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(Arch newbie here) I am running Arch 4.10, and would like to install Windows 10 in a virtual machine, but on a separate partition.

Background:

My drive layout (GPT Partition schema):

Device          Start        End    Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1        2048    2097151    2095104  1023M EFI System
/dev/sda2     4194304 1052770303 1048576000   500G Microsoft basic data
/dev/sda3  1052770304 1743810559  691040256 329.5G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4  1743810560 1953523711  209713152   100G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5     2097152    4194303    2097152     1G Linux filesystem

Partition functions:

  • sda1 efi disk info
  • sda3 arch home/opt data
  • sda4 arch system

sda2 - Windows partition to be installed in virtualbox

I create a vmdk using:

sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename "/opt/win_part.vmdk" -rawdisk /dev/sda2

followed by setting permissions and owner:

sudo chmod a+rwx /opt/win_part.vmdk && sudo chown user /opt/win_part.vmdk

Setting up the Virtual Machine by adding the:

  • vmdk of the harddrive partition : win_part.vmdk
  • Windows ISO
  • any additional settings.

Also installing the virtualbox-extras for USB3 support, etc.

Problem:

I proceed by booting the Windows 10 iso in Virtualbox done like one would normally install Windows with a USB or DVD.

The issue comes when trying to install Windows to the hard drive, it is not detected by the Windows installer as seen below.

Then looking at if the hard drive is actually detected by the system:

enter image description here

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The issue comes when trying to install Windows to the hard drive, it is not detected by the Windows installer as seen below.

This is because your VM's firmware is currently set to BIOS instead of EFI. Windows cannot be installed on a GPT disk if legacy mode/compatability mode is enabled. Linux doesn't have the same limitations.

In order to resolve this problem you should run the following command.

VBoxManage modifyvm "VM name" --firmware efi

You can use the following command to revert back

VBoxManage modifyvm "VM name" --firmware bios

While 3.13. Alternative firmware (EFI) indicate Windows support for VirtualBox's EFI implementation Changeset 66268 in vbox says otherwise. UEFI support for Windows guests also confirms that fact.

Note that the VirtualBox EFI support is experimental and will be enhanced as EFI matures and becomes more widespread. Mac OS X, Linux and newer Windows guests are known to work fine. Windows 7 guests are unable to boot with the VirtualBox EFI implementation.

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  • There might be additional changes you have to make to your Linux installation. Since the question is not about your Linux installation, I focused my answer, on the reason your unable to install Windows on the virtual hdd in question.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 18:48
  • well hi again @Ramhound, thanks, I shall try that - in reference to my previous post about the uefi bios, I wanted to use an actual partition to install my Windows on (on my Desktop)
    – CybeX
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 19:09
  • @Cybex - I know nothing about your "other" question for the purposes of this question. If I had not specifically looked at your past questions I wouldn't have put the two questions together.
    – Ramhound
    Commented Apr 18, 2017 at 19:12
  • I get the same issue on an older MBR laptop. I have installed arch onto it, created a vmdk of a raw partition, given myself access to the /dev/sdXY and set permissions to 766 on the vmdk, yet Windows installer does not detect the hard drive
    – CybeX
    Commented Apr 20, 2017 at 6:57

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