Physical to Virtual (P2V) is the process of converting and transferring an image of a physical computer to a virtual machine (VM). It allows a physical machine to be converted to a virtual machine with the same state, stored data, applications and configurations and required system resources.

Why do you need P2V migration?

• You have learned what P2V migration is and you want to migrate from physical to virtual machine for the following reasons:
• VM provides a secure test environment. The operations you perform in the VM will not harm your physical machine.
• Running a VM requires less hardware, physical space, power consumption, and repair than running a physical machine.
• A VM can run on multiple platforms, making P2V a popular way for Mac users to run Windows applications.
• Physical multiple VMs can run on the same physical machine so that you have different test environments on one computer.

How to migrate from physical to virtual machine efficiently?

There are 3 best practices for P2V migration

Method 1: P2V via AOMEI Backupper Professional

AOMEI Backup Professional provides you with the best migration method for P2V migration. With the Universal Recovery feature, you can convert Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7, Vista and XP from physical to virtual machines and not have to worry about boot problems caused by asymmetric hardware after migration.

Before restoring a Windows system image to a virtual machine, you must do the following on your physical computer:

1. Create a bootable USB drive to start the VM. If you want to restore a system image to multiple VMs, try the PXE boot tool without enabling all VMs to reconnect and reboot the bootable drive.
2. Backup system for bootable USB with AOMEI backer.

To convert a Windows system from a physical to a virtual machine, follow these steps:

Step 1. Set the VM console to connect the bootable USB flash drive to the VM. Boot into USB VM by changing the boot order in the BIOS.

Step 2. Once logged in you will see the loaded AOMOI backer. In the left pane, select "Restore" and click "Select Image File".

Select the image file

Step 3. Locate the system image file on the bootable USB drive and click "Next".

Step 4. Select "Restore this system backup" and tick "Restore the system to another location". Then, click "Next".

Relocate to another location

Step 5. Select the hard drive in the VM as the destination and click "Next".

Select a destination

Step 6. On the Activity Summary page, tick "Universal Restore" to confirm that the system can boot after restoring. Click "Restore Start" to start the P2V migration.

Start restoring

Method 2: P2V with Microsoft Systinternals Disk2vhd

Disk 2 VHD is a utility that produces VHD (virtual hard disk) versions of physical disks for use in Microsoft Virtual PC or Microsoft Hyper-V virtual machines. It can only convert physical drives into virtual disks. It does not build VMs, nor does it create any configuration. Follow the instructions below to perform P2V migration with disk2vhd:

1. Run Disk2vhd on your physical computer.

 Select the versions you want to add to VHD. Click on "Use VHDX" and "Use Volume Shadow Copy" options depending on your needs. Then, click "Create" to create VHD.

 Disk2vhd

 Create a VM with the desired features and add the VMD as an IDE disk in the configuration of the VME.

Method 3: P2V by System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM)

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM) is part of the System Center Suite. It is Microsoft's Virtual Machine Support Center for Windows-based systems, intended to assist administrators to connect multiple physical servers in a centralized virtualized environment. To convert a physical machine into a virtual machine using SCVM, follow the following guidelines:

1. Configure it to manage your migrating VM hosted Hyper-V host by running SCVMM Server.

2. Click "VMS and Services" in the left panel.

3. On the Ribbon, click the drop-down to "Create Virtual Machine" and select "Change Physical Machine". Follow the wizard to convert the physical computer to VM.