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I've seen people on the net offering images of a particular Linux setup, and they offer it as either VMDK/VMX files or ISO files. Now an ISO seems to work with VirtualBox, because I can tell it to mount a CD/DVD drive and use the ISO instead of a physical drive, but the VMDK and VMX files are always listed as being for use with VMWare/VirtualBox.

So how do I use those files with VirtualBox? When I try the Appliance Import Wizard it tells me it only deals with OVF files.

(I'm using Sun VirtualBox 3.0.4)

Garrett
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LoveMeSomeCode
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    I, personally, found the question and answer helpful. Why not migrate it to Super User instead of just closing it? – Avian00 Jun 05 '13 at 09:11
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    yeah, seems ironic that they gave me the silver badge for a question that's been viewed almost 50k times, but then closed it as not constructive. – LoveMeSomeCode Jul 22 '13 at 15:52
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    actually I got 2 badges, because it's also got a score of 25. Maybe the people closing the questions aren't familiar with the badge system. – LoveMeSomeCode Jul 22 '13 at 15:52
  • I also agree this should be migrated, not closed. – Noah Dec 10 '13 at 05:49
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    @LoveMeSomeCode - unfortunately SO rules seem to take precedence over what readers actually find useful :( – Chris Snow Feb 23 '14 at 19:12

2 Answers2

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VMDK/VMX are VMWare file formats but you can use it with VirtualBox:

  1. Create a new Virtual Machine and when asks for a hard disk choose "Use an existing hard disk"
  2. Click on the "button with folder and green arrow image on the combo box right" which opens Virtual Media Manager, it looks like this (you can open it directly pressing CTRL+D on main window or in File > Virtual Media Manager menu)...
  3. Then you can add the VMDK/VMX hard disk image and setup it for your virtual machine :)
gavioto
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eveliotc
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    When doing this, you need to "guess" all the VM configuration by yourself. But the VMDK (hard drive) file can be used as is. – Hendy Irawan May 26 '11 at 04:13
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    I found a helpful tutorial on HowToGeek about migrating between VirtualBox and VMWare (http://www.howtogeek.com/125640/how-to-convert-virtual-machines-between-virtualbox-and-vmware/). Seems VMWare provides 'OVFTool' for just such a purpose. – Avian00 Jun 05 '13 at 09:13
  • Thanks for the ThinkGeek tutorial. I think it should be added to the answer – FearlessHyena Apr 04 '16 at 15:56
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Actually, for the configuration of the machine, just open the .vmx file with a text editor (e.g. notepad, gedit, etc.). You will be able to see the OS type, memsize, ethernet.connectionType, and other settings. Then when you make your machine, just look in the text editor for the corresponding settings. When it asks for the disk, select the .vmdk disk as mentioned above.

musicman
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