How to convert a VHDX file to VHD?

Question

I made an image with disk2vhd and unfortunately I chose VHDX instead of VHD. I didn't see any information about what to choose.

Anyway, now that file is all I have, the original PC is trashed. So I need to know how to run it as a Virtual Machine in Windows 7.

VirtualBox doesn't have an option to open VHDX and WM Converter doesn't have an option to open VHDX (or to convert to VHD).

score 53 · Answer 1 · edited Dec 24 '19 at 15:35

53

You can do that conversion with VirtualBox :

VBoxManage.exe clonemedium "input_file.vhdx" "output_file.vhd" --format VHD

Default Path to VBoxManage.exe

C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\

edited Dec 24 '19 at 15:35

Chiramisu

285

answered Aug 14 '14 at 07:43

Poulpos

531

3

It looks like this is broken in VirtualBox 5.0. The report is labeled as "critical", but hasn't been modified in 7 months, so not very optimistic. – Wasabi Fan Feb 03 '16 at 02:07
3

@WasabiFan - it works again in 5.1.4 (I just used it). – WiredPrairie Sep 10 '16 at 22:23
Also, one can encounter the VHDX: Image has a non empty log which is not supported (VERR_NOT_SUPPORTED) error message. – Bass Dec 25 '17 at 13:12
Works in VirtualBox 7.0. – KSK Jan 24 '24 at 12:16

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered May 10 '14 at 14:21

12

Before anything, make a backup of the original .VHDX, just in case.

You said you have Windows 7. In that case, you can easily convert VHDX to VHD with PowerShell.

Go to "Run..." (Windows + R) and type Powershell.

Then, in the PowerShell command line, type the command PS C:\> Convert-VHD –Path YOUR VHDX PATH –DestinationPath YOUR DESTINATION PATH

It should be converted then.

You can find additional information about the Convert-VHD command here.

answered May 10 '14 at 14:21

matan129

1,950

2

Ok, I give it a try.
But it says >> Applies To: Windows 8.1, Windows PowerShell 4.0, Windows Server 2012 R2
– Bjorn May 10 '14 at 16:01
@Bjorn - Powershell 4 will work on Windows 7. – Ramhound May 10 '14 at 16:03
10

this is a cmdlet which only works in Win8/Server 2012 when Hyper-V is activated. – magicandre1981 May 10 '14 at 17:50
1

Hyper-V is not available in Home editions. – Álvaro González Sep 27 '14 at 18:58
1

Even after upgrading to PowerShell 4.0 I just get The term 'Convert-VHD' is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program. on Windows 7 – James EJ Mar 15 '16 at 13:55
Go to Turn Windows Features on and off > Hyper-V > Hyper-V Management Tools > Hyper-V module for Windows PowerShell and enable it. – Carl Jun 28 '17 at 23:27

score 6 · Answer 3 · edited Jan 06 '15 at 14:47

6

To convert vhdx to vhd use the free StarWind V2V Image Converter

edited Jan 06 '15 at 14:47

Jan Doggen

4,218

answered Jan 06 '15 at 13:24

shujauddin

77

1

Just tried it, only works on Win8 or above. – Simon Hova Mar 23 '16 at 05:29
It worked for me on W10. You can download it here: https://www.starwindsoftware.com/tmplink/starwindconverter.exe – Josep Alacid Sep 02 '23 at 12:13

score 5 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 26 '15 at 11:03

5

I made the same mistake, when creating the Virtual disk from the physical with Disk2VHD, there is a check box at the top right (second down) that is ticked by default to create a vhdx, Remove this check and it will create a vhd instead.

edited Jul 26 '15 at 11:03

Mokubai

92,720

answered Jul 26 '15 at 10:40

James Taylor

51

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered May 01 '16 at 14:36

I managed to extract files from a Windows 10 VMDH "Windows Image Backup" and to write them to a Windows 7 machine: I installed Windows Server 2012 (free 180 days evaluation) in a virtual machine and connected it to my local hard disk via a network share. This way I could "mount" the VMDH backup and write the important files back to my local drive.

FahadBA · Answer 6 · 2020-08-21T12:19:44.877

Open CMD as Admin, and type the following command to switch to VirtualBox folder:

cd "C:\Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox"

Then type this command to convert from VHDX to VHD:

VBoxManage convertfromraw "C:\Full-Path-To\image.VHDX" "C:\Full-Path-To\new-image.VHD" --format VHD

After that, I would prefer giving the result VHD image a new UUID by using this command:

VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid "C:\Full-Path-To\new-image.VHD"

Extra step I usually do when converting/cloning images in VirtualBox as it tends to show many errors when it finds 2 images with the same UUID. Unlike Hyper-V doesn't care for that.

Note: These commands mentioned above are case sensitive! (convertfromraw - internalcommands - sethduuid)

How to convert a VHDX file to VHD?

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