On Thursday 06 August 2009 00:10, David C. Rankin wrote:
> Listmates,
>
> I have my Toshiba 205d laptop that came with Vista Home Premium (I
> have my recovery disk). What I want to do is delete the vista
> partition, expand my existing /home partition with gparted, then
> reinstall vista in virtualbox. The problem I am running into is that
> vista won't install as a guest on my laptop in virtualbox. I guess
> the recovery disk sees the vbox environment as different from the
> normal hardware and has some check that prevents the install. I own
> it, it's licensed for this laptop, I just want to install it to
> virtualbox instead of standalone to prevent wasting all the
> additional space in the vista partition that never gets used.
>
> What's the trick?
Hello, David --
I am concerned that there may be TWO "issues" involved.
First, as a general rule, whenever Windows is installed, it takes over
the entire hard disk drive. It actually reformats the drive in such a
manner as to make it very difficult (aka "impossible"!) to recover any
data that might have once existed on the drive. This is nothing other
than standard procedure for Windows installations.
You do not mention what OS is (or will be) your host -- but you probably
know that Linux is much more gentle than Windows in this respect. It
is entirely content to co-exist, as Windows is NOT! As a result, I
suspect that what is happening is (in part) that Windows is effectively
refusing to recognize that fact that you have attempted to repartition
your hard disk drive and to give it only a small corner of
your "universe".
IF my view is correct, then I think that you should consider taking the
following steps -- AFTER reading this message all the way through AND
considering any further replies!
1 -- Copy all important data that is on this hard disk drive to external
media.
2 -- Completely re-format this hard disk drive -- "destructively" and at
the lowest-possible level.
3 -- Install (again!) your intended host operating environment.
4 -- Install (again!) VirtualBox.
5 -- Create a WinVista virtual machine within VirtualBox.
6 -- Install WinVista within the virtual machine that you just finished
creating.
CAUTION -- I do not think that you may properly install from a "recovery
disk"; I think that installation must be precisely that -- a true
installation, and NOT some kind of "recovery" from disaster or
what-have-you. This, also, may be a portion of your problem. And it
IS the second "issue" that I mentioned at first.
IF I am correct at this point, you had better ensure that you have
properly licensed INSTALLATION (and not merely "recovery"!) media
BEFORE you undertake even the very first step! Please do not hesitate
to consult with your system vendor to ensure that you are fully
prepared before you create an irrecoverable disaster for yourself!!!
7 -- Enjoy!
I should hope that someone far more knowledgeable than I would confirm
OR correct this diagnosis and suggestion BEFORE you commit yourself to
unnecessary work! Best of good fortune to you in the process.
--
布鲁斯 麦克阿瑟
Bruce Mac Arthur
15875 Switzer
Overland Park, KS 66221
913-897-4157
[email protected]
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