied hidden & system files; if you did:

Install the original os from scratch to virtual-drive-A

Boot up another image, and mount Virtual-drive-A; then copy the data over & try
booting the Virtual-Drive-A as it's own virutal pc.

Situations like this -- I wish there was a "Mount" tool so you could just mount
the virtual hard drive from teh host os & access it as a hard drive, vs booting
it.

Good luck.

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:16:01 -0800, "John Schneider"
<(email address - cut out)am> wrote:

--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

Show quoted text

>I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.
>
>Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from the
>old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On that
>secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example "Old
>Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the folder on
>the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
>(250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old images
>running under VPC, just for the heck of it.
>
>I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
>(http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1), which
>contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the old
>physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the copy of
>them on one huge drive.
>
>Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy of
>the C: drive?
>
>Thanks,
>John Schneider

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/23/2005
From: "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com>
Message:

Even if you had ghost images of the old hard drives, it is doubtful that
they would run as an OS in a virtual machine because the hardware
abstraction layer from the old machines would not work in VPC. VPC virtual
machines have their own hardware abstraction layer based on the emulated
hardware that is provided by VPC. There is no chance you can just copy all
the files to a virtual hard drive and boot into a running virtual machine.
At best you can copy over data files to a virtual machine with an operating
system installed from scratch.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"John Schneider" <(email address - cut out)am> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...

Show quoted text

>I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.
>
> Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from
> the
> old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On that
> secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example "Old
> Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the folder
> on
> the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
> (250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old
> images
> running under VPC, just for the heck of it.
>
> I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
> (http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1), which
> contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the
> old
> physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the copy
> of
> them on one huge drive.
>
> Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy of
> the C: drive?
>
> Thanks,
> John Schneider

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/23/2005
From: John Schneider
Message:

Hey Josh,

Well of course I copied the system & hidden files! What you say below is
what I suspected. Install a fresh version of the OS, then copy over all my
stuff. Probably have to boot into Safe Mode then on the new VHD to change
the drivers, but I'm cool with that.

Thanks!
John

"Josh Assing" wrote:

Show quoted text

> w/o the boot data, I don't hink you'll make the "file copies" work.
> registry, etc won't be there if you just load up a new copy of the os -- unless
> you copied hidden & system files; if you did:
>
> Install the original os from scratch to virtual-drive-A
>
> Boot up another image, and mount Virtual-drive-A; then copy the data over & try
> booting the Virtual-Drive-A as it's own virutal pc.
>
> Situations like this -- I wish there was a "Mount" tool so you could just mount
> the virtual hard drive from teh host os & access it as a hard drive, vs booting
> it.
>
> Good luck.
>
>
> On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:16:01 -0800, "John Schneider"
> <(email address - cut out)am> wrote:
>
> >I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.
> >
> >Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from the
> >old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On that
> >secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example "Old
> >Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the folder on
> >the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
> >(250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old images
> >running under VPC, just for the heck of it.
> >
> >I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
> >(http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1), which
> >contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the old
> >physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the copy of
> >them on one huge drive.
> >
> >Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy of
> >the C: drive?
> >
> >Thanks,
> >John Schneider
>
>
> --- AntiSpam/harvest ---
> Remove X's to send email to me.
>

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/23/2005
From: John Schneider
Message:

Thanks for the reply Colin.

I'm well aware of the HAL, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can
boot into Safe mode, once I install a fresh version of the OS, then copy my
stuff over it, per the message/response from Josh above.

I'll post an update here once I give all this a try.

John

"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

Show quoted text

> Even if you had ghost images of the old hard drives, it is doubtful that
> they would run as an OS in a virtual machine because the hardware
> abstraction layer from the old machines would not work in VPC. VPC virtual
> machines have their own hardware abstraction layer based on the emulated
> hardware that is provided by VPC. There is no chance you can just copy all
> the files to a virtual hard drive and boot into a running virtual machine.
> At best you can copy over data files to a virtual machine with an operating
> system installed from scratch.
>
> --
> Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
> (Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
> "John Schneider" <(email address - cut out)am> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
> >I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.
> >
> > Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from
> > the
> > old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On that
> > secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example "Old
> > Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the folder
> > on
> > the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
> > (250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old
> > images
> > running under VPC, just for the heck of it.
> >
> > I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
> > (http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1), which
> > contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the
> > old
> > physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the copy
> > of
> > them on one huge drive.
> >
> > Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy of
> > the C: drive?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > John Schneider
>
>
>

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/23/2005
From: "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com>
Message:

Why would you change the drivers? The OS installation will identify the
emulated devices provided by VPC just like it would on a new physical box
and install the drivers. Drivers from your old system will not work.
Programs will have to be reinstalled.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"John Schneider" <(email address - cut out)am> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...

Show quoted text

> Hey Josh,
>
> Well of course I copied the system & hidden files! What you say below is
> what I suspected. Install a fresh version of the OS, then copy over all
> my
> stuff. Probably have to boot into Safe Mode then on the new VHD to change
> the drivers, but I'm cool with that.
>
> Thanks!
> John
>
> "Josh Assing" wrote:
>
>> w/o the boot data, I don't hink you'll make the "file copies" work.
>> registry, etc won't be there if you just load up a new copy of the os --
>> unless
>> you copied hidden & system files; if you did:
>>
>> Install the original os from scratch to virtual-drive-A
>>
>> Boot up another image, and mount Virtual-drive-A; then copy the data over
>> & try
>> booting the Virtual-Drive-A as it's own virutal pc.
>>
>> Situations like this -- I wish there was a "Mount" tool so you could just
>> mount
>> the virtual hard drive from teh host os & access it as a hard drive, vs
>> booting
>> it.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:16:01 -0800, "John Schneider"
>> <(email address - cut out)am> wrote:
>>
>> >I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.
>> >
>> >Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from
>> >the
>> >old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On
>> >that
>> >secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example
>> >"Old
>> >Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the folder
>> >on
>> >the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
>> >(250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old
>> >images
>> >running under VPC, just for the heck of it.
>> >
>> >I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
>> >(http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1),
>> >which
>> >contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the
>> >old
>> >physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the copy
>> >of
>> >them on one huge drive.
>> >
>> >Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy
>> >of
>> >the C: drive?
>> >
>> >Thanks,
>> >John Schneider
>>
>>
>> --- AntiSpam/harvest ---
>> Remove X's to send email to me.
>>

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/23/2005
From: "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com>
Message:

Safe mode will not help nor is needed. When you install the OS it will
identify the hal.dll needed and install it.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"John Schneider" <(email address - cut out)am> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...

Show quoted text

> Thanks for the reply Colin.
>
> I'm well aware of the HAL, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can
> boot into Safe mode, once I install a fresh version of the OS, then copy
> my
> stuff over it, per the message/response from Josh above.
>
> I'll post an update here once I give all this a try.
>
> John
>
> "Colin Barnhorst" wrote:
>
>> Even if you had ghost images of the old hard drives, it is doubtful that
>> they would run as an OS in a virtual machine because the hardware
>> abstraction layer from the old machines would not work in VPC. VPC
>> virtual
>> machines have their own hardware abstraction layer based on the emulated
>> hardware that is provided by VPC. There is no chance you can just copy
>> all
>> the files to a virtual hard drive and boot into a running virtual
>> machine.
>> At best you can copy over data files to a virtual machine with an
>> operating
>> system installed from scratch.
>>
>> --
>> Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
>> (Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
>> "John Schneider" <(email address - cut out)am> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> >I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.
>> >
>> > Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from
>> > the
>> > old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On
>> > that
>> > secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example
>> > "Old
>> > Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the
>> > folder
>> > on
>> > the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
>> > (250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old
>> > images
>> > running under VPC, just for the heck of it.
>> >
>> > I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
>> > (http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1),
>> > which
>> > contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the
>> > old
>> > physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the
>> > copy
>> > of
>> > them on one huge drive.
>> >
>> > Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy
>> > of
>> > the C: drive?
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> > John Schneider
>>
>>
>>

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/24/2005
From: "(email address - cut out)" <Josh Assing>
Message:

YOu may need to run sysprep too. Good luck.

