virtualization – Convert a hard-drive into a VMWare machine – Server Fault
Posted by jpluimers on 2022/04/29
Sometimes machines die without one having had the chance of doing a proper bootable file-system backup instead of a file-by-file-backup.
You can still P2V these machines (convert them from physical to virtual), but it is a lot more pain as you have to try to grab any installation keys for them and create a compatible virtual machine configuration by hand like I did in P2V of an existing XP machine to Hyper-V to have an emergency fallback when retiring old XP physical machines.
The below linked answer (with steps) uses Symantec Backup Exec System Recovery (now back in the hands of Veritas again as Backup Exec) to make part of this process towards VMware ESXi less tedious: [Wayback] virtualization – Convert a hard-drive into a VMWare machine – Server Fault (thanks [Wayback] Mark Booth and [Wayback] Dave M)
Doing this might require you to find old Windows XP media. Those are in the Internet Archive (often slower, but has the file hashes too) and The Eye (much faster from where I live in Europe); Internet Archive examples are for English, though other languages are present as well:
- Internet Archive: Windows XP Professional SP3 x86 : Microsoft : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- Internet Archive: [MSDN] Windows XP Professional SP3 x86 (32 bit) RETAIL English : Microsoft Corporation : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- Internet Archive: [MSDN] Windows XP Professional SP3 x86 (32 bit) VL (volume) English : Microsoft Corporation : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
- [Wayback] Index of /public/MSDN/Windows XP/
The Eye is a website dedicated towards archiving and serving publicly available information. #opendirectory #archive #digitalhistory
Got the Internet Archive tip from [Wayback/Archive.is] Where can I download an official Windows XP ISO? I have a license key if that helps? : windows, found the correct filename there, then downloaded the [Wayback] The Eye.
–jeroen
The Wiert Corner - irregular stream of stuff 
Leave a Reply