Figured it out.
I had to create a VDMK file for my external HDD
source: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-a-usb-flash-drive-in-virtualbox/
Pregunta
Situation:
I have installed Fedora on an external HDD and done so in such a way that it is completely decoupled form my windows installation. i.e I DONT have a dualboot config.
How my setup works is -- I have set my BIOS boot order is to first consider USB HDD and then internal HDD. So when I want to boot fedora I plug external HDD into the USB3.0 slot. And it just boots into Fedora. As long as the HDD is plugged in there is no way to boot into Windows anymore.
I can safely say the I have a Fedora "image" (although I don't know if image is the right word) deployed on external HDD and the bootloader of Fedora and bootloader of windows are on seperate HDDs - One is on external and the other is on internal and each is completely independent of the other.
My external HDD filesystem is
Requirement
Now is good because of the independence. But every time I want to use Fedora I have to restart and boot. I am wondering if I can setup virtualization environment that I can use to boot my external HDD in a VM, while working in Windows.
i.e I am in windows. I want to boot fedora. So I just plug external HDD and start VMWare or VirtualBox and start a VM. And it detects my external HDD and boots into it.
and
When my PC is off and if I plug the external HDD and then turn it on, it should still be able to boot into fedora.
I tried using virtualbox. And I added my external HDD to USB list but when I start the VM it says it could not find any OS to boot into.
Is this because Windows cannot read my external HDD partitions ? I can see that Windows is detecting the drive and the windows disk management is showing the partitions but I can't make virtual box to make it boot off of it.
Is it because virtualbox needs a virtual disk file or and it cannot boot off of external HDD ?
Is there any tool that allows me to do what I want ? i.e while in windows, boot into fedora on my external HDD ?
Solución
Figured it out.
I had to create a VDMK file for my external HDD
source: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/boot-a-usb-flash-drive-in-virtualbox/