Vmware

Since vmware server is now free, I intend on utilizing it for testing product updates etc. I wish to clone my existing server to a vmware image so that I can then boot that on another machine. how do I do so. I apologize if this has already been covered but I did a quick search and could not find it.

Thanks

 

No answers?

 

Using VMware workstation 5.5.1, I restored a backup of my Windows XP boot partition inside a VM on the same system. To do this I created an ISO file that included all the ".tib" files from my last backup, created a Windows XP VM using the VMware wizard, with 2 CDROM and an 8 GB hard-drive. The first CDROM was pointed my real CDROM that I had placed a copy of the TI stand-alone Rescue CD in, and the second CDROM pointed to my ISO file with the ".tib" files. I started the VM, it booted the rescue media, I used the rescue media to restore all the “.tib” files, and then rebooted the VM into XP.

Windows XP started just fine, then told me I needed to register this copy of windows, as the OS noticed it was now running on a different system, since VMWARE uses a totally different hardware emulation layer then the real hardware of my system. At this point I gave up, as what I was really wanting to test was if the new rescue disk really worked.

Eric

 

Thanks. I was really hoping true image had a feature that cloned to a vmware image file. That's what the sales rep told me. I suppose that's what I get for listening to sales reps.

 

Using VMware, you would not need any media discs or cd/dvd-rom drive at all:
1. Create the bootable rescue iso image and save it on your local HDD or any network share or external storage.
2. Create the backup .tib images of the system and save it on your local HDD or any network share or external storage.
3. When powering up vmware, instead of booting to your cd/dvd-rom drive, point it to the bootable rescue iso image created in step one....ie local HDD or other storage location.
4. After you go through the restore wizard, point ATI to the location of the .tib images as per step two...ie local HDD or other storage location including network.
This works perfectly with VMware 5.5.1 and with Parallels Workstation 2.1

 

Hello joeblowsmith,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Server Disk Backup Software.

linuxlad gave a good step-by-step instruction on how to perform real-to-virtual computer migration. I just would like to add that as virtual computer may has different "hardware" you may need to use Acronis Universal Restore in order to properly restore the image of your system. If the virtual hard drive uses SCSI controller, you should provide appropriate drivers while performing system restore to the virtual machine. For example, the widespread VMware environment requires Buslogic or LSI logic drivers. Use drivers bundled with your virtual machine software or download the latest drivers versions from the software manufacturer website.

Please read more information on how to use Acronis Universal Restore along with Acronis True Image 9.1 Server for Windows in the respective User's Guide.

Please note that Acronis Universal Restore is an optional program feature. It should be purchased separately and installed from a separate .msi setup file. Please visit Acronis online store in order to purchase the product.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov

 

I have also done what Eric did. Works great with VMWARE. In my case, the Corporate version of XP does not prompt for a "re-register" and I end up with a full function VM.
I would like to comment that with VMWARE the rescue disk actually works with the mouse fine - as opposed to the "real" world where it has issues with wireless mice (still). Understandable, because in the VM the rescue disk is shown very standard components.

 

I've been trying to migrate a VPC image to Parallels. The parallels site recommends using TI to create a backup to port to the VM. Here's what I've done:

Created ISO file of boot media for TI
Created TIB file of existing VPC image on USB2.0 harddrive

Parallels picks up the ISO image and is ready to restore. Yet, it won't see the USB harddrive to boot the TIB file.

I then created a backup of the TIB file on CD that spans four discs. I created another DVD for the VM to find - which it does. But since the file is spanned by a backup app TI doesn't recognize the file type. Of course the only reason I used CDs was because I'm out of DVDs. I'm going to remedy that an put the TIB on DVD and hopefully get it running from there.

I believe that will work fine, but was wondering if I've turned the process into a Rube Goldberg banana peeler. Anybody know a better way to move a VPC image to a VM? If I could make an ISO file instead of a TIB file then it's a one step process.

Thanks.

 

Hello Locutus71,

Thank you for choosing Acronis Disk Backup Software.

Please note that you will not be able to create ISO file instead of TIB file. In order to copy the system to the virtual environment you should perform two step process.

Please try booting with "acpi=off noapic" parameter as it is described in Acronis Help Post and see if the issue persists.

Please note that if you stored the files on several removable disks, you must provide the latest archive file; otherwise, restoration problems might occur.

If you have any further questions concerning Acronis software, please feel free to submit a request for technical support or post any of them on this forum. We will certainly try to help you in resolving any issues.

Thank you.
--
Aleksandr Isakov