Windows 8 V2P

PCG

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I'm looking for some guidance on Virtual to Physical (V2P) conversions. I searched the forum for 'V2P' and for the first time, received no hits on a search topic.

A little background first: Following Shawn's excellent tutorial on "How to Install Windows 8 on VMware Player," I recently swtiched from a dual boot Windows 7 & 8 system to running 7 as my 'host' OS and 8 as a guest OS inside a new virtual machine that I set up on my C: drive SSD.

I plan on getting used to Windows 8 and trying out my apps over the next few weeks (or months). So far, I really like 8 a lot!

This is all new to me, and today I started thinking about how I will eventually transition Windows 8 from being the 'guest' OS over to the primary 'host' OS. When this time comes, I probably would consider converting 7 over as a guest OS.

Would that be one of the 'correct' ways to eventually do this?

Regardless, I thought I would post this thread to see what other Virtual Machine users do to complete such a transition, and to find out what other options might exist?

Shawn, another tutorial?

Thank you!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Studio XPS 8100 in Corsair 200R Case
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-860 processor, (8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
    Motherboard
    Dell (Chicony - DH57M01)
    Memory
    Corsair 16GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz-4x4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce GTX 760, 2GB DDR5
    Sound Card
    OEM Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell ST2410, 24" Flat Panel Monitor
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro-MZ-7PD256BW,
    Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue-WD10EALX,
    2 Western Digital 2TB Black WD2003FZEX,
    1 Western Digital 6TB Green
    PSU
    Corsair CX600M (600 Watt)
    Case
    Corsair 200R mid-tower
    Cooling
    OEM
    Internet Speed
    Broadcom Netlink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet Card.
    Other Info
    This Dell XPS 8100 was transplanted in to a Corsair 200R mid-tower case in June 2015; The only Dell remnants are the motherboard and cpu, which will be upgraded some time in the future...
Hello there,

V2P: It seems to be difficult for the moment (and in some cases impossible). Vmware Converter does't support this yet, hopefully on newer version.

However they provide a working procedure (might not be 100% possible on all hosts but there is at least a possibility).

See here:
Virtual to Physical Documentation and Sample Configurations

But if it seems to be too complex or difficult to achieve then go with a new, clean install of the OS again.
Installing all programs from scratch may be faster or easier that the V2P but this can depend on the user choice an experience as well.
So I haven't checked or performed something similar yet. A clean install works well in my case. The clean install OS will be snappier than the older V2P copy anyway. But you are free to try it out: seems interesting.

Regards
Hopachi
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
Hi there
Here's a suggestion (You have to think in alternative ways to do this stuff sometimes).

1) Use something like Acronis in the VM and backup to an external USB device.It's easy enough to attach a USB disk to the VM.
If you as you should do have spit the VM's OS and data disks only back up the OS partition (and the system partition - if it exists - yes it can exist even on a VM).

2) now RESTORE using the Universal restore feature or equivalent to partitions or disks on the main HOST.

3) Boot -- remember to set the Boot Disk priority in the REAL BIOS to the disk you've restored your vm image to.

it probably on ist attempt will BSOD - just enable recovery using W8 recovery disk. Should work after 2 or 3 goes --I've done this myself a few times as this always seems to work better then V2P utilities.

Pre-amble -- before taking the image UNINSTALL vmtools -- or vbox extensions depending on the vm software you are using. Although this isn't a pre-requisite it's impossible to uninstall vmtools from a Physical machine you've created by V2P from VMware - doesn't stop the physical machine from operating though so you can safely skip the step if you want.

Also change disks from SCSI to IDE (you can re-enable these as SATA in the BIOS of the PHYSICAL machine before booting the RECOVERY disk after the ist BSOD (you'll unless you are incredibly lucky get 2 or 3 of these before you get a successful boot).

Another point to look for is AHCI in BIOS - since the vm will emulate IDE / SCSI you probably will have to disable this in the BIOS of the REAL machine before booting -- only trial and error will work here.

Advantage of using programs like acronis is that they CAN restore to different hardware --even if they can't find all the new hardware they can usually create a bootable system from which the hardware drivers can be found by windows again. These are MUCH easier methods of doing V2P rather than classical V2P converter utilities.

