Disk2vhd
by Sysinternals
Disk2vhd is a free utility from Microsoft that allows users to create a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) image of a physical disk or partition.
Disk2vhd is a utility developed by Microsoft which allows users to create a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) of their existing physical hard drive. It can be used to create a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) of a computer running Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10, or Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2008, Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, or Windows Server 2019.
Disk2vhd is a free utility from Microsoft available from the Microsoft Sysinternals website. It enables users to create a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) of their existing physical hard drive. The utility is mainly used for making a duplicate of a physical hard drive for backup and archival purposes, or for creating a virtual machine (VM) to run on a virtualization platform such as Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware.
• Create a VHD of the entire physical drive or just selected partitions.
• Support for all Windows operating systems from Windows XP and later.
• Create a VHD with a single click.
• Supports a variety of file systems including FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT and ReFS.
• Automatically resize existing partitions to fit the VHD size.
• Supports both dynamic and basic disks.
• Compatable with Microsoft Hyper-V and other virtualization platforms.
• Supports up to 2TB of VHD size.
• Create multiple VHD files simultaneously.
• Ability to create a VHD from a physical drive connected over the network.
• Create a VHD from a local drive, USB drive, or CD/DVD.
• Create and mount a VHD with a single click.
• Option to create a password protected VHD.
• Automatically detect and exclude system files from the VHD.
• Ability to exclude files and folders from the VHD.
• Supports storage on external drives and network locations.
• Ability to create a VHD from an ISO image file.
• Supports bootable VHDs.
• Ability to customize the VHD size.
• Ability to specify the VHD format.
• Ability to create a VHD from a physical drive on a remote computer.
• Supports command-line parameters for scripting.
• Ability to save and restore settings.
• Ability to mount or unmount a VHD with a single click.
• Ability to view VHD files and their contents.
• Ability to compress a VHD to save space.
• Ability to defrag a VHD to improve performance.
• Ability to encrypt a VHD to protect its contents.
• Ability to resize a VHD to make it larger or smaller.
• Ability to convert a VHD to a native format for use on other virtualization platforms.
• Ability to convert a VHD to a physical drive.
• Ability to clone a VHD.
• Ability to repair a VHD if it becomes corrupted.
Disk2vhd is a free utility from Microsoft available from the Microsoft Sysinternals website. It enables users to create a Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) of their existing physical hard drive. The utility is mainly used for making a duplicate of a physical hard drive for backup and archival purposes, or for creating a virtual machine (VM) to run on a virtualization platform such as Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware.
Disk2vhd provides a simple and efficient way to create a virtual hard drive of a physical computer for easy transfer to a virtual machine.Features:
• Create a VHD of the entire physical drive or just selected partitions.
• Support for all Windows operating systems from Windows XP and later.
• Create a VHD with a single click.
• Supports a variety of file systems including FAT, FAT32, NTFS, exFAT and ReFS.
• Automatically resize existing partitions to fit the VHD size.
• Supports both dynamic and basic disks.
• Compatable with Microsoft Hyper-V and other virtualization platforms.
• Supports up to 2TB of VHD size.
• Create multiple VHD files simultaneously.
• Ability to create a VHD from a physical drive connected over the network.
• Create a VHD from a local drive, USB drive, or CD/DVD.
• Create and mount a VHD with a single click.
• Option to create a password protected VHD.
• Automatically detect and exclude system files from the VHD.
• Ability to exclude files and folders from the VHD.
• Supports storage on external drives and network locations.
• Ability to create a VHD from an ISO image file.
• Supports bootable VHDs.
• Ability to customize the VHD size.
• Ability to specify the VHD format.
• Ability to create a VHD from a physical drive on a remote computer.
• Supports command-line parameters for scripting.
• Ability to save and restore settings.
• Ability to mount or unmount a VHD with a single click.
• Ability to view VHD files and their contents.
• Ability to compress a VHD to save space.
• Ability to defrag a VHD to improve performance.
• Ability to encrypt a VHD to protect its contents.
• Ability to resize a VHD to make it larger or smaller.
• Ability to convert a VHD to a native format for use on other virtualization platforms.
• Ability to convert a VHD to a physical drive.
• Ability to clone a VHD.
• Ability to repair a VHD if it becomes corrupted.
Disk2vhd requires Windows XP SP2 or later, including Windows XP, Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 8. It also requires a PC with a CPU that supports Hardware Assisted Virtualization (HAV) and at least 512MB of RAM. It also requires an NTFS-formatted hard drive with at least 5MB of free space.
PROS
Easy to use with a straightforward user interface.
Supports multiple file formats for output.
Creates exact copies of physical disks for virtual use.
Supports multiple file formats for output.
Creates exact copies of physical disks for virtual use.
CONS
Cannot capture snapshots of live systems without potential for errors.
Lacks compression features leading to large file sizes.
No direct support or customer service available.
Lacks compression features leading to large file sizes.
No direct support or customer service available.
