Currently, there are two main tools/products that can convert a physical computer into a virtual machine. Maybe you can also find other applications for conversion, the following two products are designed by Microsoft:

● Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012 (P2V)

● Disk2VHD tool

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2012

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM for short) not only provides built-in basic options for converting physical computers into virtual machines, but also Advanced configuration options are available in the wizard. SCVMM is a powerful tool for managing virtualization products such as Microsoft Hyper-V, VMware and Citrix Xen Servers. In this article we will focus on the Disk2VHD tool, so the P2V process of SCVMM is outside the scope of this article.

Note: The Disk2VHD tool is not a replacement for SCVMM, but it is definitely a handy tool for performing simple conversions.

Disk2VHD Tool

While converting a physical computer to a virtual machine can help reduce overall hardware costs, enterprise-grade products for virtual machine conversion can be very expensive. This is where the Disk2VHD tool comes in. If you need to convert a virtual machine and don't want to pay for SCVMM, you can use the Disk2VHD tool.

Disk2VHD is a single EXE executable file used to convert a physical machine into a virtual machine. As the name suggests, Disk2VHD converts logical volumes into VHD files. These VHD files can then be used to create virtual machines on Hyper-V, or the VHD files can be added as a second drive to an existing virtual machine.

The Disk2VHD tool has two modes of operation: graphical interface and command line. Command line mode is generally more useful for unattended scripted conversions.

In this article we discuss the following points:

● Disk2VHD tool - using graphical interface mode

● Disk2VHD tool - using command line mode

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● What data was copied?

● Where should the converted VHD files be used?

● Summary of Disk2VHD

Disk2VHD tool—— Use graphical interface mode

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Before using the Disk2VHD tool for conversion, it is very important to close all running applications on the computer.

Steps:

1. When you double-click Disk2VHD.exe, it will scan all physical drives of the current computer and display the available drives that can be converted. As shown below:

Note: Disk2VHD.exe ignores network drives connected to the physical computer because it cannot be included in the range of convertible drives.

The above image also shows the free disk space required in the destination location for the VHD file to be created for the disk of your choice.

Note: The system reserved partition, as shown in the figure above, is the boot partition of the physical computer. You only need to add this partition if you need to boot from the VHD. In other words, if your virtual machine wants to boot from this VHD file, you need to add the system reserved partition.

2. In the picture above, fill in the VHD file name and location in the "VHD File Name" dialog box, and then click the "Create" button to start the conversion.

3. When you click the "Create" button, the tool will use the VSS component in the operating system to create a snapshot of the volume, as shown in the following figure:

During the snapshot process After completion, the snapshot data will be copied to the VHD file.

Disk2VHD tool - using command line mode

Disk2VHD.exe can also be operated using the command line. For example, the following Disk2VHD command can convert a volume into a VHD file:

Disk2VHD.exe

To convert your C drive into a VHD file , just use the following command:

Disk2VHD.exe C: C:\MyVHDs\VM1.VHD

Tip: In the above command, "C:" can be used. *" so that Disk2VHD can find all drives.

Tip: By default, when you run Disk2VHD.exe for the first time on a physical computer, you will be prompted to accept the EULA. You can use "-accepteula" to avoid it, the command is as follows:

Disk2VHD.exe C: C:\MyVHDs\VM1.VHD -accepteula

Note: All volumes you select will Packed into a VHD file, unless you use command line options to indicate the VHD file name for each drive volume.

What data is copied?

During the conversion process, all data in the logical volume will be copied to the VHD file. Disk2VHD tool also copies system related data such as computer name, IP address, MAC address, security identifier (SID), disk signature, etc. Be careful when using converted VHDs on the network (especially operating system VHD files). If the physical computer is still connected to the network and you use the VHD file in a virtual machine on Hyper-V, you may encounter a name conflict error message.

Where should the converted VHD files be used?

You can use the VHD files in the following places:

● You can use the converted VHD files As a virtual disk for a new virtual machine, used to create a new virtual machine.

● You can add the converted VHD to an existing virtual machine.

● You can also use Computer Management or the DiskPart.exe tool to load the VHD file and browse its contents.

Disk2VHD Summary

● Disk2VHD.exe uses Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for conversion. This can only be done when the VSS service in the computer is running.

● No downtime required during conversion.

● Only physical drives connected to the computer can be converted. Network drives don't work.

● If you select the "System Reserved" partition before starting the conversion, you can make the VHD bootable.

● The VHD file generated by Disk2VHD.exe can be used in Hyper-V to create a new virtual machine, and the VHD can also be added to an existing virtual machine.

● Since Disk2VHD needs to use Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) during the conversion process, you can use the local path as the VHD file destination location.

● Disk2VHD will generate a VSS snapshot of the disk you selected and then start the conversion. This means that any new data you save during the conversion process will not go into the VHD file.

● This tool can only perform simple conversions and cannot be regarded as a replacement tool for SCVMM.

● There are two reasons that will prolong the conversion process:

1. The size of the physical disk/partition you choose

2. Storage of the converted The destination location of the VHD file is the same as the source location.

Because Disk2VHD.exe will have I/O operations (reading data from logical and source volumes, writing VHD files to the same disk), it will be slower.

It is recommended that the path of the VHD file should not be the same as the location of the volume you selected.

● Because Windows' "operating system boot loader" (WinLoad.exe) will identify the loading disk through something called "disk signature", so never add VHD to the same computer on, because the generated VHD files will have the same disk signature. This can cause system processes to terminate, or WinLoad.exe to change the startup sequence.

● Disk2VHD.exe will not complete the conversion if any application on the physical computer is using the disk or file. This happens frequently with backup programs, so it is highly recommended to close all backup programs.