entity Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Dear Forum, Lately I've been using VMware Workstation alot, and there is one particular VM I've been working on which I would now like to transfer to a physical machine. I've seen the episode where Darren converts a physical machine into a VM but is it possible the other way round ? (like in my situation) Thanks in advance, Entity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr-Protocol Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 As far as i know. There is no way that I can think of. I guess the only way would be to boot the VM with Clonezilla, image the drive off to a USB Hard drive attached to the VM, then re-image the physical computer using clonezilla and the USB drive with the source image. Depending on the OS and Drivers this may not work at all. But it's the only method I see with any chance of success. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Found this Vmware documentation on how to migrate a VM into a physical machine. I think it might be what you are after http://www.vmware.com/support/v2p/doc/V2P_TechNote.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entity Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Yes Infiltrator i came across that too but under "V2P Migration Source Machine Requirements" there is no server 2008 listed and judging by the OSes listed i thought it was an old document what do you think ? Thanks for the swift replies, Entity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Infiltrator Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 Yes Infiltrator i came across that too but under "V2P Migration Source Machine Requirements" there is no server 2008 listed and judging by the OSes listed i thought it was an old document what do you think ? Thanks for the swift replies, Entity Yeah I am not sure how updated that PDF document is, however I've been doing a bit of research on your query and based on the research, the only way to convert a VM to a physical machine is through imaging as Mr-Protocol stated above. You could use tools such as Norton Ghost or CloneZila to image the VMs virtual drive and then use the image to apply on a physical computer. Also be aware that you may run into some driver issues, or other compatibility issues so be prepared for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I think you would have to preinstall all the hardware drivers, uninstall VMtools and Drivers, then migrate via an image copy, and then probably have to reactivate it. Since windows will see new hardware and serial numbers for the hdd, the license will need to be reactivated depending on the the type of license in use. I've never actually tried this, but I don't see why it couldn't work. It just won't work with the vmware drivers, for obvious reasons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr-Protocol Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I know WinXP there are issues with imaging computers with the wrong drivers - aka BSOD. You have to have the exact drivers for the hardware or the image will just blue screen. I think Win7 plays nice while imaging, or at least better with drivers and wont BSOD as easily. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
entity Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Well thanks for all the replies then :) I will look into CloneZila and see exactly what is needed driver-wise to make my image work. Regards, Entity Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
digip Posted February 15, 2011 Share Posted February 15, 2011 I know WinXP there are issues with imaging computers with the wrong drivers - aka BSOD. You have to have the exact drivers for the hardware or the image will just blue screen. I think Win7 plays nice while imaging, or at least better with drivers and wont BSOD as easily. I used to get this when using clonezilla, but I would then run the "bootcfg /rebuild" from the setup disks recovery tools, and the blue screens went away. Vista and 7 are a little easier since the tools are in a gui and its just point and click fix boot stuff, but the XP stuff is all from the comamnd line. - http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/repairbootini.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b0park Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I would assume utilizing anything that allows backup and restoration of machines to dissimilar hardware would accomplish what you're trying to do. I believe you can get a fully functional copy of Backup Exec System Recovery (Server Edition) for 60 days which has this feature. Install it on your VM client make an image to a network share or usb device and take that to your soon to be physical server and perform a restore. Should work, just take note Win 7 and 2008 machines can be picky if you're missing that 100-200mb bootloader. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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