Once you've got a successful boot you'll almost certainly get asked to re-activate Windows as I assume the hardware will have changed -- although I must confess with 2 W7 Machines I did the V2P on I never got asked for a re-activation.

Cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
Hi there
Here's a suggestion

1) Use something like Acronis in the VM and backup to an external USB device.It's easy enough to attach a USB disk to the VM.
If you as you should do have spit the VM's OS and data disks only back up the OS partition (and the system partition - even if it exists - yes it can exist even on a VM).

2) now RESTORE using the Universal restore feature or equivalent to a partitions or disks on the main HOST.

3) Boot -- it probably on ist attempt will BSOD - just enable recovery using W8 recovery disk. Should work after 2 or 3 goes --I've done this myself a few times as this always seems to work better then V2P utilities.

Pre-amble -- before taking the image UNINSTALL vmtools -- or vbox extensions depending on the vm software you are using. Although this isn't a pre-requisite it's impossible to uninstall vmtools from a Physical machine you've created by V2P from VMware - doesn't stop the physical machine from operating though so you can safely skip the step if you want.

Also change disks from SCSI to IDE (you can re-enable these as SATA in the BIOS of the PHYSICAL machine before booting the RECOVERY disk after the ist BSOD (you'll unless you are incredibly lucky get 2 or 3 of these before you get a successful boot).

Another point to look for is AHCI in BIOS - since the vm will emulate IDE / SCSI you probably will have to disable this in the BIOS of the REAL machine before booting -- only trial and error will work here.

Advantage of using programs like acronis is that they CAN restore to different hardware --even if they can't find all the new hardware they can usually create a bootable system from which the hardware drivers can be found by windows again. These are MUCH easier methods of doing V2P rather than classical V2P converter utilities.

Once you've got a successful boot you'll almost certainly get asked to re-activate Windows as I assume the hardware will have changed -- although I must confess with 2 W7 Machines I did the V2P on I never got asked for a re-activation.

Cheers
jimbo

Yes it's easier than the standard V2P I've found. Hopefully all goes well.

Still, I have a hunch that for Windows 8 we will need to reactivate it again, seems to be very sensitive on hardware change.
It seems that for a simple network adapter change reactivation is needed:
http://www.eightforums.com/windows-updates-activation/18501-windows-8-activation.html#post180482

We'll just have to wait and see when we'll perform some of those transitions form machine to machine.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
Thanks Hopachi and jimbo... I can see that I have more research to do on this. I have already read on another thread that I may not be able to move my Windows 7 Home Premium over to a VM because it came installed on my Dell XPS 8100 computer.

I'll need to dig in to this more.

Thanks again.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Studio XPS 8100 in Corsair 200R Case
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-860 processor, (8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
    Motherboard
    Dell (Chicony - DH57M01)
    Memory
    Corsair 16GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz-4x4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce GTX 760, 2GB DDR5
    Sound Card
    OEM Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell ST2410, 24" Flat Panel Monitor
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro-MZ-7PD256BW,
    Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue-WD10EALX,
    2 Western Digital 2TB Black WD2003FZEX,
    1 Western Digital 6TB Green
    PSU
    Corsair CX600M (600 Watt)
    Case
    Corsair 200R mid-tower
    Cooling
    OEM
    Internet Speed
    Broadcom Netlink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet Card.
    Other Info
    This Dell XPS 8100 was transplanted in to a Corsair 200R mid-tower case in June 2015; The only Dell remnants are the motherboard and cpu, which will be upgraded some time in the future...
You got me interested in this subject :).

The other way around is a piece of cake but I have never tried moving a Windows virtual machine to a real physical computer.

Theoretically this method should work. It uses sysprep to generalize Windows which is then hardware independent. Going to test it this coming weekend.

Kari
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 17-1150eg
    CPU
    1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" laptop display, 22" LED and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1600*900 (1), 1920*1080 (2&3)
    Hard Drives
    Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
    External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media
    Cooling
    As Envy runs a bit warm, I have it on a Cooler Master pad
    Keyboard
    Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth)
    Internet Speed
    50 MB VDSL
    Browser
    Maxthon 3.5.2., IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender 4.3.9431.0
    Other Info
    Windows in English, additional user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish.
You got me interested in this subject :).

