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I have a VirtualBox virtual machine that I use regularly. In order to use it on many computers, I carry it around on a USB drive.

Sometimes, however, I come across a computer that doesn't support full virtualization (doesn't have the necessary resources). Since the VM is on a USB drive, that made me wonder: is it possible to live-boot a VM?

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What OS is installed on it? – Synetech Jun 13 '11 at 21:24
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If "the necessary resources" are hardware related, such as not enough ram, or cpu power. I'm not sure how that would work.

You could perhaps install a linux distro onto a usb drive with Virtualbox installed and boot the computer using that OS and initializing the virtualization through that Virtualbox.

It will likely be slow, but could be an alternative if you are looking for one.

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Ya, that sounds like the best way to do it. Thanks! – Maxim Zaslavsky Jun 17 '11 at 7:31
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I'm not sure how well this would work but Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 supports booting from a VHD file. You should be able to use the method to create a bootable usb stick and then add a boot menu entry for your vhd file.

This could result in some weird behavior when switching from virtual to real when Windows detects new hardware and has to reconfigure.

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Windows licensing especially might not like the new hardware. – Daniel Beck Jun 13 '11 at 18:01
oh right, had forgotten about the licensing, that probably makes it highly impractical for real use and more of a fun exercise of what's possible – Pär Björklund Jun 13 '11 at 18:21
Ooh, that's really cool! I haven't heard of that stuff, so I'll check that out. Unfortunately, it won't always be Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008 R2... :( – Maxim Zaslavsky Jun 17 '11 at 7:32
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In theory yes. You could copy the contents of the virtual drive to a real drive and boot from it. However, the VM is installed on virtual hardware, so when you boot it on a real, physical system, it will need to detect the new hardware and install all the drivers for it. This can be easier said than done since it’s not just the video card or hard-drive that is different but the CPU, the BIOS, and the whole motherboard! Normally, you are supposed to be able to take an installed copy of an operating system and put it in a new computer, but it is quite possible for it to not work (I did this and ran into horribly nasty problems that took a lot of time and effort to sort out).

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