Capturing an image from VM questions

[Scrofulous]

Hi.
1. How do i capture an image from Virtual Box?
2. Which format/type is best to create the virtual drive? i know virtual box gives me options which type to use during creation.
3. Is there anything i need to disable during creation, like host networking and shared folders?

 

[garlin]

There's two basic methods for capturing a VM image:

1. For an existing VM, reboot into WinPE or WinRE, and perform a DISM capture like on a normal (non-VM) Windows system.

2. Create a new VM using the VHD disk format, and install Windows. This allows you to shutdown the VM, and mount the .VHD file in Disk Manager. As a mounted filesystem, you can perform a DISM capture without needing to reboot into WinPE or WinRE.

Normally you don't want to be running in the live Windows while it's being captured. Most experienced users use the 2nd method. Don't forget to sysprep the image before the capture if you intend to use the install image on a physical PC.

If you're in audit mode, it's best to temporarily disable your VM's network access. This prevents Windows Update from silently updating UWP apps in the background, which causes errors with captured images. You can run some PowerShell commands to cleanup, but it's just easier to uncheck VB's networking box for the duration of sysprep or audit.