*** GUIDE *** Using a physical disk in a VM, even when OS already installed

[bobbintb]

I made a little update to the wiki. Feel free to make any corrections, ask questions, or make any comments. This guide will show you how to take an existing physical drive with Windows already installed and use it in a VM so you won't need to start from scratch/reinstall Windows or use a virtual drive.

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Management#Using_a_physical_disk_in_a_VM.2C_including_one_with_an_OS_already_installed

[itimpi]

You mention using the /dev/sdX devices directly in the XML.  Would it not be better to go the /dev/by-id or /dev/by-label routes as these are valid even if the sdX numbers change.

[bobbintb]

You mention using the /dev/sdX devices directly in the XML.  Would it not be better to go the /dev/by-id or /dev/by-label routes as these are valid even if the sdX numbers change.

 

Probably but I didn't test it that way. Could you use the entire disk that way or would that limit you to one partition?

[SpaceInvaderOne]

you can passthrough whole disk or specify the partition.

 

eg. 

whole disk  would be

 

<source dev='/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3500312CS_9VVERKB1'/>

 

whilst for partion 1 would be

 

<source dev='/dev/disk/by-id/ata-ST3500312CS_9VVERKB1-part1'/>

 

the ata-ST3500312CS_9VVERKB1  part change that to ata-yourdeviceid

 

The problem with using sdx is that they can change on reboot

[Ponpont]

Hi,

 

Thank you for that ! I Successfully add a physical drive but it seems not to be mounted in Windows environnement.

 

I see the drive in disk manager on windows and drive space on unraid VM manager but I can't acess folder in files inside (I don't see it in Windows)

There is files on it and I can't loose them

 

Thanks for the help

[Vetteman]

On 4/30/2016 at 9:23 PM, bobbintb said:

I made a little update to the wiki. Feel free to make any corrections, ask questions, or make any comments. This guide will show you how to take an existing physical drive with Windows already installed and use it in a VM so you won't need to start from scratch/reinstall Windows or use a virtual drive.

 

http://lime-technology.com/wiki/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Management#Using_a_physical_disk_in_a_VM.2C_including_one_with_an_OS_already_installed

 

I was interested in using an SSD with Windows 10 already installed that I pulled out of my Windows 10 computer as I am installing a trial version of Unraid and was wondering if I could use the SSD with the Windows 10 install as a vm. I found this thread and got excited (but not as excited as the St Louis Blues win over Dallas Stars the other night) only to find the wiki link no longer works.

 

 

 

 

[bobbintb]

On 12/29/2023 at 12:34 PM, Vetteman said:

 

I was interested in using an SSD with Windows 10 already installed that I pulled out of my Windows 10 computer as I am installing a trial version of Unraid and was wondering if I could use the SSD with the Windows 10 install as a vm. I found this thread and got excited (but not as excited as the St Louis Blues win over Dallas Stars the other night) only to find the wiki link no longer works.

 

 

 

 

I think there are still some things that need to be cleaned up from the old wiki. Try the Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20190805074914/https://wiki.unraid.net/index.php/UnRAID_6/VM_Management#Using_a_physical_disk_in_a_VM.2C_including_one_with_an_OS_already_installed