$Date: 2025-08-11 19:18:47 +0200 (Mon, 11 Aug 2025) $

VBoxManage convertfromraw

VBoxManage-convertfromraw 1
VBoxManage-convertfromraw convert a raw disk image to a virtual disk image &product-name;
`VBoxManage convertfromraw` inputfile outputfile --format= VDI VMDK VHD --uuid=uuid --variant= Standard Fixed Split2G Stream ESX `VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin` outputfile bytes --format= VDI VMDK VHD --uuid=uuid --variant= Standard Fixed Split2G Stream ESX

## Description

The `VBoxManage convertfromraw` command enables you to convert a raw disk image to an &product-name; virtual disk image (VDI).

For compatibility with earlier versions of &product-name;, you can use the `VBoxManage convertdd` command instead of the `VBoxManage convertfromraw` command.

### Convert a Raw Disk File to a Virtual Disk Image File

The `VBoxManage convertfromraw` command converts the specified raw disk image input file to an &product-name; VDI file.

inputfile

  Specifies the name of the raw disk image file to convert.

outputfile

  Specifies the name of the file in which to write the VDI output.

`--format=VDI | VMDK | VHD`

  Specifies the format of the disk image to create. Valid values are `VDI`, `VMDK`, and `VHD`. The default format is `VDI`.

`--uuid=uuid`

  Specifies the Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) of the output file.

`--variant=Standard | Fixed | Split2G | Stream | ESX[,...]`

  Specifies any required file format variants for the output file. This is a comma-separated list of variant values. Following are the valid values:

  - `Standard` is the default disk image type, which has a dynamically allocated file size.

  - `Fixed` uses a disk image that has a fixed file size.

  - `Split2G` indicates that the disk image is split into 2GB segments. This value is for VMDK only.

  - `Stream` optimizes the disk image for downloading. This value is for VMDK only.

  - `ESX` is used for some VMWare products. This value is for VMDK only.

  Note that not all variant combinations are valid. Specifying incompatible variant values in the list will produce an error message.

### Convert Raw Data From Standard Input to a Virtual Disk Image File

The `VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin` command reads the content of the disk image from standard input. Consider using this form of the command in a pipe sequence.

outputfile

  Specifies the name of the file in which to write the disk image output.

bytes

  Specifies the capacity of the target image name. This needs to be given explicitly, because generally pipes do not support querying the overall size of the data stream.

`--format=VDI | VMDK | VHD`

  Specifies the format of the disk image to create. Valid values are `VDI`, `VMDK`, and `VHD`. The default format is `VDI`.

`--uuid=uuid`

  Specifies the UUID of the output file.

`--variant=Standard,Fixed,Split2G,Stream,ESX`

  Specifies any required file format variants for the output file. This is a comma-separated list of variant values. The list of valid values is:

  - `Standard` is the default disk image type, which has a dynamically allocated file size.

  - `Fixed` uses a disk image that has a fixed file size.

  - `Split2G` indicates that the disk image is split into 2GB segments. This value is for VMDK only.

  - `Stream` optimizes the disk image for downloading. This value is for VMDK only.

  - `ESX` is used for some VMWare products. This value is for VMDK only.

  Note that not all variant combinations are valid. Specifying incompatible variant values in the list will produce an error message.

## Examples

The following command converts the raw disk image input file `disk01.raw`. The output file is a VDI disk image called `disk02.vdi`.

    $ VBoxManage convertfromraw disk01.raw disk02.vdi

The following command converts the raw disk image input file `disk01.raw`. The output file is a VMDK disk image called `disk02.vmdk`.

    $ VBoxManage convertfromraw disk01.raw disk02.vmdk --format VMDK

The following command reads from disk `/dev/sda` using a pipe and therefore needs the exact disk size in bytes as an additional parameter, which is assumed to be `10737418240`. The output file is a VDI disk image called `disk.vdi`.

    $ dd if=/dev/sda bs=512 | VBoxManage convertfromraw stdin disk.vdi 10737418240