Ah, my apologies if I misunderstood how importing works. I was under the assumption that this function works more like Workstation; I didnt realize it makes a seperate copy.
I've had some luck performing an image backup with Windows's backup tool from inside a Bootcamp VM, then restoring that at a later point onto another VM. Also, there are some good PtoV and VtoP guides out on the Internet that discuss other ways to do this, so it may be worth Googling them to see if you can gleam any tips.
WIlbur