Re: Restoring VirtualBox VM

Eric,


When restoring from a file backup, you may need to re-register the VM. 
That is fully delete it, put the files in place from backup, and then 
vboxmanage registervm <abs path to vbox file>


This is on the assumption the external backup was made while the VM was 
NOT running. If it was running during the copy, there is no guarantee 
the backup file is consistent. It might still work, but the key word 
there is "might"


Cheers


Rudy


On 23-02-2025 20:43, Eric Beversluis via Any discussion of rdiff-backup 
wrote:
> Eric, sorry about not addressing the list. I don't know what made me 
> think you had replied off-list.
>
> Thanks for digging into this for me. I'll study the VB forum links you 
> found and return to the qq I've posted there. Hopefully I'll get some 
> love there.
>
>
> Eric Beversluis
> www.ericbeversluis.com
> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
>
>
> On 2/23/25 12:36 PM, EricZolf wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> please keep the discussion on the mailing list (and don't address me 
>> directly), you never know who might be able to help, or who might 
>> need the solution.
>>
>> On 23/02/2025 13:07, Eric Beversluis wrote:
>>> Hi Eric,
>>>
>>> When I tried to reproduce the original VM by clicking on the .vbox 
>>> file, I got this error message:
>>>
>>> Failed to open virtual machines located in .../VirtualBox 
>>> VMs/Windows10 VM/Windows 10 VM.vbox. Callee RC: NX_ERROR_INVALID_ARG 
>>> (0X80070057)
>>
>> You are probably better off asking in a VirtualBox forum. Reading 
>> through https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?t=110774 I get 
>> the impression that the issue is some expectations on the devices 
>> (there the ISO) being available on the host, which are most probably 
>> not part of the backup.
>> See especially the comment 
>> https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?p=544847&sid=1dd533b8b7d03facbea8b6d9e371a3c3#p544847
>>
>>> Nearly as I can tell from searching, that's a kind of generic error 
>>> message that doesn't help much.
>>
>> You are possibly right, I wouldn't know, I haven't used VirtualBox 
>> for decades.
>>
>>> I think I should also be able to create a new VM by importing the 
>>> old .vdi image. But when I try that approach, VirtualBox can't find 
>>> the .vdi image, even though it's in the 'VirtualBox VMs' directory.
>>>
>>> Somewhere in my vague memory, from years ago when I was more active 
>>> with this stuff, there's the idea that copying an image as image is 
>>> different from copying the files in an image. Could that be relevant 
>>> here? I definitely would have run rdiff-backup with the VM shut down.
>>
>> Well, you can do backup from within the VM, at the OS level, or from 
>> outside at the VM image level, but apparently here you've done it 
>> from outside.
>>
>> Sorry I can't help more but it sounds more like a VirtualBox than an 
>> rdiff-backup issue.
>>
>> KR, Eric
>>
>>> Thanks.
>>>
>>> Eric Beversluis
>>> www.ericbeversluis.com
>>> 2x Honorable Mention--Writer's Digest Contest
>>>
>>>
>>> On 2/23/25 2:46 AM, EricZolf wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>> I have no clue of virtual box but which error message do you get?
>>>> Did you backup the image while the VM was switched off? Else it 
>>>> could get inconsistent...
>>>> KR, Eric
>>>>
>>>> On February 23, 2025 4:48:18 AM UTC, Eric Beversluis via Any 
>>>> discussion of rdiff-backup <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>>> I've been backing up my VirtualBox VM as part of my rdiff-backiup 
>>>>> of my Home directory (Fedora 40).
>>>>>
>>>>> My Window 10 VM got destroyed, and I'm trying to recreate it, but 
>>>>> VirtualBox does not seem to be able to recognize or deal with my 
>>>>> restored rdiff-backup files of the VM. Everything seems to be 
>>>>> there, but VB doesn't seem to recognize the .vdi file at all and I 
>>>>> get an error when I click on the .vbox file, which is supposedly 
>>>>> what retriggers the new VM.
>>>>>
>>>>> Does anyone know why I can't restore from my rdiff-backup of the 
>>>>> virtual machine? I thought I was being very prudent with backing 
>>>>> up the VM.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>