`sudo` you only really need them for the mount and unmount.

dd does not need sudo (/dev/zero is world readable by default) and the mkfs also does not need root (as long as the file is owned by you).

mkdir also does not need sudo!

When I got to the mount command I put in the full path to the created img file and that seemed to work.

However, in the graphical file browser (in Zorin) what I see is my img file’s name with a padlock on it. In the sidebar is “1.3GB volume” rather than the container name.

I can’t eject that. And when I try to save a new file in this virtual space — using Nano, for example, it says I can’t.

So like commenter Jam on this page, what I have is read only?

I appreciate the instructions, but how should I proceed so that I can use this virtual disk?

@Tom,

Yes, you are correct in noting that VHD and VHDX have specific compatibility specifications. While Windows 10/11 provides the Disk2vhd program for creating virtual hard disk files (VHD/VHDX) from physical disks, the process is generally tailored for Windows environments.

For Linux-based systems such as Ubuntu or RHEL/CentOS, you can use tools like “dd” to create a disk image. However, directly converting to VHD or VHDX may not be straightforward, as these formats are more native to Windows.

To achieve compatibility, you might need additional tools or a two-step process. You could first create a raw disk image using “dd” or a similar tool and then convert it to VHD/VHDX using a tool like qemu-img.

VHD and VHDX have very specific specifications for COMPATIBILITY.

W10/11 has a Disk2vhd program and moves from MS to Ubuntu or RHEL/CENTOS (or whats left of it), so does Ubuntu/Linux/Unix have an equivalency to DUMP a physical disk into the VHDX or VHD format?