Eric sent me this question: "Do you know if it's possible to migrate a virtual machine to a physical one using ADS or any other tool?"

Unfortunately, I don't know of an easy way to migrate a virtual machine to a physical one, Eric, nor do I know of any tools. The issue is fixing the hardware-dependent system files. Because the hardware of a physical computer may be (or probably is) different than the hardware emulated by the virtual machine, you may need to swap system files that depend on the emulated hardware of the virtual machine for other files that will allow the operating system to run on the hardware of the physical computer. The system files include certain HAL and kernel files. You also may need to swap storage drivers needed for the operating system to boot correctly on the physical hardware. For more information about the hardware emulated by virtual machines, see "Emulated hardware" in the Virtual Server 2005 Administrator's Guide. If you want some background information on the issues, read the documentation I wrote for Virtual Server 2005 Migration Toolkit (VSMT). It's installed when you install VSMT (go to http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/virtualserver/evaluation/vsmt.mspx).

The "gotcha" about swapping system files is that Microsoft won't support the OS if you've changed its HAL file. If you use VSMT, the migration is supported, but not if you do it manually.

-Megan

Windows Server User Assistance and TechNet are proud to announce the launch of the Windows Server 2003 TechCenter!

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/prodtechnol/windowsserver2003

We have designed the new Windows Server 2003 TechCenter to improve your experience with our documentation. The TechCenter allows Windows Server UA writers to update content based on your feedback. It hosts Windows Server 2003 technical documentation including SP1 updates. It offers views into documentation by language, technology, task (or documentation category), and documentation set.

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Navigation:

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Sorry to have been out of communication so long. Two family members were hospitalized with life-threatening health problems, so with that going on, it was a challenge just to keep up with my "real job." Thank goodness, everyone is on the road to good health again. So now I'm sticking my head up like a belated ground hog and seeing what's up with the rest of the world. I have a number of messages from readers that need replies, so I'll start on that first, and then see about getting a few posts written up for you. But first, an important announcement about the new TechCenter that's now available on TechNet (see my next post).