Disk2vhd for Windows

Quick summary

Disk2vhd is a compact utility that converts physical disks into VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) images you can attach to Microsoft Virtual PC or Hyper-V virtual machines. It’s provided by the Sysinternals group and is designed to be run on a live Windows system while preserving a consistent snapshot of selected volumes.

Who makes it and what it does

Developed by the Sysinternals team, Disk2vhd produces VHD files that mirror the contents of a physical drive — including partitions, file systems, files, and folders — so those images can serve as the virtual disks for guest operating systems.

How the conversion works

Instead of taking the machine offline, Disk2vhd leverages Windows’ volume snapshot mechanism to capture point-in-time views of chosen volumes. You can pick which system and data volumes to include, and the tool will generate a VHD for each physical disk that contains the selected volumes. There’s also an option to run the utility from the command line, letting you automate VHD creation through scripts.

Why use VHDs

Virtual Hard Disks let multiple operating systems run on a single host without repartitioning or adding physical drives. Common uses include:

• Testing software across different OS installations without changing the host
• Simplifying backup and recovery workflows
• Consolidating multiple environments on one physical machine

Notable capabilities

• Creates one VHD file per physical disk that contains the volumes you selected
• Supports command-line operation for scripted or repeatable conversions
• Uses Windows Volume Snapshot Service to produce consistent, point-in-time images
• Runs while the system is online, so you don’t need to shut down the source machine

Alternative option

If you need another free converter, consider StarWind’s Free V2V Converter as an alternative for physical-to-virtual or virtual-to-virtual image conversions.