createrawvmdk returns 'ERROR: VMDK: cannot go backwards for partitioning information'

[Joe Bertoli Pimentel]

Trying to create a raw disk from my Windows XP partition to work on a Linux Guest OS and following the instructions posted on the forum from people that succeed doing the same thing I am trying (​http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?p=25200), after solving some pre-req issues, I end up with this error that people told me to open a new ticket here:

First, some info about the environment: Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04

user@machine:~$ uname -a
Linux machine 2.6.24-16-generic #1 SMP Thu Apr 10 13:23:42 UTC 2008 i686 GNU/Linux

user@machine:~$ VBoxManage --version
1.6.2r31466

user@machine:~$ fdisk -l /dev/sda

Disco /dev/sda: 80.0 GB, 80032038912 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 9730 cylinders
Units = cilindros of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcccdcccd

Dispositivo Boot Início Fim Blocos Id Sistema
/dev/sda1               1        3040    24418768+   7  HPFS ou NTFS
/dev/sda2            3041        4864    14651280   83  Linux
/dev/sda3   *        4865        6823    15735667+  bf  Solaris
/dev/sda4            6824        9730    23350477+   5  Estendida
/dev/sda5            6824        9208    19157449+  83  Linux
/dev/sda6            9209        9730     4192965   82  Linux swap / Solaris

user@machine:~$ VBoxManage internalcommands listpartitions -rawdisk /dev/sda
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.6.2
(C) 2005-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

Number  Type   StartCHS       EndCHS      Size (MiB)  Start (Sect)
1       0x07  0   /1  /1   1023/254/63         23846           63
2       0x83  1023/0  /1   1023/254/63         14307     48837600
3       0xbf  1023/0  /1   1023/254/63         15366     78140160
5       0x83  1023/254/63  1023/254/63         18708    109611621
6       0x82  1023/254/63  1023/254/63          4094    147926520

And now the createrawvmdk try:

user@machine:~$ sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /home/user/WinXPFromPart1.vmdk  -rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions 1 -mbr /home/user/fakeMBR.mbr
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 1.6.2
(C) 2005-2008 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

ERROR: VMDK: cannot go backwards for partitioning information in '/home/user/WinXPFromPart1.vmdk'
Error code VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER at /home/vbox/vbox-1.6.2/src/VBox/Devices/Storage/VmdkHDDCore.cpp(2518) in function int vmdkCreateRawImage(VMDKIMAGE*, VBOXHDDRAW*, uint64_t)
Error while creating the raw disk VMDK: VERR_INVALID_PARAMETER

It is really a bug or there is some other configuration to workaround the problem? Thanks in advance...

[Joe Bertoli Pimentel]

As suggested by TerryE, (forum discussion: "createrawvmdk does not work": ​http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?p=29178#29178), the following attempts are made trying to understand what is happening:

1:

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename ~/.VirtualBox/WinXP.vmdk  -rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions 1

2:

VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename ~/.VirtualBox/WinXP.vmdk  -rawdisk /dev/sda

Quoting TerryE conclusions: "What this tells us is that (1) the MBR flag has nothing to be with the error and (2) the error path is excited by processing a partition list but not a whole disk. Can I suggest that you feed this data into the ticket."

Hope this helps...

[Joe Bertoli Pimentel]

Excuse-me, at the previous comment I forgot to tell that the first command (1) returns the same error while the second command (2) works but the created .vmdk could not boot into Windows XP. Tks.

[Frank Mehnert]

Please reopen if still reproducible with VBox 3.1.6.