I need to convert a physical machine running Windows XP Pro and some old software in a VMware virtual machine. Unfortunately, as you know, to run the cold clone a physical machine should I use VMware Cold Clone Boot ISO, which is only available with the VMware Converter Enterprise license.
After some Googling, I Trovat this fantastic live distribution called MOA, Multi-Operating System Administration. In practice, create a LiveCD that can run the free version of VMware Converter, Player and Workstation on Windows Server 2003 kernel. With this simple but great application you can do many things (just a little imagination) like to boot a virtual machine on a CD or a USB drive directly to any physical machine or, as in my case, do the cold clone a physical machine to a virtual machine.
Here are the simple steps to create my own free version of a bootable CD for cold clone.
Creating the boot CD to clone the cold
This procedure allows you to create a LiveCD using Windows 2003 Server that allows you to run VMware Converter Standalone 3.0.3 (formerly known as VMware Converter Starter Edition) to carry out the copy of a hard disk.
Requirements The Windows version must be the same on the LiveCD, or more recent version of the machine that will be virtualized.
MOA recommended for the ISO version of the Bandit, the physical machine that has at least 512MB, preferably 1GB or more of RAM.
Files required
Download:
moa241 -setup.exe (2.7MB) from http://sanbarrow.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1544
X13-05665.img (596MB) (Windows Server 2003) from http://download.microsoft.com/download/E/5/C/E5C2CA69-28C9-492A-8F57-BDA0010616E5/X13-05665.img
VMware- converter-3.0.3-89816.exe (30.1MB) from http://download3.vmware.com/software/converter/VMware-converter-3.0.3-89816.exe
Put all downloaded files in a folder (no spaces in the folder name) on an NTFS formatted disk. MOA consider this as the 'building directory' .
Assembly of ISO
Do moa241 -setup.exe.
In the application menu click on moa -> create MOA core.
If you put the file in the root of the X13-05665.img building directory, MOA will extract the files automatically. If the file X13-05665.img is in a different directory or if you are a different operating system to build the LiveCD, MOA setup will prompt you to indicate the location of the source of Windows. It must be a system 32-bit OS, like XP or Server 2003. The MOA
setup will ask you some things that you want to build on the environment. Respond quickly to requests because after about 10 seconds will be taken automatically to the default value.
The setup program will run a DOS application that MOA 20.34MB download files for the core system. We will then ask if you want to download the drivers, which are other 17MB download. After some more questions will run the program PE Builder v3.1.10a.
After the setup program asks if you want to install VMware Converter 3.0.3 (the default answer is no, if you want to install it respond immediately). Without this you will be asked se volete che il converter parta automaticamente (la risposta di default è no e va bene).
Fatto tutto questo verrà creata automaticamente l'immagine ISO standard. Potete creare anche un'immagine ISO Bandit, che sembra essere quella più utilizzata.Nel mio caso, l'immagine standard è di 374,622KB, mentre la Bandit è di 296,810KB. La versione Bandit dovrebbe essere anche più veloce della standard.
I file ISO creati verranno salvati nella cartella \iso-out\. Masterizzate l'immagine che desiderate su un CD o un DVD.
Boot dal LiveCD
Quando farete il Boot dall'immagine Bandit, riceverete il seguente messaggio, “can’t find vmware – starting plan B ", which might seem an error message.
will see a dialog box that says "can not find vmware files in default location - please select a different path", which asks for the location of the folder \\ vm \\ on ramdisk. At this point is trying to install VMware Player or Workstation do, not the Converter. Cancel simply crushed.
Another dialog box will appear with the following inscription: "Still can not find VMware - You May Want to mount a wim. Click Cancel again.
After a few seconds, MOA will end all operations of his boot and the GUI will be minimized. Click on the button the taskbar to restore it and then click with right mouse button on the button with the image of the PC with the VMware logo, and select "start converter". It will run VMware Converter.
If things do not go as planned you can find a video tutorial at: http://sanbarrow.com/moa23/coldclone-howto/coldclone-howto.html
To do what I wanted to save the my new virtual machine on another physical disk, then I copied the files from that disc on a machine with VMware Server installed.
I ran VMware Server and click on "Open an existing virtual machine" and you're done. If you want to use
a USB drive to boot instead of the LiveCD follow these simple directions:
- Create two partitions on the USB drive you want to use:
1. Create a small partition at the beginning of the primary disk. This partition must not be larger than 2GB. format it as FAT. Set it as active and give it a letter.
2. Create a second partition covering the rest of the remaining free space on the disk. NTFS format it and give it a letter.
- PeToUSB download the program from the following address: http://gocoding.com/projects/petousb/CFL44/PeToUSB_3.0.0.7.zip
- Run the program and select the option "USB Fixed"
- Select a small partition (FAT) that you just created, and enable the following options:
1. "Enable Disk Format"
2. "Enable LBA (FAT16X)"
3. "Enable File Copy" -> "Overwrite Always"
- In the "Source Path To Built BartPE / WinPE Files." Select the sub-folder of BartPE MOA building directory (eg C: \\ MOA \\ pebuilder \\ BartPE)
- Double check all the options and click "Start"
- Copy the contents of the folder of the partition moahome small (FAT) on the large partition (NTFS)
- Create an empty text file "moa-is-at-home.tag" and put it in the partition NTFS
- enable booting from USB in the BIOS of the physical machine and run it
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