Best way to “virtualize” existing system

virtual-machinesvirtualization

I have a fully patched, pristine Windows XP box and would like to create virtual machines that have the exact same setup, OS and software – just differ in disk size, available RAM. The virtual technology does not matter (VMWare, VirtualPC, other), but is there a way to go from existing system to virtual machine? And can you do this for free?! I would sooner go this route than create and patch a new VM…
Thanks for any advice.

Best Answer

  1. For converting the physical box to a virtual machine: VMware Converter. There's even a free version.
  2. For creating variations: Use linked clones to create a bunch of instances of that base machine, changing the RAM on each. You'll have to do a bit more work to change the disk size as you'll have to change the partition size and resize NTFS. I usually use sysrescuecd to do this to Windows virtual machines.
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