Joseph Videtto asks:
What’s the easiest way to back up my Windows XP and Windows 7 software to a VM withOUT having to re-install the operating system and all the software from scratch?
If you do have an easy way – can you share some of the details and ‘gotchas’ (things to watch out for), please.
Browser: Chrome 23
System: Windows
Tagged: backup programs, software tips, virtual machine, windows 7, windows software, windows tips, windows xp
System: Windows
Tagged: backup programs, software tips, virtual machine, windows 7, windows software, windows tips, windows xp
7 Answers - Write an Answer
Yiz Borol
December 27, 2012I don’t know how to do it with XP but windows 7 allows you to create a system image.
then all you have to do is install that to the VM and you should have all your programs n’ stuff up and running as soon as it’s installed.
You can also create system image in XP via third party software. Backup tools like Norton Ghost (not freeware!) or freewares like Macrium Reflect will allow you to image your computer. Things to watch out for? You need quite amount of free space to store the image, and of course, be careful not to delete it when you want to format your computer.
December 27, 2012ha14
December 27, 2012Acronis Backup & Recovery 11.5 : Converting Backup Archive of a Windows System to a Virtual Machine
http://kb.acronis.com/content/35282
Acronis Restored Windows XP crashes with BSOD on startup
http://communities.vmware.com/message/2071977#2071977
Restoring the full VMware virtual machine
http://www.symantec.com/business/support/index?page=content&id=HOWTO44422
How to Create a Virtual Machine With Windows Backup
http://www.ehow.com/how_6136540_create-virtual-machine-windows-backup.html
Sashritha Peiris
December 27, 2012You could copy your program onto a usb hard drive or flash drive and then copy the files off the flash drive or hard drive onto the VM
Mike
December 28, 2012I’m not sure I fully understand your goal.
If you want to create a virtual machine out of your current installation including all software you can use a converter tool like VMware vCenter Converter.
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=converter
The resulting image can be used with either VMware products (Workstation, Fusion, Player) or used with VirtualBox (with little work)
http://www.howtogeek.com/125640/how-to-convert-virtual-machines-between-virtualbox-and-vmware/
You can also migrate directly to VirtualBox
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows
However, neither really qualifies as a backup of your software.
While all data would be present in the VM, to restore it on your current system you’d have to manually restore all its resources which may include the program folder, additional installs like frameworks, all registry keys and references the software uses ~ unless the software is portable or self-healing this can be quite extensive.
The only other solution is creating an entire system image as described before but restoring from this image will also reintroduce any issues, bugs or errors you had at the time the image was created.
Junil Maharjan
December 28, 2012clone your hard drive.
Alex Schnapps
December 29, 2012For example – Disk2vhd utility. I prefer to use the Paragon program for it. Safe and convenient, I’ve done it many times.
Nicola De Ieso
December 29, 2012I remember that exists a software from Paragon, called Paragon to Virtual that is useful for create a virtual copy of your installation.