Forum Discussion
Best method to move windows 11 to another drive SSD?
Using QEMU virtualization to move Windows 11 to another drive is an unconventional approach but possible. Essentially, it involves creating a virtual machine (VM) that contains your current Windows 11 setup, then exporting or transferring that VM to the new drive. Here’s an overview of how you could do it:
Basic Concept:
- Create a VM with your existing Windows 11 installation.
- Export or clone that VM.
- Attach the VM to your system from the new drive.
- Boot Windows 11 inside the VM, which now resides on the new drive.
Steps of Moving Windows 11 to Another Drive:
1. Prepare Your Environment.
2. Create a Disk Image of Your Current Windows 11 Drive:
Use disk imaging tools (like dd or qemu-img) to create a raw image of your Windows drive.
Example: qemu-img convert -f raw -O qcow2 your_disk.raw windows11.qcow2
Alternatively, clone the drive using disk imaging software.
3. Create a New VM with QEMU:
Set up a VM configuration that uses the disk image as its primary disk.
Allocate sufficient RAM and CPU resources.
Example command:
qemu-system-x86_64 -hda windows11.qcow2 -m 8G -boot c
4. Move Windows 11 to Another Drive:
Transfer the windows11.qcow2 image file to the new drive.
Adjust paths accordingly in your VM configuration.
5. Boot the VM from the New Drive:
Launch QEMU pointing to the disk image on the new drive.
Verify Windows 11 boots correctly inside the VM.