How do you mount a .vdi image on Linux?

Question

Is there any tool to mount a .vdi file (and/or examine its partitions) in Unix/Linux?

Answer 1

I have successfully used qemu-nbd (which comes with the qemu package) to access VirtualBox .vdi disks.

First you make sure that the nbd kernel module is loaded with the max_part option set to a number high enough to accommodate all the partitions in your .vdi image:

# rmmod nbd
# modprobe nbd max_part=16

Then you use qemu-nbd to attach the image:

# qemu-nbd -c /dev/nbd0 test.vdi

You will get a /dev/nbd0 block device, along with several /dev/nbd0p* partition device nodes. You use them as any other disk. Once you are done, you unmount everything, and disconnect the device:

# qemu-nbd -d /dev/nbd0

Answer 2

You can try for CloneVDI tool for your .VDI files, refer to below URL for more details.

http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=22422

Answer 3

it looks like vdfuse is the tool you are looking for. It is in the Ubuntu repositories. If you want to compile yourself (2010 source) you can do that too.

Answer 4

Short of using another emulator, you can use a loopback device to mount it. Instructions are available via Google, although one nice one I found is here. This will allow you to mount it as a loopback device.