generic x86-x64 image doesn't boot on virtualbox, but does boot on qemu

[lxcg]

I'm trying to get the armbian x86-64 generic image to run in virtualbox. I can successfully convert the *.img file to qcow2 and qemu will run it just fine. However, virtualbox fails to boot it in any format (qcow2, vmdk, vhd, vdi, etc). The grub menu comes up, but when trying to boot Linux then it just sits at a blinking cursor. I've tried converting this a variety of ways, such as using `qemu-img convert`, `vboxmanage convertfromraw` and `vboxmanage convertdd`. None of them yield an image that virtualbox will boot. Has anybody else had success with this, and/or know how to fix it? Thanks.

[lxcg]

I think I may have figured it out. Took me the better part of two days to get this right. Hopefully it's of use to someone.

 

1. Convert the img file to vdi with the qemu dd command:

 

"c:\Program Files\qemu\qemu-img.exe" dd -f raw -O vdi bs=4096 if=Armbian_23.8.1_Uefi-x86_jammy_current_6.1.50_minimal.img of=armbian.vdi

 

2. In VirtualBox, go to File -> Tools -> Virtual Media Manager. Add the VDI file as a hard disk. 

3. Right click on the disk, then Copy it to a new VDI. Increase the hard disk size. I used 250GB. [See note 1]

4. Create a new VirtualBox Machine. Set the OS type to Ubuntu (Jammy Jellyfish) [see note 2]. Use the hard disk file created in the previous step. 

5. Boot the machine and go through the setup instructions. The screen size is weird on the first boot. Reboot, and then it should be good to go.

 

[1] Without a resize the image fails to boot partway through the boot process

[2] Not sure how much the OS type setting actually matters. It seemed to also work with Linux/Debian 64-bit or Linux/Other 64-bit. I think in my initial attempts this was somehow defaulted to "Other/Other" which does not work.