Home ⊳ Topics ⊳ Linux ⊳ Boot a physical Windows partition in VirtualBox under Linux

Date: February 6, 2023 / Author: Ralf Eichinger

Boot a physical Windows partition in VirtualBox under Linux

Specification
Installation
- Ubuntu 22.10
Configuration
- Settings

This post describes how to install a VirtualBox under Linux from which you can use an existing Windows installation on another partition.

Specification

Homepage: https://www.virtualbox.org/
Current Version: 7.0.6
Download: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

Installation

Ubuntu 22.10

$ sudo apt install virtualbox
...
$ virtualbox
Hilfe - Über VirtualBox... - 6.1

It turns out, that manual is version 7 specific, so we download and install VirtualBox 7.

$ sudo apt remove virtualbox

Install downloaded package:

$ sudo apt --fix-broken install ~/Downloads/virtualbox-7.0_7.0.6-155176~Ubuntu~jammy_amd64.deb

Add your user to necessary groups:

$ sudo usermod -a -G disk $USER
$ sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER

Configuration

See manual https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.html#rawdisk: “Access to Individual Physical Hard Disk Partitions”

Create VMDK file:

$ fdisk -l
...
Gerät              Anfang       Ende   Sektoren  Größe Typ
/dev/nvme0n1p1       2048     206847     204800   100M EFI-System
/dev/nvme0n1p2     206848     239615      32768    16M Microsoft reserviert
/dev/nvme0n1p3     239616  999084031  998844416 476,3G Microsoft Basisdaten
/dev/nvme0n1p4  999084032 1000202239    1118208   546M Windows-Wiederherstellung
/dev/nvme0n1p5 1000202240 2000408575 1000206336 476,9G Linux-Dateisystem

$ VBoxManage list hostdrives
Drive:       /dev/nvme0n1
Model:       "SAMSUNG MZVL21T0HCLR-00BL7"
Further disk and partitioning information is not available for drive "/dev/nvme0n1". (E_ACCESSDENIED)

$ sudo VBoxManage createmedium disk --filename=windows10.vmdk --format=VMDK --variant RawDisk --property RawDrive=/dev/nvme0n1 --property Partitions=3
0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Medium created. UUID: 0e2fa7b0-3033-4335-957c-23dfe235c350
$ ls -al windows10*.vmdk 
-rw------- 1 root root 1048576 Feb  6 11:03 windows10-pt.vmdk
-rw------- 1 root root     765 Feb  6 11:03 windows10.vmdk
$ sudo chmod 777 windows*.vmdk

Start VirtualBox, create a new VM without harddisk. Add vmdk file to controller sata as harddisk.. Start VM.

Sadly it ends up with the grub shell… Stop VM.

See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/51101487/booting-raw-disk-windows-10-vm-in-virtualbox-boots-to-grub-shell

So we have to edit grub.cfg

$ sudo su -
# nano /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub.cfg
search.fs_uuid c16ad6af-6642-43d2-8360-a9b8227023fd root
set prefix=($root)'/boot/grub'
if [ -f $prefix/grub.cfg ]
then
    configfile $prefix/grub.cfg
else
    insmod chain
    set root=(hd0,gpt1)
    chainloader /EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
    boot
fi
# update-grub

Start VM, Windows boots.

Settings

Activate clipboard and drag and drop:

Geräte - Gemeinsame Zwischenablage - bidirektional
Geräte - Drag and Drop - bidirektional

Add shared folder:

Geräte - Gemeinsame Ordner - Gemeinsame Ordner…
Add: Ordner-Pfad “/home/ralf”, Ordner-Name “ralf”, “Automatisch einbinden”
Add: Ordner-Pfad “/”, Ordner-Name “Linux”, “Automatisch einbinden”

Install “Gasterweiterungen”:

Geräte - Gasterweiterungen einlegen…

Run “VBoxWindowsAdditions” from new windows drive containing mounted guest additions. Restart Windows.

Now you should see shared Folder.

In Windows: change screen resolution (e.g. to 1400 x 1050) Change “Anzeige - Vollbildmodus”

Strg Rechts double click to leave fullscreen.

Tags: topics linux