During the recent discussion here about slow video started by Dick, it was mentioned that VirtualBox keeps the .vdi files in the ~/.VirtualBox/VDI folder, therefore to save your machines all you have to do is back up that folder before engaging in upgrades, then replace it afterwards.
Well, after that discussion I suddenly discovered the folder ~/VirtualBox VMs, and inside was a .vdi file for a virtual machine that I created a couple years ago. At that time I had virtual machines for Windows 2000 and Windows XP, and their .vdi files were still in ~/.VirtualBox/VDI. This annoyed me, so I started poking around. I began by moving the new .vdi file to ~/.VirtualBox/VDI, then editing its settings in VirtualBox to reflect the change, and then I renamed the VirtualBox VMs folder. This worked, except as soon as I shut down the new machine I discovered that the VirtualBox VMs folder had been recreated and the new machine's .vdi file had been copied into it. Now I was getting angry. I tried various other things, but I couldn't stop VB from recreating that folder. Eventually I learned that somewhere along the line Oracle changed the rules. Now, when you create a new machine, the default location for it is in ~/VirtualBox VMs. You can change the location, but apparently I had not noticed the default setting when I installed the new machine, so that's where VB created the .vdi file. And once VB thinks that's where the .vdi file belongs, it's going to keep recreating the folder and copying the .vdi file to it. Eventually I solved the problem. I still had the .vdi file in ~/.VirtualBox/VDI, so I removed the entry for the new machine from the main window, then 'recreated' the machine, this time choosing 'use an existing .vdi image.' After deleting the ~/VirtualBox VMs folder yet again, I launched the recreated machine, and now VB no longer recreates the unnecessary folder. Why did I go to all this trouble? Because I like to be able to copy my ~/.VirtualBox folder and know that I have everything. More importantly, I recently stated here that one could do that and know that all the virtual machines were backed up. I must now say that I was possibly wrong. Depending on how long ago you created your virtual machines some of them may be in ~/VirtualBox VMs. And a pox on Oracle for making things more complicated with no benefit at all. _______________________________________________ PLUG mailing list [email protected] http://lists.pdxlinux.org/mailman/listinfo/plug
