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Any tips/tricks for cloning an existing operating system (Win10) to run in a VM? (beehaw.org)
submitted 1 year ago by Seathru@beehaw.org to c/operating_systems@beehaw.org
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I have a laptop with obsolete, licensed diagnostic software that I use on old equipment still in service. I've kept it alive longer than it should have been, but it's only a matter time before a disk or mobo failure puts me in a bad spot.

I'd like to make a clone of the current OS (Windows 10) as-is that could be run in VirtualBox or some other VM as a backup. Is it as simple as making a disk image with DD and then loading that up in VirtualBox? I'm sure it's not, but what am I overlooking? Or what other software would be better to use?

I'm fairly computer literate, but a mechanic by trade; So, not an expert.

Thanks for any help.

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[-] loops@beehaw.org 2 points 1 year ago

I only have experience with Linux systems, but it seems GParted (the program I use to modify and create partitions) also works outside of the Linux environment. So, here's an open source option.

Also, you should make more backups before trying to clone the drive. There's some recommended backup programs on the GParted website.

Good luck!

this post was submitted on 04 Aug 2023
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Operating Systems

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