Solving The Existing UUID Error For Running Multiple IEs +

Several readers reported running into troubles trying to install multiple VMs with different IE versions (following my previous howto).

Installing one works just fine, but when you try to create another VM using another one of those Microsoft’s .vhd files you run into an error: VirtualBox is complaining about a hard disk with the same UUID already existing and whatnot.

Having separate VMs for separate browser versions is a nice thing to have, but it’s not possible by default, because all of Microsoft’s .vhd files have the same UUID.

Here’s how we can work around that, until Microsoft decides to change UUIDs, or until Sun’s undocumented and unsupported command (VBoxManage internalcommands sethduuid <file>) starts working on .vhd images.

Convert your .vhd images

The process consists of converting our .vhd images (which are basically vpc images) into .vmdk images, which automagically gives them a new UUID.

First we install Qemu:

sudo apt-get install qemu

After that, change into the directory holding your .vhd image and run:

qemu-img convert -f vpc image.vhd -O vmdk image.vmdk

That’s it, now you can use the newly created .vmdk images as hard disks for your additional IE virtual machines. Have fun.