Convert a Windows VM to physical partition

I have a VMWare virtual machine running Windows as a guest which I want to convert to a physical partition. The idea is to add it to the GRUB boot menu, and be able to boot it.

Is this possible? If so, how?

EDIT: I tried using Acronis True Image to duplicate the VM (a Windows 7 guest) to a partition on the second HD, and add this partition to the GRUB boot menu. When I tried to boot it, it failed with complaints about hardware/software modification which requires using the Windows DVD to restore/repair the installation. I'm afraid this won't work. Ideas?

Moshe

Posted 2009-07-20T15:49:24.973

Reputation: 562

1With both Windows 7 and Vista, when moving partitions the DVD is required to do a Boot Repair. I have had this issue on every machine I have done a partition copy on, specifically if the disc size changes. – BinaryMisfit – 2009-08-06T10:21:15.320

Answers

If your VM Disk is big enough, you could Run a program like Norton Ghost or Acronis true image within the VM, copy the image to an external hard drive, and restore the image onto a physical partition.

John T

Posted 2009-07-20T15:49:24.973

Reputation: 149 037

VMWare has documentation on it here, but it's a guide using 3rd party tools and it isn't technically supported.

Simon P Stevens

Posted 2009-07-20T15:49:24.973

Reputation: 5 025

Unfortunately, this is not on windows 7 migration yet – powerMicha – 2013-02-20T13:30:39.860

Of course you can use tools like Norton Ghost, but if you installed VMware Tools you might need to uninstall it before you run your OS on a physical machine.

If you run Windows Vista I doubt there will be any problems. Vista is very resistant to big hardware changes. Apart from a disk geometry change, but that's handled by Ghost. I haven't done anything like that with XP though.

KovBal

Posted 2009-07-20T15:49:24.973

Reputation: 1 250