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VMware Physical to Virtual Conversion – Step By Step Guide

Physical to Virtual (P2V) is a conversion process that allows you to convert a physical machine into a virtual hard disk (VHD) file. This VHD file can be imported on a host machine running with the compatible version of VMware Workstation. In this post, we are going focus on how to perform the VMware physical to virtual conversion using VMware vCenter Converter. For this, we will convert a Windows physical machine to VMware virtual machine.

Prerequisites of VMware Physical to Virtual Conversion

Before performing VMware physical to virtual conversion process, you should verify that the physical machine meets the following prerequisites:

  • The physical machine is running on the compatible version of operating system.
  • You have the administrative privilege on the physical machine.
  • Workstation host system has network connectivity to the physical machine.
  • On the Workstation host system, User Account Control (UAC) is disabled.
  • On the physical machine, Firewall is disabled.

Performing VMware Physical to Virtual Conversion

Once you verified the prerequisites, you need to perform the following steps for the VMware physical to virtual conversion:

  1. Download the compatible version of VMware vCenter Converter.
  2. Install the VMware vCenter Converter Standalone tool.
  3. Execute the setup file and follow the on-screen instructions to install VMware vCenter Converter Standalone.Installing VMware vCenter Converter
  4. Once the installation is finished, clopen the VMware Workstation console.
  5. On the host system, open the VMware Workstation console, click File, and then select Virtualize a Physical Machine.
  6. Provide the following details:
    • Hostname or IP address
    • Username
    • Password
  7. For the testing purpose, you can test it with the localhost system.Virtualize a VMware physical machine

    Note: You must use the Administrator account or a user account that is a member of the local Administrators group.

  8. On the Store the new Virtual Machine page, type a name for the new virtual machine, specify a location where you want to store the virtual machine files, and then click Next.VMware physical to virtual conversion
  9. On the Create a Network Share page, type the user name and password of the host system.VMware p2v conversion
  10. Click Finish to create a virtual machine from the physical machine. The physical to virtual conversion process starts.
  11. To monitor the conversion process, log in to VMware vCenter Converter console.VMware vCenter Converter Standalone
  12. In the vCenter Converter console, verify the status of the P2V conversion process. The time required for the conversion process depends on the data stored on the physical machine.Convering physical to virtual machine using VMware vCenter Converter

That’s all you need to do to perform the VMware physical to virtual conversion process. Hope, it helps you and you are able to convert a physical machine into the virtual machine. If you stuck anywhere, please drop your queries in the comment box.

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How To Clone Virtual Machine in VirtualBox

Cloning a virtual machine is useful in a number of scenarios. For example, if you want to do some experiments with a virtual machine configuration or want to test the different guest operating systems or want to take the backup a VM, creating a clone of a virtual machine would be a wise decision. This feature is available in the all major virtualization vendors including Microsoft, VMware, and VirtualBox. In this post, we will explain how to clone virtual machine in VirtualBox.

Also read: Getting started with VirtualBox step by step guide.

Full Clone vs Linked Clone

Before cloning a VirtualBox virtual machine, first, we would like to explain the different types of cloning modes of VirtualBox. There are two types of Clone Modes in VirtualBox: Full Clone and Linked Clone.

  1. Full Clone: If you create a clone using this mode, all the depending disk images will be copied to the new destination folder. The cloned VM can fully operate without the need of the source VM.
  2. Linked Clone: If you create a cloned VM using the linked mode, the new differencing disk images will be created and the parent disk images will remain the source disk images. A linked VM cannot be operated without the source VM.

Note: The time of creating a clone virtual machine depends on the size and the number of attached disk images.

Creating a cloned virtual machine

To clone a VirtualBox virtual machine, you need to perform the following steps:

  1. In the VirtualBox Manager console, select and right-click the virtual machine that you want to clone and then select Clone.Cloning a VirtualBox Virtual Machine
  2. In the Clone Virtual Machine window, specify the name of clone virtual machine. Click Next to proceed.Expert clone mode
  3. To view the advanced cloning options, click Expert Mode. Here, you will see some additional options. Select the clone type that you want to use. If you want to generate a new MAC address for the cloning VM, select the Reinitialize the MAC address of all network cards option, else the MAC address will remain same for all the clone virtual machines.Linked clone virtual machine
  4. Finally, click the Clone button to create the Clone VM. A new clone VM will be created in the VirtualBox Manager console. The Linked clone VM takes just a few seconds; however, a Full clone VM may take several minutes depending on the size of virtual hard disk images as discussed earlier.
  5. Once you created a clone of a virtual machine, you can use the cloned virtual machine as a separate virtual machine in VirtualBox.

