How to virtualize PC

Have you ever come to the point when you had to perform a clean Windows installation on the working computer? However, you have all the software, you use on the daily basis, installed and configured. Reinstalling the Windows and all the software again usually takes you at least a week. Can’t afford to stay offline this long?

How about virtualizing your working copy of Windows, and make it run as the virtual computer? Once you have it running on the virtual server, you can safely reformat your physical one. This way you have time to do the installation and setup of the new environment, while you can always log in to the virtualized old computer and do all the regular tasks that come in meanwhile.

This procedure is also referred as physical to virtual conversion or P2V for short.

Perform the following procedure at your own risk. The procedure is still quite safe, since it means creating a full backup image of your computer and playing with the backup image afterwards. However, the author takes no responsibility for any damage or data loss.

Glossary

• physical computer – the source computer, you’re trying to virtualize
• virtual server – the computer that has Microsoft Virtual Server or Microsoft Virtual PC installed; the computer where you’ll host the virtual one
• virtual computer – the destination virtual computer running on the virtual server

Requirements

• A separate computer running Microsoft Virtual Server or Microsoft Virtual PC, namely the virtual server
• Symantec Ghost or similar software that supports performing an offline entire disk copy with partitions layout to a remote disk over the network
• VHDMount utility, which Microsoft distributes as a part of Microsoft Virtual Server but you can install it separately
• The setup media of the Windows installation you’re trying to virtualize, or even better: an ISO image of it

The procedure

Copy the hard drives

I wrote a separate article describing in detail how to perform this task here. To keep you focused, the short summary follows. The following procedure is actually making a backup of your hard drive layout to VHD files situated on remote virtual server over the network.

On virtual server:

1. Create a VHD file for each physical disk/volume installed in your physical computer. Symantec Ghost can resize the partitions so you can use this opportunity to adjust disk drive sizes.
2. Mount all the newly created VHD files using VHDMount utility. You don’t need to enable the Undo disk feature yet, to provide a better transfer rate. I suggest you run GDISK32.EXE utility to determine the number of each VHD file mounted. Selecting the wrong destination drive later can easily overwrite any of your local disk drives on your virtual server.
3. Run GHOST32.EXE utility on your virtual server and configure it as a network slave mode (Peer to peer › TCP/IP › Slave). Remember the IP displayed.

On physical computer:

1. If you don’t remember the physical computer Administrator’s account password, you should reset it first.
2. Prepare a bootable media (diskette or USB flash drive) with networking support using Symantec Ghost Boot Wizard. Make sure you include proper network driver of your physical computer network interface card (NIC). If you can’t find the driver on the list, look for the DOS drivers of your NIC on the internet. You can prepare the bootable media on another computer.
3. Boot the physical computer using the prepared bootable media. Verify the network driver loaded successfully. If the network works, the Peer to peer option in Symantec Ghost is enabled.
4. Configure Symantec Ghost as a network master (Peer to peer › TCP/IP › Master). Enter the IP of the virtual server displayed before.
5. Using the Symantec Ghost, copy all the disk drives from the physical computer to the mounted VHD files on the virtual server.
6. When the transfer is complete, I consider a good practice to turn off the physical computer and leave it turned off. If this procedure doesn’t work for you, you can always discard the virtual computer and turn back on the physical one to resume your work.

Back on virtual server:

1. Once the transfer is complete, you can safely choose not to restart the virtual server and just exit the GHOST32.EXE there. Unmouting the VHD files is sufficient.

Replace HAL.DLL on virtual computer

Since the hardware abstraction layer on the virtual computer is most probably different from the physical one, you must replace the HAL.DLL file of your Windows installation to make the virtual computer start. You can read more details here.

1. Mount the VHD file that has a copy of partition with the Windows installation using VHDMount utility.
2. Extract the HALACPI.DLL file from your Windows setup media to the System32 folder and replace the HAL.DLL with it. You should find the HALACPI.DL_ file in the i386 folder on your Windows setup media. Use the following lines in your command prompt (assuming F: is the drive of the mounted VHD file partition with the Windows installation, and D: is the drive with the Windows setup media):
   cd F:\WINDOWS\system32
expand D:\i386\HALACPI.DL_
ren HAL.DLL HAL-ORIG.DLL
ren HALACPI.DLL HAL.DLL
3. Unmount the VHD file and commit the changes.

Create a virtual computer

Use Microsoft Virtual Server or Virtual PC to create a new virtual computer. Attach the VHD files created to it in the same order as they appeared as disks in physical computer.

Since Microsoft Virtual Server performs faster emulation for SCSI drives than IDE, you can choose to attach VHD files as SCSI drives. Believe me; the migration imposes much more radical hardware changes to Windows installation than this.

If your Windows licence requires activation, you’ll have to reactivate it anyway. So now it’s time to do all the hardware changes you need.

I strongly suggest you enable Undo disks option now.

Enable/disable drivers

1. Boot the virtual computer from the Windows setup media for the first time. When the Windows installation offers you a choice, choose “R – Rescue”. The rescue mode will ask you about the desired keyboard, the path to the Windows installation you would like to repair and the Administrator account’s password.
2. Once in rescue console, use LISTSVC, ENABLE and DISABLE commands to manipulate the start-up type of each service. Concentrate on the services that have or should have the start-up type set to Boot or System. Those are the drivers.
   A single Boot or System class driver of the hardware, which is installed on the physical computer and is absent on virtual one, can prevent Windows from booting up. Therefore, make sure, you disable all the services of Boot or System class not needed anymore.
   On the other hand, you need to enable the drivers of the hardware the Microsoft Virtual Server emulates in order to boot the virtual computer. For example, you should set the aic78xx service start-up type to Boot, if you attached the VHD files as SCSI drives. You’ll get a blue screen on boot otherwise.
   I appended a typical services start-up setup on a virtual computer for your reference.
3. You can try to boot the virtual computer after a change or two, to see if it already boots. If it doesn’t boot the normal way, try the Safe mode. If Windows doesn’t start in the safe mode either, return to rescue console, enable/disable some more drivers and retry.

After you get the virtual computer running

Please consider following notes, after you get the virtual computer running:

• Congratulations!
• You will probably have to re-activate your Windows installation if your Windows licence requires activation.
• If you use fixed DHCP assigned IP addresses on your network, you should replace the MAC address of the physical computer with the virtual computer’s one in the DHCP server’s settings. This way the cloned virtual computer should get the same IP address assigned.
• Do not boot the physical computer on the same network, since the IP and/or computer name collision might occur. If the purpose of your virtualization was to make a permanent virtual clone of the physical computer rather than migration, you should change the virtual computer’s name and IP address to avoid collision.

Appendix: Default service start-up setup of virtual computer running Windows XP

Driver/service	Start-up type	Description
Abiosdsk	Disabled
abp480n5	Disabled
ACPI	Boot	Microsoft ACPI Driver
ACPIEC	Disabled
adpu160m	Disabled
aec	Manual	Microsoft Kernel Acoustic Echo Canceller
AFD	System	AFD Networking Support Environment
Aha154x	Disabled
aic78u2	Disabled
aic78xx	Boot
Alerter	Disabled	Alerter
ALG	Manual	Application Layer Gateway Service
AliIde	Disabled
amsint	Disabled
AppMgmt	Manual	Application Management
asc	Disabled
asc3350p	Disabled
asc3550	Disabled
AsyncMac	Manual	RAS Asynchronous Media Driver
atapi	Boot	Standard IDE/ESDI Hard Disk Controller
Atdisk	Disabled
Atmarpc	Manual	ATM ARP Client Protocol
AudioSrv	Auto	Windows Audio
audstub	Manual	Audio Stub Driver
Beep	System
BITS	Manual	Background Intelligent Transfer Service
Browser	Auto	Computer Browser
cbidf2k	Disabled
cd20xrnt	Disabled
Cdaudio	System
Cdfs	Disabled
Cdrom	System	CD-ROM Driver
Changer	System
CiSvc	Manual	Indexing Service
ClipSrv	Disabled	ClipBook
CmdIde	Disabled
COMSysApp	Manual	COM+ System Application
Cpqarray	Disabled
CryptSvc	Auto	Cryptographic Services
ctlsb16	Manual	Creative SB16/AWE32/AWE64 Driver (WDM)
dac2w2k	Disabled
dac960nt	Disabled
DC21x4	Manual	DC21x4 Based Network Adapter Driver
DcomLaunch	Auto	DCOM Server Process Launcher
Dhcp	Auto	DHCP Client
Disk	Boot	Disk Driver
dmadmin	Manual	Logical Disk Manager Administrative Service
dmboot	Disabled
dmio	Boot	Logical Disk Manager Driver
dmload	Boot
dmserver	Auto	Logical Disk Manager
DMusic	Manual	Microsoft Kernel DLS Syntheiszer
Dnscache	Auto	DNS Client
dpti2o	Disabled
drmkaud	Manual	Microsoft Kernel DRM Audio Descrambler
ERSvc	Auto	Error Reporting Service
Eventlog	Auto	Event Log
EventSystem	Manual	COM+ Event System
Fastfat	Disabled
FastUserSwitching	Compatibility Manual	Fast User Switching Compatibility
Fdc	Manual	Floppy Disk Controller Driver
Fips	System
Flpydisk	Manual	Floppy Disk Driver
FltMgr	Boot	FltMgr
Fs_Rec	System
Ftdisk	Boot	Volume Manager Driver
gameenum	Manual	Game Port Enumerator
Gpc	Manual	Generic Packet Classifier
helpsvc	Auto	Help and Support
HidServ	Disabled	Human Interface Device Access
hpn	Disabled
HTTP	Manual	HTTP
HTTPFilter	Manual	HTTP SSL
i2omgmt	System
i2omp	Disabled
i8042prt	System	i8042 Keyboard and PS/2 Mouse Port Driver
Imapi	System	CD-Burning Filter Driver
ImapiService	Manual	IMAPI CD-Burning COM Service
ini910u	Disabled
IntelIde	Boot
intelppm	System	Intel Processor Driver
ip6fw	Manual	IPv6 Windows Firewall Driver
IpFilterDriver	Manual	IP Traffic Filter Driver
IpInIp	Manual	IP in IP Tunnel Driver
IpNat	Manual	IP Network Address Translator
IPSec	System	IPSEC driver
IRENUM	Manual	IR Enumerator Service
isapnp	Boot	PnP ISA/EISA Bus Driver
Kbdclass	System	Keyboard Class Driver
kmixer	Manual	Microsoft Kernel Wave Audio Mixer
KSecDD	Boot
LanmanServer	Auto	Server
lanmanworkstation	Auto	Workstation
lbrtfdc	System
LmHosts	Auto	TCP/IP NetBIOS Helper
Messenger	Disabled	Messenger
mnmdd	System
mnmsrvc	Manual	NetMeeting Remote Desktop Sharing
Modem	Manual
Mouclass	System	Mouse Class Driver
MountMgr	Boot	Mount Point Manager
mraid35x	Disabled
MRxDAV	Manual	WebDav Client Redirector
MRxSmb	System	MRXSMB
MSDTC	Manual	Distributed Transaction Coordinator
Msfs	System
MSIServer	Manual	Windows Installer
MSKSSRV	Manual	Microsoft Streaming Service Proxy
MSPCLOCK	Manual	Microsoft Streaming Clock Proxy
MSPQM	Manual	Microsoft Streaming Quality Manager Proxy
mssmbios	Manual	Microsoft System Management BIOS Driver
Mup	Boot	Mup
NDIS	Boot	NDIS System Driver
NdisTapi	Manual	Remote Access NDIS TAPI Driver
Ndisuio	Manual	NDIS Usermode I/O Protocol
NdisWan	Manual	Remote Access NDIS WAN Driver
NDProxy	Manual	NDIS Proxy
NetBIOS	System	NetBIOS Interface
NetBT	System	NetBios over Tcpip
NetDDE	Disabled	Network DDE
NetDDEdsdm	Disabled	Network DDE DSDM
Netlogon	Manual	Net Logon
Netman	Manual	Network Connections
Nla	Manual	Network Location Awareness (NLA)
Npfs	System
Ntfs	Disabled
NtLmSsp	Manual	NT LM Security Support Provider
NtmsSvc	Manual	Removable Storage
Null	System
NwlnkFlt	Manual	IPX Traffic Filter Driver
NwlnkFwd	Manual	IPX Traffic Forwarder Driver
Parport	Manual	Parallel port driver
PartMgr	Boot	Partition Manager
ParVdm	Auto
PCI	Boot	PCI Bus Driver
PCIDump	System
PCIIde	Disabled
Pcmcia	Disabled
PDCOMP	Manual
PDFRAME	Manual
PDRELI	Manual
PDRFRAME	Manual
perc2	Disabled
perc2hib	Disabled
PlugPlay	Auto	Plug and Play
PolicyAgent	Auto	IPSEC Services
PptpMiniport	Manual	WAN Miniport (PPTP)
Processor	System	Processor Driver
ProtectedStorage	Auto	Protected Storage
PSched	Manual	QoS Packet Scheduler
Ptilink	Manual	Direct Parallel Link Driver
ql1080	Disabled
Ql10wnt	Disabled
ql12160	Disabled
ql1240	Disabled
ql1280	Disabled
RasAcd	System	Remote Access Auto Connection Driver
RasAuto	Manual	Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
Rasl2tp	Manual	WAN Miniport (L2TP)
RasMan	Manual	Remote Access Connection Manager
RasPppoe	Manual	Remote Access PPPOE Driver
Raspti	Manual	Direct Parallel
Rdbss	System	Rdbss
RDPCDD	System
rdpdr	Manual	Terminal Server Device Redirector Driver
RDPWD	Manual
RDSessMgr	Manual	Remote Desktop Help Session Manager
redbook	System	Digital CD Audio Playback Filter Driver
RemoteAccess	Disabled	Routing and Remote Access
RemoteRegistry	Auto	Remote Registry
RpcLocator	Manual	Remote Procedure Call (RPC) Locator
RpcSs	Auto	Remote Procedure Call (RPC)
RSVP	Manual	QoS RSVP
s3legacy	Manual
SamSs	Auto	Security Accounts Manager
SCardSvr	Manual	Smart Card
Schedule	Auto	Task Scheduler
Secdrv	Manual	Secdrv
seclogon	Auto	Secondary Logon
SENS	Auto	System Event Notification
serenum	Manual	Serenum Filter Driver
Serial	System	Serial port driver
Sfloppy	System
SharedAccess	Auto	Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing (ICS)
ShellHWDetection	Auto	Shell Hardware Detection
Simbad	Disabled
Sparrow	Disabled
splitter	Manual	Microsoft Kernel Audio Splitter
Spooler	Auto	Print Spooler
sr	Disabled	System Restore Filter Driver
srservice	Auto	System Restore Service
Srv	Manual	Srv
SSDPSRV	Manual	SSDP Discovery Service
stisvc	Manual	Windows Image Acquisition (WIA)
swenum	Manual	Software Bus Driver
swmidi	Manual	Microsoft Kernel GS Wavetable Synthesizer
SwPrv	Manual	MS Software Shadow Copy Provider
symc810	Disabled
symc8xx	Disabled
sym_hi	Disabled
sym_u3	Disabled
sysaudio	Manual	Microsoft Kernel System Audio Device
SysmonLog	Manual	Performance Logs and Alerts
TapiSrv	Manual	Telephony
Tcpip	System	TCP/IP Protocol Driver
TDPIPE	Manual
TDTCP	Manual
TermDD	System	Terminal Device Driver
TermService	Manual	Terminal Services
Themes	Auto	Themes
TlntSvr	Disabled	Telnet
TosIde	Disabled
TrkWks	Auto	Distributed Link Tracking Client
Udfs	Disabled
ultra	Disabled
UMWdf	Auto	Windows User Mode Driver Framework
Update	Manual	Microcode Update Driver
upnphost	Manual	Universal Plug and Play Device Host
UPS	Manual	Uninterruptible Power Supply
VgaSave	System	VGA Display Controller.
ViaIde	Disabled
VolSnap	Boot
VSS	Manual	Volume Shadow Copy
W32Time	Auto	Windows Time
Wanarp	Manual	Remote Access IP ARP Driver
WDICA	Manual
wdmaud	Manual	Microsoft WINMM WDM Audio Compatibility Driver
WebClient	Auto	WebClient
winmgmt	Auto	Windows Management Instrumentation
Winsock	Manual
WmdmPmSN	Manual	Portable Media Serial Number Service
Wmi	Manual	Windows Management Instrumentation Driver Extensions
WmiApSrv	Manual	WMI Performance Adapter
wscsvc	Auto	Security Center
wuauserv	Auto	Automatic Updates
WZCSVC	Auto	Wireless Zero Configuration
xmlprov	Manual	Network Provisioning Service