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I would like to create a virutal machine that I could clone to real computers (about 40) (every computer have the same configuration: MOBO, Video, Drivers).

I have to use Sun's VirtualBox.

Is there any way to do this?

HopelessN00b
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  • Ok. the terms I was looking for was indeed : "physicalization" or "V2P". Im going to use partimage in a tiny live linux distro. Thanks. –  Nov 05 '09 at 13:15

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The answer is "maybe", but not telling us the operating system, that's where I will leave the answer.

Personally, if I had 40 identical boxes, I would use one of them as the progenitor.

Edit: The terms you want to search for are "physicalization" or "V2P".

kmarsh
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In my searches for how to do this, most answers end up saying this gets problematic and unreliable. The best practice I've run across is to just set up one of the systems that you are going to be cloning and...well, clone that. Virtual systems can be cloned to other virtual systems but you're kind of asking to take a setup on an HP system and clone it to a lab of Dells. The hardware is different, drivers, etc...you will have the best success if you take one of the Dells and create a base from that.

Unless you sysprep it, I suppose, but I don't know if that will get your applications properly moved.

If you're asking about clone software we usually use Rescue Is Possible Linux with partimage to create a clone drive to a network share. Others use Ghost or Altiris to clone drives. And again there are those that use Sysprep if you're using Windows (partimage, altiris, etc. are host-agnostic, they're just imaging the drive and don't care about the OS).

Bart Silverstrim
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You really need a deployment server with an image of a fully installed physical machine. Windows Deployment Services (WDS) will do the trick.

ComputerBas
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