Most people don’t realize that making a backup of a VirtualBox Machine (.vdi) is more complex than just copy/paste. If you do that, you’ll soon realize (when it’s too late) that it doesn’t work! This is the proper way to backup your VirtualBox Machine:
MOVED!
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How To: Properly Backup a VirtualBox Machine (.VDI) on DerekHildreth.com/Blog
Thank You.
[...] How To: Properly Backup a VirtualBox Machine (.VDI) [...]
It seems that the actual command is “VBoxManage” (without the final R).
Excellent, can you clone whilst a disk is in use?
@Gareth:
Good question. It’s too bad I don’t have a good answer for you. I could make something up, but that probably wouldn’t help out all that much.
Give it a try and see what happens.
Thanks for posting this – it was very helpful.
I just tried to clone a .vdi while it was in use, VBoxManage gives this error:
[!] FAILED calling virtualBox->OpenVirtualDiskImage(Bstr(argv[0]), vdi.asOutParam()) at line 2415!
[!] Primary RC = 0×80004005
[!] Full error info present: true , basic error info present: true
[!] Result Code = 0×80004005
[!] Text = Could not access hard disk image ‘/home/anthony/.VirtualBox/VDI/Windows_XP_20GB.vdi’ (VERR_FILE_LOCK_VIOLATION)
[!] Component = HardDisk, Interface: IHardDisk, {fd443ec1-000f-4f5b-9282-d72760a66916}
[!] Callee = IVirtualBox, {76b25f3c-15d4-4785-a9d3-adc6a462beec}
It worked just fine as soon as I powered down the virtual machine.
Hi there,
I simply want to duplicate a VBox machine. Searching the net I’ve found out about the standard solution
VBoxManage clonevdi Master.vdi Clone.vdi
and the (undocumented) function
cp Master.vdi Clone.vdi
VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid Clone.vdi
which actually staffs the clone with a new SID in one step.
My problem is much less complex: how the hell do I get to the command line of VBox in Windows XP? Is it the Windows command line or do I have to run VBox in a special mode first?!
Thx for advice!
I guess I’m not really sure what your question is…
Do you have an XP host or guest?
Hi derek,
it’s a WXP host and a WXP guest. And I want to clone the guest-VM.
Thx in advance…
In WinXP, you just need to open a command prompt, cd to the c:\program files\innotek directory and launch the VBoxManage command from there. You could also add the innotek prog files directory to your path if you wanted to run the VBoxManage from any directory.
Thanks Chief. I had no idea…
Thanks alot for the heads up!
makes the process of sysprepping a VM with this wonderfull application a breeze!
Nice! … I have my VM properly backed up now.
This might be a dumb question; but in case tragedy strikes, how do I restore the VM?
Thanks in advance
Is there no way to clone a machine (or create a backup) through the GUI? Of course, being an old time UNIX user, I’d rather do it through a command line, but it still seems curious that there is no GUI button to do it.
I’m actually hoping that I can run the two machines side by side to test some client/server software I’m working on. I just didn’t want to go through the hassle of doing a full Fedora install on the second box. Of course, I’ll have to change stuff like the host name and whatnot, but that I can deal with. I’m in the middle of the copy right now… so we will see how it works.