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 20:22:01 -0800, "John Schneider"
<(email address - cut out)am> wrote:

--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

Show quoted text

>Hey Josh,
>
>Well of course I copied the system & hidden files! What you say below is
>what I suspected. Install a fresh version of the OS, then copy over all my
>stuff. Probably have to boot into Safe Mode then on the new VHD to change
>the drivers, but I'm cool with that.
>
>Thanks!
>John
>
>"Josh Assing" wrote:
>
>> w/o the boot data, I don't hink you'll make the "file copies" work.
>> registry, etc won't be there if you just load up a new copy of the os -- unless
>> you copied hidden & system files; if you did:
>>
>> Install the original os from scratch to virtual-drive-A
>>
>> Boot up another image, and mount Virtual-drive-A; then copy the data over & try
>> booting the Virtual-Drive-A as it's own virutal pc.
>>
>> Situations like this -- I wish there was a "Mount" tool so you could just mount
>> the virtual hard drive from teh host os & access it as a hard drive, vs booting
>> it.
>>
>> Good luck.
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 17:16:01 -0800, "John Schneider"
>> <(email address - cut out)am> wrote:
>>
>> >I have copies of old hard drives I'd like to migrate to VPC.
>> >
>> >Whenever I buy (or lately, build) a new machine, I copy everything from the
>> >old hard drive to a folder on the secondary drive in the new box. On that
>> >secondary drive, I'll create a folder for the old drive, for example "Old
>> >Dell C", then do an xcopy of everything from the old drive to the folder on
>> >the secondary drive. I now have 5 machines worth of data on the newest
>> >(250g) secondary drive. It would be really cool to have all those old images
>> >running under VPC, just for the heck of it.
>> >
>> >I've seen Virtual PC Guy's blog and read about migrating old drives
>> >(http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/search.aspx?q=migrating&p=1), which
>> >contains some fantastic information, but that method involves using the old
>> >physical drive in the process. I don't have those drives, only the copy of
>> >them on one huge drive.
>> >
>> >Has anyone pulled this off? Any ideas how to do this with just a copy of
>> >the C: drive?
>> >
>> >Thanks,
>> >John Schneider
>>
>>
>> --- AntiSpam/harvest ---
>> Remove X's to send email to me.
>>

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/24/2005
From: Josh Assing <(email address - cut out)>
Message:

No; if he was originally running a dual pentium box, with a high end video card,
and 4 1 megabit NICs -- the VPC will definatley not emulate the drivers for
that.. he'll need to change them.

On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:32:11 -0700, "Colin Barnhorst"
<colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote:

--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

Show quoted text

>Why would you change the drivers? The OS installation will identify the
>emulated devices provided by VPC just like it would on a new physical box
>and install the drivers. Drivers from your old system will not work.
>Programs will have to be reinstalled.

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/24/2005
From: "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com>
Message:

VPC mitigates between the emulated card in the guest and the physical
card(s) in the host. The guest never sees the host's nic(s). VPC handles
that.

He would have to use the VPC settings for the guest to assign the host
card(s) once the card(s) and drivers were installed on the host. Inside the
guest is only the emulated nic. None of the hardware drivers from the
ported OS will work in the guest. The guest will have absolutely no way to
emulate the old nic's even if they are installed physically into the new
box. That is handled by VPC and the drivers must be installed on the host.
VPC does not generate emulations. It uses the emulations listed in VPC
Help.

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"Josh Assing" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...

Show quoted text

> No; if he was originally running a dual pentium box, with a high end video
> card,
> and 4 1 megabit NICs -- the VPC will definatley not emulate the drivers
> for
> that.. he'll need to change them.
>
>
> On Fri, 23 Dec 2005 21:32:11 -0700, "Colin Barnhorst"
> <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote:
>
>>Why would you change the drivers? The OS installation will identify the
>>emulated devices provided by VPC just like it would on a new physical box
>>and install the drivers. Drivers from your old system will not work.
>>Programs will have to be reinstalled.
>
>
> --- AntiSpam/harvest ---
> Remove X's to send email to me.

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/24/2005
From: Josh Assing <(email address - cut out)>
Message:

Maybe you & I are seeting two different questions..

System 1:
Dual proc, high end everything.
copy (including all hidden files) to a new hard drive for "backup" purposes.

<entirely new system>

Whatever hardware, it doesn't mater.
load VirtualPC on to it.

Now take that data (filse, copy, etc) from "system1" and migrate that TO a
virutalpc image.

Indeed, it will NOT run becuase the drivers are not for the emulated hardware in
vpc.... so you need to somehow get those drivers to change for the vpc emulated
hardware.

