On Feb 9, 2011 4:05 AM, "Mathieu Malaterre" <mathieu.malaterre@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I recently bought a laptop with a microsoft windows 7 OEM OS. I
> would like to convert into a virtual machine for later use in
> VirtualBox.
Having not read the vb doc that was pointed out....
I've shoved a windows 7 and 2008 image around a datacenter with no real issues. Just grab the hdd image any way you want, convert to your host format, install the 'tools', deal with minor driver issues.
Moving windows like this still isn't as smooth as linux or bsd is. However win 7 / 2008 vs xp / 2003 is like night and day.
>
> * I tried using restore DVD, but upon installation within VirtualBox
> it keeps on claiming an insane amount of disk space for installation
Donno. First thought, what's insane?
> * I tried using VMWare Converter but the software fails miserably
> during conversion (around 1% progress).
>
From 1~3% means it had issues creating the image. Do what I know its telling you to do and check the logs to see why (if you really want to use this method). Also, you might try the cold migrate (again, if you just want to use converter for the hell of it). Though, the nice way windows deals with hal and creating live imagex vhd files, converter is obsolete. It's possible VMWare realizes this and just throws an err if you try. Probably not though since they might still have a license to use it with virtual center.
All of this said, I don't know that an oem license allows for Virtualization. If it doesn't, you might have to jump through some hoops.