If you frequently use VirtualBox , one of the best free virtual machine software, then you should know how to convert an ISO file into a VirtualBox hard disk (VHD). The process of converting is also more difficult than booting Virtual from the ISO file, instead of using an xx.iso file and then converting it to a Virtual disk. It's very helpful, especially when you want to customize the image file or use it for testing. In this guide today, we'll walk you through how to convert a bootable ISO file into VHD or VMDK using Command line. This tutorial will be both for Mac and Windows computers.
The process to convert DMG to VMDK is: Use the file opener listed above to open the DMG file Find the menu edit option to save as. May 18, 2021 dmg to vmdk conversion is most likely related to conversion of Apple disk images (.dmg) to VMware disk format (.vmdk), which is not that easy to achieve directly, but not impossible. Most users actually first convert dmg to ISO and then use that file in VMWare. Updated: May 18, 2021. Oct 02, 2019 Convert Dmg To Vmdk As you know, MacOS is all in one and you can use the software on your Desktop and Mackintosh. Therefore, on the World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) Apple announced the latest version for Desktop Operating System (OS) that called MacOS Mojave 10.14 along with iOS 12. This latest version has quite good features.
ISO file is the most widely-used format for OS installation. While you can still use the ISO file to directly start up any OS on virtual disk image like VirtualBox, VMWare, if you do not want to install ISO file, converting it to VDI format (Virtual desktop infrastructure) will be the best idea. You can consider the pre conversion way to directly convert an ISO file into an VHD/ VMDK using VirtualBox. You can convert:
- VDI to VMDK and opposite
- VDH to VMDK and opposite
- VDI to VHD
Convert Dmg To Vmdk On Windows 5 Aug 08, 2016 QEMU disk image utility for Windows is a free utility for Windows users allowing to convert different types of virtual disk formats. Converting but also a verifying consistency of those images. Convert Dmg To Vmdk Drivers Are Easily Using Vmdk2Vhd, the operating system boots without any problems and the drivers are easily reconfigured, which makes the new virtual machine work like a charm. Filed under HDD image Convert image Vmdk to vhd Vmdk VHD Convert Converter.
After the conversion, you can directly boot the operating system from VHD/VMDK . Here is how to use Command line tool on Windows 10 and MacOS. It's also the same for Linux OS.
Convert Bootable ISO File to Virtual Disk VHD/VMDK on Windows
Before proceeding, make sure you have the VirtualBox software already installed on your computer. It can be downloaded for free since it's open source tool. We'll get started with Windows computers by converting ISO file to VMDK.
Step 1: Open Command Prompt (Powershell) on your Windows computer. Run it with administrator
Step 2: Go to the VirtualBox directory in C:Program FilesOracleVirtualBox. From there, open cmd and run the following command:
cd Program FilesOracleVirtualBox
Step 3: In the VirtualBox directory, run the command to convert ISO to VMDK:
VBoxManage convertfromraw [file.iso] [file.VMDK]
You should replace the filename.ISO with the name of the IOS file, along with file patch
Step 4: In our circumstance, the ISO file is on the Desktop, and the name of the ISO file was system.iso. You can follow the command below:
VBoxManage Convertfromraw C:USersJackDesktopsystem.iso
C:UsersJackDesktopsystem.vmdk
The file path in the command above is the file path where the ISO file is. You can use Windows Explorer to find the patch from the Address bar.
Steps to Convert ISO to VHD
Similar to converting ISO to VMDK, changing it into VHD is pretty simple.
Step 1: Run Command prompt (cmd) on your computer with administrator.
Step 2: Switch to the VirtualBox directory on your Windows computer.
Step 3: Once done, enter the following command:
VirtualBox convertfromraw file.iso file.vhd
Step 4: Then, continue to enter the command above:
VBoxManage Convertfromraw C:USersJackDesktopsystem.iso C:USersJackDesktopsystem.vhd
The only change here is that instead of writing VMDK, you enter VHD for replacement.
Convert Bootable ISO File to Virtual Disk VHD/VMDK on Mac
Converting a bootable ISO into a Virtual disk VHD/VMDK on Mac is almost the same with Windows. All you need is to open Terminal on your Mac and run commands. However, as mentioned earlier, you need to have VirtualBox app already installed on your Mac. Otherwise, you are unable to convert the ISO file to VHD/VMDK.
Step 1: Open Terminal on Mac by clicking on Finder > Applications > Favorites > Disk Utilities. You can also open it from the Spotlight.
Step 2: Type in the following command on your Mac and hit Enter:
VBoxManage convertfromraw DiskImage.iso VirtualDisk.vhd
For instance, if you want to convert the file into a virtualbox VHD file, simply enter the command below:
VBoxManage convertfromraw ~/Downloads/system.iso ~/VMs/system.vhd
Step 3: All the conversion process will take a few minutes, depending on the hardware of your Mac. Once again, you can use those commands on MacOS, Windows, Linux OS with typing in the ‘VBoxManage' command first.
Remember to capitalize the 'VBoxManage' and use correct capitalization to avoid 'not found' result after typing in the command since the problem comes from syntax error.
Another useful trick is to prepare a live disk, or create an ISO image with the help of command line. After you can convert it into VHD and then load it into VirtualBox. Alternatively, you can take the existing ISO files and then convert it into a VHD file, which is better for system admins.
Conclusion
That's how to convert a bootable ISO file to Virtual disk VHD/VMDK. All the entire process is pretty simple and you can do it on your own. You might feel the commands are complicated, but in fact, you simply copy them into cmd/Terminal and make some changes. Do you know other methods to convert a bootable ISO file or a disk image into a VirtualBox VHD/VMDK? Let's know in the comment below.
Converting images from one format to another is generally straightforward.
qemu-img convert: raw, qcow2, qed, vdi, vmdk, vhd¶
The qemu-img convert command can do conversionbetween multiple formats, including qcow2, qed,raw, vdi, vhd, and vmdk.
Image format | Argument to qemu-img |
|---|---|
QCOW2 (KVM, Xen) |
|
QED (KVM) |
|
raw |
|
VDI (VirtualBox) |
|
VHD (Hyper-V) |
|
VMDK (VMware) |
|
This example will convert a raw image file named image.imgto a qcow2 image file.
Run the following command to convert a vmdk image file to a raw image file.
Run the following command to convert a vmdk image file to a qcow2 image file.
Note
Convert Dmg To Vmdk
The -fformat flag is optional. If omitted, qemu-imgwill try to infer the image format.
When converting an image file with Windows, ensure the virtiodriver is installed.Otherwise, you will get a blue screen when launching the imagedue to lack of the virtio driver.Another option is to set the image properties as below when youupdate the image in the Image service to avoid this issue,but it will reduce virtual machine performance significantly.
VBoxManage: VDI (VirtualBox) to raw¶
Convert Dmg To Vmdk File
If you’ve created a VDI image using VirtualBox, you can convertit to raw format using the VBoxManage command-line toolthat ships with VirtualBox. On Mac OS X, and Linux, VirtualBoxstores images by default in the ~/VirtualBoxVMs/ directory.The following example creates a raw image in the current directoryfrom a VirtualBox VDI image.