Alexey Eremenko wrote:

I don't understand your question.

You can use whatever you like as the host OS.

I can tell you a little secret: I learned Linux on virtualizer.

Only later I decided to install it on real hardware.

The question is: "Can I copy an already installed Linux VDI and import it into Virtualbox on Linux, or do I need to create a VM, and install Linux in that VM". -- Jerry Feldman Treasurer Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id: 537C5846 PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846

Tony Alfrey wrote:

Jerry Feldman wrote:

...

Alexey Eremenko wrote:

...

I don't understand your question.

You can use whatever you like as the host OS.

I can tell you a little secret: I learned Linux on virtualizer.

Only later I decided to install it on real hardware.

The question is: "Can I copy an already installed Linux VDI and import it into Virtualbox on Linux, or do I need to create a VM, and install Linux in that VM".

From my experience with VirtualBox on a Mac, the VDI and the VM are two separate things. I believe that you may copy the VDI to wherever you wish, but you must then create the virtual machine on the host to use the VDI wherever it is, either on a second drive, the same drive, or wherever. When you create the VM, it will ask you for the location of the VDI.

So to elaborate, I'm guessing that the answer is that a) copy the VDI b) create the VM as a Linux guest. Linux should already be on the VDI. Point to the Linux VDI when you create the VM and start the VM. Linux should boot. -- Tony Alfrey tonyalfrey@earthlink.net "I'd Rather Be Sailing" -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org

Andrew Joakimsen wrote:

On Sat, Aug 16, 2008 at 4:43 PM, Jerry Feldman wrote:

...

Windows resize procedure is time consuming because you first need to do a defrag, then use either the Windows native resize or something like GParted. I always reboot Windows immediately after any resize operation as a sanity check. With this approach, there is no resizing, and no instalation. Just installing Virtual Box (or VMWare), importing the VDI. I've never install Virtualbox on Windows just on Linux.

No you don't. You can use a program called "Partition Magic" it will reboot the system and run whatever needed operation in one step during the boot-up process. No need to manually run different things.

Of course any files which located outside the boundaries of the new partition size will need to be moved but I think PM does it in a way that's optimized for speed (and the Windows defrag progam tends to always leave a chunk of data towards the end of the disk)

GParted and QTParted actually do a better job that Partition Magic. All 3 handle NTFS partitions. In my experience with Partion Magic, it did not defrag the Windows partition. In any case I prefer to use Open Source partitioners. Different defrag programs do things differently. Norton Speed Disk used to have a number of ways you could control this. But, no matter how you look at it, you need to perform the defrag and resize operations whether the partitioner does it all or whether Windows does it, so regardless of the tool, there is the wasted time normally spent by a Linux volunteer who really does not want to work on Windows. Certainly the volunteer does not have to sit and wait, and can attend to another client, but the client has to wait. By installing VirtualBox, or VMWare Player in Windows, and simply importing the VDI, you save not only the defrag and resize steps you save the time it takes to install Linux and you get the client up and running sooner. The thing that I was not 100% sure of is could I copy a VirtualBox VDI containing SuSE 11.0 to media, and then copy it to Virtualbox on Windows. -- Jerry Feldman Treasurer Boston Linux and Unix user group http://www.blu.org PGP key id: 537C5846 PGP Key fingerprint: 3D1B 8377 A3C0 A5F2 ECBB CA3B 4607 4319 537C 5846