Windows 10: Do the NATIVE boot from a "virtual" hdd (in *.VHD file) requires full virtualization...

Hello all

I can't install the Windows 10(x64) into the virtual HDD drive (VHD) from the Rufus-based bootable USB flash drive with Win10 distr. The setup log showing two major errors:

"the selected disk space is not of type esp"

"the selected disk is a surfaced virtual disk"

I've tried a lot of solutions without any success (changing BIOS/UEFI settings, diskpart's commands in cmd, making and transfering VHDX from another PC with Windows 10 installed etc.)

- Do the NATIVE boot from a "virtual" hdd (in *.VHD file) requires full virtualization support by hardware? E.g. i5 CPU (for intel)? I have Socket 1155 based MB, Celeron CPU and one physical hard drive with Windows 7 installed.

- Or, probably, my bootable USB flash drive should be modified with another boot loader or file system (e.g. exFat) to get working Win10 installation into the VHD ?

Thanks

submitted by /u/Stng84
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:)

 

Windows 10 VHD Native Boot Installation--Officially Supported?

I apologize for not seeing your reference and leaving an incomplete solution ;

Not sure where you are at in this so I am providing a breakdown with an overview.

It appears they do not mention Windows 10, however the mention Windows 8 to using the .vhdx file format.
Hope this helps:

I am just now getting to exploring the use of VHDs for booting some Virtual machines.

I have included a more complete background on VHDs for you and others that maybe exploring this topic.

• 
  The local disk must have at least two partitions: a system partition that contains the Windows 8 boot-environment files and Boot Configuration Data (BCD) store, and a partition to store the VHD file. The .vhd file format is supported for native boot on a
  computer with a Windows® 7 boot environment, but you will have to update the system partition to a Windows 8 environment to use the .vhdx file format. For more information about how to add a Windows 8 boot environment for native VHD boot, see
  
  Download and install Windows PE (WinPE) so you can boot from a USB flash drive or an external USB hard drive.
  
• 
  The local disk partition that contains the VHD file must have enough free disk space for expanding a dynamic VHD to its maximum size and for the page file created when booting the VHD. The page file is created outside the VHD file, unlike with a virtual
  machine where the page file is contained inside the VHD.
  

This was from a recent Article :

Understanding Virtual Hard Disks with Native Boot
Last Updated: 5/4/2016;

VHDs with native boot are frequently used in the following scenarios:

• 
  Using disk-management tools to create and attach a VHD for offline image management. You can attach a VHD by using the
  Attach vdisk command which activates the VHD so that it appears on the host as a disk drive instead of as a .vhd file.
  
• 
  Mounting reference VHD images on remote shares for image servicing.
  
• 
  Maintaining and deploying a common reference VHD image to execute in either virtual or physical computers.
  
• 
  Configuring VHD files for native boot without requiring a full parent installation.
  
• 
  Configuring a computer to boot multiple local VHD files that contain different application workloads, without requiring separate disk partitions.
  
• 
  Using Windows Deployment Services (WDS) for network deployment of VHD images to target computers for native boot.
  
• 
  Managing desktop image deployment.
  

Deploy Windows on a VHD (Native Boot)

Last Updated: 7/20/2016

Create and deploy virtual hard disks (VHDs) with native-boot capabilities to test devices or to manage multiple operating systems on a device without re-partitioning the drive.

Creating VHDs
You can create virtual hard disks (.vhd or .vhdx files) using the DiskPart tool or the Disk Management Microsoft Management Console (MMC). You can create .vhdx files from PowerShell when you have the Hyper-V Manager Role installed.

You can attach the VHD so that it appears as a system drive that you can partition, format, and apply your operating system to.

Deploying VHDs
You can deploy a supported Windows image to an attached VHD using disk-imaging software such as the Deployment Image Servicing and Management (DISM) tool. The VHD can then be copied to one or more systems either to run in a virtual machine or for native
boot.

For more information, see
Download and install Windows PE (WinPE) so you can boot from a USB flash drive or an external USB hard drive.

On first native boot, the specialize configuration pass runs and computer-specific information is applied to the Windows operating system on the VHD. The instance of the VHD cannot be copied onto another system or run in a virtual machine after
the specialize configuration pass is completed. The original VHD that has a Windows image can continue to be copied and deployed to multiple computers, if the image has already been prepared for installation using the Sysprep tool with the
/specialize option. You can also use an answer file to prepare the image for installation by using the Microsoft-Windows-Deployment | Generalize setting. For more information about the
specialize and generalize configuration passes, see

Windows Setup Configuration Passes. For more information about how to use the Generalize setting in an answer file, see the Windows® Unattended Setup Reference.

The Windows Deployment Server role supports deployment of VHD image files in addition to .wim files. Windows Deployment Server automates the network deployment of VHD images for native-boot usage. Windows Deployment Server can be used to copy the VHD image
to a local partition, and to configure the local Boot Configuration Data (BCD) for native boot from the VHD.

 

VHD to virtual PC

What does it mean? *Confused VHD is a hard drive of a virtual machine which (by default) can be opened by Microsoft Virtual PC

 

VHD to virtual PC

does anyone know of an easy way to convert a VHD made using an old backup into a virtual PC