The other way around is a piece of cake but I have never tried moving a Windows virtual machine to a real physical computer.

Theoretically this method should work. It uses sysprep to generalize Windows which is then hardware independent. Going to test it this coming weekend.

Kari

That's a really good tutorial!

I'm sure we're all a bit curious on how the test goes.

Thanks for the link.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 x64
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP Envy DV6 7250
    CPU
    Intel i7-3630QM
    Motherboard
    HP, Intel HM77 Express Chipset
    Memory
    16GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Intel HD4000 + Nvidia Geforce 630M
    Sound Card
    IDT HD Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    15.6' built-in + Samsung S22D300 + 17.3' LG Phillips
    Screen Resolution
    multiple resolutions
    Hard Drives
    Samsung SSD 250GB + Hitachi HDD 750GB
    PSU
    120W adapter
    Case
    small
    Cooling
    laptop cooling pad
    Keyboard
    Backlit built-in + big one in USB
    Mouse
    SteelSeries Sensei
    Internet Speed
    slow and steady
    Browser
    Chromium, Pale Moon, Firefox Developer Edition
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender
    Other Info
    That's basically it.
I agree... good tutorial, Kari.

I got way too busy learning how to do system imaging and data backups (and actually ran in to a EULA issue with the setup mentioned in my original post), and did not dig in to this any further.

Would love to hear how it goes for you this weekend, though.

Thank you.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 10 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Dell Studio XPS 8100 in Corsair 200R Case
    CPU
    Intel Core i7-860 processor, (8MB Cache, 2.80GHz)
    Motherboard
    Dell (Chicony - DH57M01)
    Memory
    Corsair 16GB DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz-4x4GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    nVidia GeForce GTX 760, 2GB DDR5
    Sound Card
    OEM Integrated
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell ST2410, 24" Flat Panel Monitor
    Hard Drives
    256GB Samsung SSD 840 Pro-MZ-7PD256BW,
    Western Digital 1TB Caviar Blue-WD10EALX,
    2 Western Digital 2TB Black WD2003FZEX,
    1 Western Digital 6TB Green
    PSU
    Corsair CX600M (600 Watt)
    Case
    Corsair 200R mid-tower
    Cooling
    OEM
    Internet Speed
    Broadcom Netlink (TM) Gigabit Ethernet Card.
    Other Info
    This Dell XPS 8100 was transplanted in to a Corsair 200R mid-tower case in June 2015; The only Dell remnants are the motherboard and cpu, which will be upgraded some time in the future...
Hi Kari
Thanks for the tutorial -- I'll have a go with that too -- although the Acronis method works fine -- your method doesn't rely on having a 3rd party product either.
cheers
jimbo
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Linux Centos 7, W8.1, W7, W2K3 Server W10
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 X LG 40 inch TV
    Hard Drives
    SSD's * 3 (Samsung 840 series) 250 GB
    2 X 3 TB sata
    5 X 1 TB sata
    Internet Speed
    0.12 GB/s (120Mb/s)
The best part of that method is that the method used, sysprepping with /generalize switch, is exactly designed for that: to remove all hardware dependencies to better allow image deployment.

Although designed for enterprise environment there's nom reason why it should not be used on single PCs.

Kari
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    HP ENVY 17-1150eg
    CPU
    1.6 GHz Intel Core i7-720QM Processor
    Memory
    6 GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5850 Graphics
    Sound Card
    Beats sound system with integrated subwoofer
    Monitor(s) Displays
    17" laptop display, 22" LED and 32" Full HD TV through HDMI
    Screen Resolution
    1600*900 (1), 1920*1080 (2&3)
    Hard Drives
    Internal: 2 x 500 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive 7200 rpm
    External: 2TB for backups, 3TB USB3 network drive for media
    Cooling
    As Envy runs a bit warm, I have it on a Cooler Master pad
    Keyboard
    Logitech diNovo Media Desktop Laser (bluetooth)
    Mouse
    Logitech MX1000 Laser (Bluetooth)
    Internet Speed
    50 MB VDSL
    Browser
    Maxthon 3.5.2., IE11
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender 4.3.9431.0
    Other Info
    Windows in English, additional user accounts in Finnish, German and Swedish.
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