Maybe I totally misunderstood the question -- if so; I'll not chime in anymore.

On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 11:12:28 -0700, "Colin Barnhorst"
<colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote:

--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

Show quoted text

>VPC mitigates between the emulated card in the guest and the physical
>card(s) in the host. The guest never sees the host's nic(s). VPC handles
>that.
>
>He would have to use the VPC settings for the guest to assign the host
>card(s) once the card(s) and drivers were installed on the host. Inside the
>guest is only the emulated nic. None of the hardware drivers from the
>ported OS will work in the guest. The guest will have absolutely no way to
>emulate the old nic's even if they are installed physically into the new
>box. That is handled by VPC and the drivers must be installed on the host.
>VPC does not generate emulations. It uses the emulations listed in VPC
>Help.

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/24/2005
From: "Colin Barnhorst" <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com>
Message:

You misunderstand. You cannot change the emulated hardware VPC presents to
a guest. A device driver does not create a new emulated device. In fact,
without the device present, the driver cannot be installed.

The only devices possible in a guest operating system are the ones emulated
by VPC (see below). When you install the guest OS in a new vm the installer
detects the emulated devices presented to it by VPC and installs the drivers
for those emulated devices. No other device drivers can be installed
because there are no other emulated devices present for them to drive. The
guest does not know it is running on a virtual machine and has no knowledge
of the physical hardware installed on the host (other than the cpu and that
portion of memory allocated for it).

These are the emulated devices (from VPC Help, Index, search on "emulated":

Component Virtual machine emulated hardware
BIOS AMI BIOS
Chipset Intel 440BX
Sound card Creative Labs Sound Blaster 16 ISA Plug and Play
Network adapter (multi-function) DEC 21140A 10/100
Video card S3 Trio 32/64 PCI with 8 MB Video RAM

Here is an explanation of the decisions behind the choice of these devices
to emulate.

http://blogs.msdn.com/virtual_pc_guy/archive/2005/01/26/361361.aspx

--
Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine]
(Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested)
"Josh Assing" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
news:(email address - cut out)...

Show quoted text

> Maybe you & I are seeting two different questions..
>
> System 1:
> Dual proc, high end everything.
> copy (including all hidden files) to a new hard drive for "backup"
> purposes.
>
> <entirely new system>
>
> Whatever hardware, it doesn't mater.
> load VirtualPC on to it.
>
> Now take that data (filse, copy, etc) from "system1" and migrate that TO a
> virutalpc image.
>
> Indeed, it will NOT run becuase the drivers are not for the emulated
> hardware in
> vpc.... so you need to somehow get those drivers to change for the vpc
> emulated
> hardware.
>
> Maybe I totally misunderstood the question -- if so; I'll not chime in
> anymore.
>
> On Sat, 24 Dec 2005 11:12:28 -0700, "Colin Barnhorst"
> <colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com> wrote:
>
>>VPC mitigates between the emulated card in the guest and the physical
>>card(s) in the host. The guest never sees the host's nic(s). VPC handles
>>that.
>>
>>He would have to use the VPC settings for the guest to assign the host
>>card(s) once the card(s) and drivers were installed on the host. Inside
>>the
>>guest is only the emulated nic. None of the hardware drivers from the
>>ported OS will work in the guest. The guest will have absolutely no way
>>to
>>emulate the old nic's even if they are installed physically into the new
>>box. That is handled by VPC and the drivers must be installed on the
>>host.
>>VPC does not generate emulations. It uses the emulations listed in VPC
>>Help.
>
>
> --- AntiSpam/harvest ---
> Remove X's to send email to me.

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/24/2005
From: Josh Assing <(email address - cut out)>
Message:

no, I didn't misunderstand. I'm not the one asking the question.

I completely understand that -- I think you misunderstood teh question &
possible solutions & how they related to the original question.

But I hate "blame" & "flame" -- so I'm off this topic.

--- AntiSpam/harvest ---
Remove X's to send email to me.

Show quoted text

>You misunderstand. You cannot change the emulated hardware VPC presents to

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive

Sent: 12/25/2005
From: Paul Adare <(email address - cut out)>
Message:

In article <#L$B2#(email address - cut out)>, in the
microsoft.public.virtualpc news group, <"Colin Barnhorst"
<colinbarharst(remove)@msn.com>> says...

