I have a vmware windows XP virtual machine that is set up the way i would like the bootable version to be. Can i use MyOldPC to convert this one?

for that, you can just use VMLite Workstation 3.2.6.

then start the wizard, and you can import vmware or other vendor's virtual disk.

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Importing Virtual Machines from other vendors

If you already have a virtual machine created from other vendors, VMLite can import from it. However, VMLite does not support importing from virtual machine configuratiomn files, instead it only imports from virtual disk files, The disk format can be in .vmdk, .vhd, .vdi and .hdd, which pretty much covers all popular formats.

Windows Guests
For Windows guests, VMLie will need to modify the guest registry and system files in order to make it to boot after importing. You can follow the following steps:

Make sure you have a merged disk file. If your vm has snapshots, first merge all snapshots to the base image using the other vendor's virtual machine software.
Start VMLite Wizard from Start menu, or click New button from VMLite Workstation, the VMLite Mode Wizard will appear.
Select the 2nd option to specify a virtual disk file that you want to import.
If you don't want to make a copy of the disk, uncheck the Make a copy of the virtual disk checkbox, which saves time, but will make changes to your original disk.
Follow the steps to finish the conversion.
At the end, you should have a virtual machine that is bootable using VMLite Workstation.

Linux Guests
For Linux guests, the import is relatively simple. Basically, you need to create a new virtual machine first, then attach the virtual disk to the vm. These are the steps:

Start VMLite Workstation menu, File > Virtual Media Manager, the click Add button to add the virtual disk file to the repository. More info can be found in Virtual Media Manager section.
go to VMLite Workstation menu, Machine > New VM..., follow the wizard to create a new virtual machine. You need to specify a name, guest OS type, memory size, and the virtual disk file. The most important thing is to choose the virtual disk file added in the above step for the new vm.
After the vm is created, you can click Start button to start it.
optionally, you can install the guest additions for your Linux vm. Click the vm window's menu Devices > Install Guest Additions... to start the installat to start the installation. You can read more info in Guest Additions Section.

admin wrote:
VMLite does not support importing from virtual machine configuratiomn files, instead it only imports from virtual disk files
Actually, virtual machine configurations can be imported as long as they have been exported in OVF format.

VMware, VirtualBox and VMLite can all import and export virtual machine configurations using the OVF format. All VMware products are handled using the command line OVF Tool; for VirtualBox and VMLite a GUI interface is available from the main window under File>Import Appliance (or File>Export Appliance for exporting; note that this will make a copy of the disk in VMDK format if it uses something else). The specific virtual hardware used might not be completely supported by the target product but it will be quite close, and in the case of Windows guests might even avoid needing to reactivate (especially likely if moving between VirtualBox and VMLite).

Preconfigured OVF virtual machines for a wide variety of operating systems and appliances are available from VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace and TurnKey Linux. I have tested a few of these with VMLite and they import and run just fine.

Thanks for all the information. I plan on working through this topic as well as creating a bootable xp version using My Old PC. I did send an email requesting the download but have not received a reply as yet.
-Frank

Arkose,

good point, thanks for pointing that out.

The only problem is that Windows guests may not boot if you import from the OVF format, as the importing process does not modify the virtual disk to make it to boot. If you use VMLite Wizard, then it will modify the kernel and registry entries to make sure it will boot via VMLite.

I also tried to install the plugin but i get a message "this application requires Sun Virtualb. Please download and install it first.". However i have VirtualBox 3.2.8 installed?