Virtualbox and raw disk problem

Question

I'm trying to use a raw disk in virtualbox, following this guide.

Anyhow I get an error:

mamluck@mamluck:~/VirtualBox VMs/disks$ VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /home/mamluck/VirtualBoxVMs/disks/disk1.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda
VBoxManage: error: Cannot open the raw disk '/dev/sda': VERR_ACCESS_DENIED
VBoxManage: error: The raw disk vmdk file was not created

and:

mamluck@mamluck:~/VirtualBox VMs/disks$ sudo !!
sudo VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /home/mamluck/VirtualBoxVMs/disks/disk1.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda
VBoxManage: error: VMDK: could not create new file '/home/mamluck/VirtualBoxVMs/disks/disk1.vmdk'
VBoxManage: error: Error code VERR_ALREADY_EXISTS at /home/vbox/vbox-4.0.6/src/VBox/Storage/VMDK.cpp(3591) in function int vmdkCreateRawImage(VMDKIMAGE*, VBOXHDDRAW*, uint64_t)
VBoxManage: error: Cannot create the raw disk VMDK: VERR_ALREADY_EXISTS
VBoxManage: error: The raw disk vmdk file was not created

what am I doing wrong?

Answer 1

The error is VERR_ALREADY_EXISTS.

Is there already a file named /home/mamluck/VirtualBoxVMs/disks/disk1.vmdk ? If there is a file named disk1.vmdk, stop naming your disks with default names. You should be able to clearly recognize the disk from its filename. This will help avoid name collisions.

You can't/shouldn't use the same disk/partition that is in use on the host. Is sda or any partition on sda being used?

You'll need a separate drive that is not mounted and has no swap partitions in use to use for the virtual raw disk or you'll have to use a partition only that is not mounted/in use for raw access.

The raw virtual disk for a full disk works fine whether the disk is partitioned or not, contrary to what Muad'Dib said. You can partition/re-partition a raw virtual full disk at your leisure, just as you would a physical disk.

A raw disk mapped to a partition would of course have to exist first.

Answer 2

the vmdk could be created in any partition but not a unpartitioned disk , partition the disk and try again, may be you wanna allocate the whole disk to your Virtual OS ,but that is not same as Physical box ,you need to let the Vbox know the space to create a vmdk.