[ubuntu-uk] Ending Dual-Boot: XP partiton question

[Liam Proven]

On 12 March 2014 19:42, SuperEngineer <boosys at gmail.com> wrote:
> As an aside [& to continue with the original mail....]
> I have just finished a build of my own desktop pc [started with a
> Zoostorm cheapo and replaced/added/donated some parts from old pc - an
> ageing Dell Dimension].
> The original XP partition is now on the my sda as sda1.
> No surprise, but XP won't boot -failing at a "Windows failed to start"
> blue screen with "this may be because you have installed...].  I am not
> surprised as most of the machine is different [but I am surprised that
> it didn't at least boot to the "Oi you! this is not the same machine!
> message followed by option to re-validate].
>
> The question I have is: would it be possible to run that XP partition on
> a VM?  I normally use VirtuaBox - but have no idea if it can load an XP
> [ntfs] partition rather than loading a cd or live cd tro a VirtualBox
> VM?  ...and would it be a waste of time trying simply to end up with the
> same result as booting it direct from GRUB.
>
> It would be nice to have a Win load - but don't won't to splash out on a
> new Windows system I don't fully want - I want a Linux [Ubuntu] pooter
> than can, if needed, use the existing WinXP install [which I will be
> internet disabling in April anyway].


Yes you can. But it won't magically spring to life again. If XP can't
find the hard disk controller it has a driver installed for, it won't
boot. Your new motherboard has a different disk controller, ergo, dead
install. Virtualise it, it will /still/ be a dead install.

Fix it first. /Then/ try to virtualise it if you wish. It will
probably die again when you migrate it P2V but now you'll at least
know how to fix it.

Secondly, don't try to boot the VM off a disk partition. Image the
disk partition into a file, then use that file as your virtual disk.
Much much safer, and also, when you get the VM configured to use the
virtual emulated hardware, you won't break your real physical install.

-- 
Liam Proven * Profile: http://lproven.livejournal.com/profile
Email: lproven at cix.co.uk * GMail/G+/Twitter/Flickr/Facebook: lproven
MSN: lproven at hotmail.com * Skype/AIM/Yahoo/LinkedIn: liamproven
Tel: +44 20-8685-0498 * Cell: +44 7939-087884