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I want to switch from Ubuntu to Mint.

Can I somehow turn my laptop's Ubuntu install into a virtual machine that I can then run on my computer so that I can refer to all my applications and settings and such there for when I want to configure my new mint install?

ycomp
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  • also would it boot easily in the VM? or is it like Windows where sometimes you can't boot after changing too much hardware? – ycomp Nov 12 '18 at 16:28
  • A note to duplicate-flaggers; the linked question has a very scary looking accepted answer involving dd that may be intimidating to the inexperienced user. – cawwot Nov 13 '18 at 12:07

1 Answers1

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While there are a number of methods for this (search "p2v" for some ideas), here is the way I use:

What you'll need

  1. External Hard Disk
  2. Bootable Clonezilla CD
  3. Enough disk space to contain the entire old OS (something like df -h | grep '^/dev/' should give you a general idea of how much space this is)

Steps

  1. Boot from the Clonezilla CD
  2. Save the current disk Here's a good walkthrough
  3. Install the new OS on your computer
  4. Install VirtualBox
  5. Download a Clonezilla ISO
  6. Create a new VM in VirtualBox with a similar configuration to your physical computer
  7. Attach the Clonezilla ISO to the VM and boot from it.
  8. Restore the image you took earlier to the VM
cawwot
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