Conversion Between Acronis and Virtual Machines
What is the current capability of Acronis (presumably but not necessarily True Image), for purposes of converting Acronis drive images to virtual machine (especially VMDK, VDI, or VHD) formats, and vice versa?
One scenario of interest: an Ubuntu (ext4) virtual machine (VMDK) in VirtualBox on Windows 10. Can Acronis clone that VM to a bootable physical (e.g., internal SATA HDD or external USB flash) drive?
A different scenario: can Acronis assist in conversion of a desktop Windows 10 installation to a bootable ISO, or in conversion of a bootable Linux ISO to a bootable physical drive?
It is OK if third-party tools are required for some steps in such conversions. The question is just whether Acronis can assist and, if so, how.
Thanks in advance for any informed insights.


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Thanks for the quick reply, Steve. I did hope that at least ATI could produce a Windows 10 image that might be convertible into ISO. But c'est la vie.
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I have been a long time Acronis user although I must admit I have paid but not used it for a while.
I updated to the Cyber Home Protect yesterday. I bought a new machine and wanted to create an image of the old that I could use as a VM in case I needed to get back in. I did the backup and chose the "Convert to VHD" option. It thinks for a minute or two and then I get box with a green check mark and a message that tells me it was unable to convert.
It is a Windows 10 machine and I have tried both a file level and a disk level backup and get the same result.
Is this not supported anymore? Why is there a "convert to VHD" option and how would you get that to work?
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Hello Cullen.
Please check the limitations of that feature:
Limitations and additional information
- A file backup cannot be converted to a .vhd(x) file.
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To boot from a converted .vhd(x) file, it must contain:
- System partition of the same computer. You cannot boot other computers using the same .vhd(x) file.
- Windows 7 or later operating system.
- Any changes you make to a booted or mounted .vhd(x) file are saved to it. If you boot from a .vhd(x) file and make changes to the data that was not backed up, these changes will affect your live system.
- The standalone versions of Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office that start when booting from the bootable media do not support conversion operations.
- Acronis Cyber Protect Home Office cannot convert .tibx files that contain dynamic volumes which were originally located on more than one disk drive (for example, spanned or striped dynamic volumes).
https://www.acronis.com/en-us/support/documentation/ATI2023/#40002.html…
If you scenario is exposed above then the issue is an expected behavior. But if your environment fills all the requirements I would advise you to raise a ticket with the error code: https://kb.acronis.com/content/8153
Thanks in advance!
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How to create a VHD in Windows 10/11
- Open Disk Management and click on the drive letter area of the graphical view to select the desired disk. Next click on the Action tab in the menu bar and then click Create VHD and follow the prompts to create a VHD file. Note the available Attach VHD option which can be used to mount a VHD file. There's also a handy option when attaching a VHD file to do so in Read Only mode preventing modification of the the mounted image.
How to convert a VHD to an ISO file
- Use the handy free tool VHD2ISO found on SourceForge found Here
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