Booting from VM file

[jet_zmags]

Hello all, my apologies for what I'm sure is a redundant post. I've done some searching to no avail. I am wondering if it is possible to take my VM workstation files, burn them to a DVD and somehow convert the virtual machine to a stand-alone partition? For simplicities sake I want to create virtual machines on a host machine then once done, transfer the files to a server without any virtualization. I hope I'm asking the right question and explaining my goals correctly. Thank you for your time.

[Peter_vm]

That scenario is NOT possible unless you create Live OS bootable CD.

That is much more complicated task, than what you have just described.

[jet_zmags]

Fair enough, I expected as much. Is it doable though? I acknowledge that it may be a difficult process but there is simply no other option. Any guidance is much appreciated.

[Peter_vm]

Send PM to continuum, he is an expert in those things.

[continuum]

I am wondering if it is possible to take my VM workstation files, burn them to a DVD and somehow convert the virtual machine to a stand-alone partition?

no way - you need tools like Acronis Universal Restore or something like that.

What you can do is the following: create a VM - make sure it fits on a DVD - then create a MOA-liveCD and run the VM you got on that DVD.

When you run a VM from DVD you have several caveats: guests that use hardware specific kernels may not work ...

Also you have to decide wether you want to allow temporary files on local disks - if not you are limited to the ramdrive ..

If you are really interested and ready to invest some time - create an account at sanbarrow.com and start reading here

Things like running ESXi or Windows XP with Office from a DVD are possible

see http://communities.vmware.com/thread/155956?tstart=0

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description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:

[jet_zmags]

I've done a little reading based on your suggestions and this does seem like quite the challenge. I'm wondering if VMWare is possibly not the best solution for creating these installation images. Well, thank you all for your time.

[continuum]

I guess you are somewhat unclear about what you really want ???

If you want to restore a VM into a physical machine - this procedure is called V2P

If you want to run a VM on any box without installing VMware - then MOA or SLAX is the way to go

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description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD:

[jet_zmags]

You are correct, I was rather unclear on what I was even trying to accomplish. Based on what you've described, I'm trying to accomplish a large scale V2P. Any suggestions?

Edit: I've done some digging and found a great article by VMWare on V2P but it seems to be from the perspective of a Windows source/host based on the use of Sysrep? Stuck at this point.

[continuum]

V2P for Windows guest can be automated by sysprep or "offline-sysprep" or by tools like Acronis Universal restore and others

V2P for Linux is more manual work - you have to create a new initrd with the help of some Rescue CD

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description of vmx-parameters:

VMware-liveCD: