[PLUG] Export/Import VirtualBox VM

[Dick Steffens]

On 1/19/21 5:20 PM, TomasK wrote:
> On Tue, 2021-01-19 at 15:13 -0800, Dick Steffens wrote:
>> I have a virtual machine I want to copy to another machine. The
>> original
>> is on my 18.04 Xubuntu machine (ENU-2) and I want to copy it to my
>> Ubuntu 20.04 machine (ENU-1). VirtualBox on ENU-2 is version 6.1.16
>> r140961(Qt5.6.5) Copyright 2020 Oracle Corporation and/or its
>> affiliates.
>>
>> And VirtualBox on ENU-1 is 6.1.16_Ubuntu r140961
>> (c) 2004-2021 Oracle Corporation (Qt5.12.8)
>>
>> Following the directions at:
>>
>> https://askubuntu.com/questions/588426/how-to-export-and-import-
>> virtualbox-vm-images
>>
>> I select the VM to export in the export appliance and click next.
>> The
>> next screen does not match what I have. It does ask me to select the
>> format, set to Open Virtualization Format 1.0, and also lets me
>> enter
>> the output file path and name. Mine also offers to set a MAC Address
>> Policy, with "Include only NAT network adapter MAC addresses" set.
>> The
>> other options are "Strip all network adapter MAC addresses" or
>> "Include
>> all network adapter MAC addresses". I leave that set to the only NAT
>> choice. There is an checked box on the instructions page that says
>> "Write Manifest file". I leave that checked. My page has that, and
>> another box called "Include ISO image files" which I leave unchecked.
>>
>> When I click Next I get a VirtualBox Error:
>>
>> --------------------------------------
>> Failed to prepare the export of the appliance .
>>
>> Callee RC: NS_ERROR_ABORT (0x80004004)
>> --------------------------------------
>>
>> I searched with DDG. All references to that error are from many years
>> ago.
>>
>> Any ideas what to look for here?
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
> If your VM is Win7 or Win10 - I would be careful with exporting it/them
> to appliance and importing them elsewhere.

I create two virtual machines. One is Win7. I already know that I can't 
import it, and I have two separate licenses, and always do a fresh 
install for that. I have only two tasks for it. One is a transcription 
playback program. There used to be one for Linux, but the fellow stopped 
supporting it. Also, it has some Dolby built in and that makes a 
difference on some difficult recordings. The other task I use it for is 
logging in to my Comcast TV schedule. I rarely watch anything on it. 
(That's what the TV is for.) Unfortunately, Comcast won't allow me to 
use Linux based Firefox, even though I do use Win7 based Firefox. Sigh.

I've got a Win2K with a bunch of old programs on it for which I don't 
have suitable replacements. I've made this switch several times over the 
years, so I'm pretty sure it will work -- assuming my copy of VirtualBox 
is working correctly.

I have the same setup on my laptop, so I was able to export it from 
there. Later on I'll see if I can import it on the Xubuntu 20.04 machine.

> The export/import process will change devices uuids - windows might not
> like it and de-activate. Changing CPU type (new host) can also result
> in windows deactivation, on its own or in combination with the uuids.
> Joys of proprietary SW!

Thanks for all the details. Hopefully I won't need to fuss with them.

There are some other oddities on my current desktop (ENU-2 running 
Xubuntu 18.04). A number of programs take a long time to load, and some 
of them die at odd times. It's not so big a problem that I'm kept from 
doing normal activities, but it's slowly getting worse. Once I get ENU-1 
running all the stuff I use ENU-2 for now, I will just keep it there as 
a standby for a few months. then I'll probably load Xubuntu 20.04 on it.

-- 
Regards,

Dick Steffens