how do I use vmc import (also asked on Chromebook Help)

[Rob]

I am using the Linux beta on ChromeOS 86.

It worked fine and I installed some software but when I experimented with the file /etc/network/interfaces I fouled something up and it would no longer boot.

I found that I could use "vmc export termina backup.bak" to export the container, I did that and unpacket the file, mounted it on my Linux machine, fixed the mistake, packed it again and downloaded it to my chromebook ready to import it again.

But "vmc import termina backup.bak" errrored out with "VM/disk with such name already exists".

So I thought I have to remove it and issued "vmc destroy termina" which worked.

Now when I try again to import I get "DISK_STATUS_FAILED: unsupported location for image".

How to proceed now?  What is the way to use these vmc commands directly and where is that documented?

Details

Linux (Beta), Stable

[dragon788]

I believe after you do the destroy, open the Terminal app and it will recreate the VM, then open the Settings and go to Linux beta and there is an option to restore from backup. 

--
--
Chromium OS Discussion mailing list: chromium-...@chromium.org
View archives, change email options, or unsubscribe:
https://groups.google.com/a/chromium.org/group/chromium-os-discuss
---
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to chromium-os-dis...@chromium.org.

[Rob]

I had removed the Linux VM and re-enabled it, but it went on to download the fresh VM and never offered me the option to restore a backup.

I think now I will consider my backup lost and build the VM from the fresh install, there fortunately was no data in it, only installed packages and two downloaded files.

However, I think it is strange that there is no obvious way to restore a backup.

Op zaterdag 14 november 2020 om 04:00:43 UTC+1 schreef drag...@gmail.com:

[dragon788]

On my machine the .tini default backup extension offers to do a restore if I right click it. There is also an option directly in Settings in the Linux beta settings to restore.

[Rob]

Ok thanks, now I see that option in the settings as well.  Hopefully that one is working, but for now I'll just continue with my fresh VM.

When the other one no longer would boot I googled and found that path of "vmc export" -> unpack/mount/fix/umount/pack -> "vmc import"

but I never got the vmc import to work.  Maybe the Linux files backup is another type of backup as I have understood that there

in fact are two levels in this system, a "termina" container and a "penguin" Linux system inside that.

There are claims that "vmc import" is not working and not going to work, but it is in the "vmc" help and it seems to try to do something,

I just don't understand the exact syntax of the parameters and cannot find documentation.

It is all a bit confusing.  Fortunately I am only experimenting for now and have no real data inside this VM.

Op zaterdag 14 november 2020 om 14:08:57 UTC+1 schreef drag...@gmail.com:

[DennisLfromGA]

IIUC, the (btrfs) image file created with the `vmc export termina` command contains the termina VM and any containers.

The Backup/Restore option in Settings creates & restores a complete gzipped penguin container so they are two totally different formats for different purposes.

After destroying the termina VM you can create a new empty VM using: 

`vmc create termina` 

and then possibly import your image file with:  

`vmc import [-p] <vm name> <file name> [<removable storage name>]

According to this feature request:

• Issue 827705 - Enable Running VMs with data images on external storage - chromium
  https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=827705

They are doing testing of this feature on specific devices now so it may be getting very close to merging.

There's a new `vmc start <name> --extra-disk /path/to/disk.img` option that is targetted for Chrome OS version 13506.0.0 which is not quite in the beta channel but will be very soon. I'm not sure if it will have full functionality at that point but we'll see I guess.

 

 ~DennyL