Trouble running VirtualBox with "real" partition

**dj_unforgetable** · May 30th, 2008

wait wait. darkwolf ... what did you do to get past the winload error ?

**DarkW0lf** · June 3rd, 2008

load the iso I posted a link to in VBox and boot from that.

Then follow the prompts and it will repair the bootloader so you can use the mbr made in the other posts in this thread.

**Sand Lee** · June 4th, 2008

From the sticky:
Boot an existing XP (Physical HD) install with VirtualBox
Maybe that'll help...

**DarkW0lf** · June 8th, 2008

Sand Lee: just a warning your instructions will not work with Vista. Upto the point where you need to make a hardware profile you are good but there are no Hardware profiles anymore with Vista.

I dont know about the wpa files, never saw Vista related information about that. For Vista, your guide could work. Just skip 4, 5 & 7; after you boot the vmdk, make sure to run the disc I linked to above (it will fix the ms bootloader). The MergeIDE utility at virtualbox doesn't seem to work for me. And don't switch back and forth, there are too many hardware changes.

I need to set linux not to mount the Vista partition, and keep it rw.

**tors** · September 5th, 2008

I downloaded the version 2.0 binaries Hardy packages from virtualbox.org and when I try to create a "physical" vmdk-file, VBoxManage segfaults on my ThinkPad T60.

# sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /home/henrik/system/local.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions 3 -relative

VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.0.0
(C) 2005-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Segmentation fault

Has anyone found a solution to this?

PS. listing partitions works:

# VBoxManage internalcommands listpartitions -rawdisk /dev/sda

VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.0.0
(C) 2005-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Number Type StartCHS EndCHS Size (MiB) Start (Sect)
1 0x83 0 /1 /1 1023/224/63 52454 63
5 0x82 1023/226/1 1023/14 /63 3906 107426718
3 0x07 1023/0 /1 1023/239/63 15326 115441200
4 0x1c 1023/0 /1 1023/239/63 4621 146830320

**tors** · September 5th, 2008

It seems to be possible to create the file using VBoxManage from version 1.6.6.

**TroyDowling** · March 20th, 2009

Originally Posted by pete

Mr. Picklesworth--

Check this thread on the VirtualBox forums...http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=2019:

then,

Code:

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename [PATH_TO_XP_VMDK FILE] -rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions [XP_PARTITION] -mbr [PATH_TO_FAKE_MBR_FILE] -relative

That will bypass your actual MBR and go straight to Windows, bypassing the grub menu and thereby avoiding the risk of virtualizing your running host partition, cats and dogs sleeping together, mass hysteria, etc.

Hey, thanks! The above instructions got me past the fear of virtualizing my host machine. The only weird quirk is that when I boot it prints "MBR 12FA: " to the screen and waits for me to hit 1, 2, F, or A... No idea what it means, but hitting 2 gets me where I want to go. =)

Thanks again,
Troy.