I have an HP laptop that came with Win 10. I installed Mint and have used that as my daily driver since maybe Nov 21. I also have Ubuntu Studio and Manjaro on the 2Tb HD. In Mint there is VMware Workstation 16 Player with Win 10 installed and running.
The question is…
Can I create a backup of my Win 10 partition and restore it in the Win 10 in the Mint VM? Then remove the Win10 partition?
This article shows how to put Windoze in its own ‘cage,’ without messing with backups or having to reinstall windoze in a VM.
https://www.howtogeek.com/213145/how-to convert-a-physical-windows-or-linux-pc-to-a-virtual-machine/
Great concept. Unfortunately VMware vCenter Converter was discontinued 2 weeks ago.
Oh no! I was going to do that with my (currently) dual booted laptop.
Just my .02, but backing up windows sounds like the best one to me. Or, with a utility like GParted, I think that you can turn an entire partition into an ISO file and then boot windows from that.
Hey @GrillerMiller!
Now that I’m almost done with my deadline, I have a lot to catch up to!
The easiest way is to simply copy all your personal files (under the Users folder, such as Documents, Pictures, Desktop, etc.) to an external drive and then copy them back inside your VM. I would highly recommend you install a fresh copy of Windows in VMware, for the simple reason that the drivers needed will be much different than the one you have on your physical machine. You wouldn’t want to be introduced to the infamous Blue Screen Of Death!
Also, install the VMware tools, which will provide better drivers for your VM.