Colin, you don't seem to understand what the HAL is or how it works. In
the vast majority of cases involving trying to get a physical machines
moved over into a virtual machine running in VPC the HAL has absolutely
nothing at all to do with the problems people encounter. The vast
majority of problems are driver problems and not an issue with the HAL.

The only times where the HAL becomes an issue is if you're trying to
move a multi-processor physical machine, or a Compaq SystemPro physical
machine to a virtual machine. If you're trying to migrate an ACPI or
non-ACPI single proc system into Virtual PC, the HAL is a non-issue. A
brand new guest will by default use the ACPI HAL, however, a virtual
machine will still boot with a Standard PC HAL as well. There is no
"special" HAL that is specific to virtual machines.

The most common reasons a physical machine moved to a virtual machine
won't boot at all are different chipsets (driver issue), and different
mass storage devices (again a driver, not a HAL issue). Both of these
will cause STOP errors and can be corrected by a repair install.

--
Paul Adare
MVP - Windows - Virtual Machine
http://www.identit.ca/blogs/paul/
Ca·nadi·an (k-nd-n) adj. & n.
n: An educated, unarmed American with health care.

Show quoted text

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive - SUCCESS!!!!!!!

Sent: 12/26/2005
From: John Schneider
Message:

Hey Josh - it worked just fine!

Here's the steps I followed, to test this theory on a copy of the C: drive
(hidden/system... files and all) from an old Windows 95 machine:
1. Created a Windows 95 VM with a fixed size drive, just a bit bigger than
the total size of all the files from the old C: drive
2. Booted into the VM, using a VFD image of a Windows 95 boot floppy
3. Did an FDisk to create the primary parition and make it active
4. Formatted the partition with the /S parameter to install the system boot
files
5. Closed the VM
6. Added this new VHD as a secondary hard drive to an existing Windows 2000
Server VM
7. Booted the 2k VM
8. Shared the folder on my physical hard drive that contained the copy of
the old Win 95 C: drive
9. Using Windows Explorer, I dragged-n-dropped everything from the shared
drive to the second vhd, except for the RECYCLED folder, which causes an
error when you try to move/copy it
10. Closed the 2k VM
11. Booted the Win 95 VM, and HIP HIP HOORAY, it worked!

I had first tried it as you reccommended, where I did a fresh install of Win
95 on the VHD, then copied over the old drive data. While that did work, it
got me to thinking if it was really neccessary. After all, its such a pain
to do a fresh install of ANY OS. So I thought to give the above method a
try. It worked like a champ.

When I first booted into "95, it did have to make a bunch of hardware
adjustments. I would see the "new hardware found", follwed by "unknown
hardware device" message, followed by the actual device it found, and it did
all the driver replacements just fine, except for one. It found a "PCI
Bridge" that it did not have a known driver for. I skipped it, but
everything seems to be running just fine without it. I'll try to track that
down later.

The other wierd thing was when I initially tried to do the drive copy using
a Windows 98 SE VM. As in step 6 above, I added the new VHD to an existing
Windows 98 SE VM. It took about a half hour to boot up (seemed to be just
hung for a while), then once it was up, I was going to do step 9 above, but
when I brought up Windows Explorer it hung the VM. I even left it running
overnight, but it was totally frozen. I posted another topic here about this
problem "Secondary Drive Hangs". When I used Win 2k Server as the OS, it
worked fine.

Now the really fun part. That old C: drive had System Commander on it, with
a bunch of different boot options (a couple of DOS boots, and two different
Win 95 boots). Once all the drivers were cleaned up and I could boot
cleanly, I went into System Commander in the VM and had it replace the "95
boot record with its own. Next boot - I got my System Commander selection
menu, and all those boot options are working. This is just WAY too cool!

Thanks again for your responses and your encouragement.

P.S. to Colin - While I do appreciate you taking the time to respond, your
replies were antagonistic at best, and not very helpful or encouraging at
all. You even seemed to be contradicting much of the information Ben
Armstrong has in his blog.

"Josh Assing" wrote:

Show quoted text

Re: Migrating Copy Of Drive - SUCCESS!!!!!!!

Sent: 12/26/2005
From: Josh Assing <(email address - cut out)>
Message:

Glad you got it working!

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