Moving my Whonix Virtualbox VMto a new host/laptop

Hi, hope everyone is well.

First off, i am sorry i know no links but they are guides to vituralbox and orcal docs for exporting VMs…

I was hoping someone can provide me some guidance here on moving my Whonix VM i currently use to a new laptop i just got. Thats the main goal. without losing any data :slight_smile:

SO, that is what I am trying to accomplish is to move my Whonix VM gateway and workstation i use with Virtualbox to a new laptop i got. Plain and simple.

I am copying the VM files per the instructions on the Virtualbox forums here:
forums.virtualbox. org/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=55003

Just copy/paste the files under the Virutal VMs dir. I quote now “copy/move the VM folder (with contents) to your preferred location, then use the manager’s Machine|Add menu item to register the .vbox file (found in the VM folder) from its new location. On some hosts e.g. Windows you can simply double-click the .vbox file to register the VM.”

Now, I was getting errors when i am using a 64GB USB thumb drive. So what i did so far was network my computers together so i could map my new Laptop as a drive.
That seems to be working better…

I am transferring the files now.

After this is done, do i need to do anything before i add it as a VM on my new laptop host?

It was saying something about the path to the file. “If you are running on a Windows host then be wary of moving VMs to removable storage. Windows has a nasty habit of changing the drive letters of removable drives, which will invalidate the VM path stored when you used Machine|Add.”

Please let me know if i am on the right track.

If this does not work can i fix the error, if it provides me an error and could you help?

Or can i use the Export as an OVF file per the guide here:
docs.oracle. com/en/virtualization/virtualbox/6.0/user/ovf.html

And what setting do i choose for the network adpaters and to strip the MAC Addresses or keep them, and there is another setting too, This is the setting i am referring to as exporing as an appliance (OVF file) from the guide oracle docs link above. * MAC Address Policy: Specifies whether to retain or reassign network card MAC addresses on export.

I had a question about this setting if the normal way of moving the VM does not work… or if i am missing a step since the paths are different bc the users name on my new laptop…

Any advice on moving a Whonix configured and being used already to a new laptop host, please let me know.

It would be much appreciated,

Thanks!!!

Okay. So it seems like it works but i get this warning each time.

The shared folder ‘Dippys’ could not be set up: Shared folder path ‘C:\Users\Danny\Desktop\Dippys’ does not exist on the host.
The shared folder setup will not be complete. It is recommended to power down the virtual machine and fix the shared folder settings while the machine is not running.

Error ID:
BrokenSharedFolder
Severity:
Warning

I added that directory “dippys” to my desktop but the Username has changedf from Danny to dell bc i just set my laptop up with the dell UN… How can i update this in Whonix ?? I was looking around and could not find this. I even typed mount in the cmd line and it did not show this as a mount point.

Can i delete this shared folder from the original laptop, and then re-do the transfer over again? or is there a way that i can fix this with editing a line of code?

Thanks so much in advance!

Ahh i found it in the actual setting of VB under Shared Folders Duhhhh

hahaha

See:

Export OVA is probably the easiest and way to go.

MAC address: Currently not mentioned in documentation. Doesn’t matter for now. Should this matter in the future, we’ll document this. In the future we might recommend to retain the MAC address.

(Whonix is based on Kicksecure.)

For shared folder (probably not needed here):


Thanks.

I have it working but I was using VB 6 and now I’m using VB 7… will that cause issues?

It seems everything is working as for connecting to tor sites etc.

Should I Try the appliance export?

I fixed the shared folder issue. I had it setup on my other laptop in VB.

The error in VB points to the .vdi file cannot be found bur everything is working with the gateway.

I’ll power down and back up again to see if these errors show after I clear them.

But how do you think I should proceed from here? Do the appliance export instead remove the shared folder and then see if I get any errors?

Your advice would be so grateful.

Thanks in advance

I didn’t test it but I also don’t expect any issues as this is similar to VirtualBox upgrades which are usually very stable.

Seems a good, easy method.

Page Backup VMs - Kicksecure has been updated today.