That’s all you need to know about how to clone a virtual machine. Do share the article if you think it may help to others.

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VirtualBox Encrypted Virtual Machine

As discussed earlier, installing VirtualBox Extension Pack adds some additional functionalities and features to VirtualBox virtual machines. One of those features is the Encrypted virtual machine. This feature allows you to secure a VirtualBox virtual machine by encrypting the entire virtual machine. In this post, we will explain how to encrypt and decrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine.

Also read: Getting started with VirtualBox step by step guide.

You can also encrypt a VMware virtual machine if you are using the VMware platform. However, you may need to
adjust some of the steps to encrypt a VMware virtual machine. Whenever someone starts the encrypted virtual machine he/she requires to know the encryption key used at the time of encrypting the virtual machine. The encrypted virtual machine feature works in the same way as does the BitLocker feature in the latest Windows operating systems.

Encrypting VirtualBox Virtual Machine

Before to encrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine, first, you need to ensure that you have installed the compatible version of VirtualBox Extension Pack. After that, you need to perform the following steps:

  1. Ensure that the virtual machine that you want to encrypt is powered off. Now, open the Settings of the virtual machine and select the Encryption tab under the General tab.
  2. Select the Enable Encryption option, select the Encryption Cipher method, and set the desired encryption key.Encrypted Virtual Machine VirtualBox
  3. Click OK to start the encryption process. The encryption process may take several minutes depending on the size of the virtual machine’s disk image.Encrypting virtual machine
  4. Once the virtual machine is encrypted, it will ask to enter encryption key at every start up. Simply type your encryption key and use the virtual machine.Opening encrypted vm
  5. If someone does not know the encryption key, he/she cannot open the encrypted virtual machine.

Disabling VirtualBox Encryption Feature

If you no longer want to encrypt a virtual machine, you can disable this feature. To remove the encryption, uncheck the Enable Encryption check box in the virtual machine’s Settings window.

That’s all you need to do to encrypt a VirtualBox virtual machine. There are still a lot more to learn for you. Just visit the Getting Started with VirtualBox step by step guide.

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How To Install VirtualBox Extension Pack – Step By Step

Now, VirtualBox provides a lot of virtualization enhancements and improvements in comparison to the older versions of VirtualBox. However, some of the features such as Encrypted Virtual Machine and Remote Display require additional drivers and tools to function properly. These tools and drivers are composed in a single package called VirtualBox Extension Pack.

In this post, we will explain how to download and install VirtualBox Extension Pack. This post is a part of our Getting Started With VirtualBox step by step guide. We assume that you know what we have already covered with the getting started guide. Anyhow, you may visit the following link to read all the step by step VirtualBox articles.

You can think VirtualBox Extension Pack as similar to the VMware Tools. It is not mandatory to install VirtualBox Extension Pack (or VMware Tools in the case of VMware Workstation/Player) for a virtual machine. These tools just add the additional functionalities to the virtual machines. The VirtualBox Extension Pack is freely available to download from the VirtualBox Official website. You may use the following link to download VirtualBox Extension Packages.

Download VirtualBox extension packages.

VirtualBox Extension Pack: Step By Step Installation

Once you have downloaded the VirtualBox Extension Pack, you can install it to add additional functionalities to VirtualBox virtual machines. To install and use the VirtualBox Extension Pack, you need to perform the following steps:

  1.  Open the Preferences window and select Extensions in the left pane. Check whether the extension packages are already installed or not. If not available then click the Add new package icon.Install virtualbox extension pack
  2. Browse and select the Extension Package that you have downloaded.

Note: The Version of VirtualBox and Extension Pack must match.

  1. Read the pop-up and note the features that will be available after installing the extension package. Click Install to proceed. Accept the license terms and complete the installation process.VirtualBox Extension Features
  2. Once the installation process is completed, you will see that the Extension Packages are added in the Extension section in the Preferences window.
  3. Close the VirtualBox Preferences window.

That’s all about how to download and install VirtualBox Extension Pack. Now, you can proceed to configure and use some additional VirtualBox features. These features include Remote Display and Encrypted virtual machine. Please share your feedback and suggestions to improve the quality of articles.