Can't get VirtualBox to work. (ABANDONED)

[Tony Norton]

When it comes to virtual box always download from the website using a deb installer. Other methods can be iffy as they are not compiled correctly.

Hi Gearhead,

not sure what that means.

Tony N

Would you prefer to have another go at VirtualBox ? .. I should be able to offer more assistance with that, as I use it myself.

Yes Mark,

that may be a good idea, but first I need to be sure how to get shot of anything relating to it that is currently on my system, and start with a clean sheet. Then I will start a new thread.

Cheers

Tony N

[GEARHEAD_TI]

Apologies, deb installers are an automated install process that are far easier for the user to use and allow the operating system to know what requirements are needed for this application.

deb refers to Debian of which Mint is a branch of if you were wondering.

http://fosslinuxland.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/how-to-install-deb-files-in-linux-mint-debian-edition/ provides simple instructions on how to set up mint in a few steps to install gdebi, the application that allows debian to use deb files.

Below is a link to the virtual box download page, use the "debian 7.0" download links (note make sure you choose the most suitable version: i386 for 32 bit and AMD64 for 64 bit). https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

I hope this helps, never abandon the cause!!!!

GEARHEAD

[Tony Norton]

Apologies, deb installers are an automated install process that are far easier for the user to use and allow the operating system to know what requirements are needed for this application.

deb refers to Debian of which Mint is a branch of if you were wondering.

http://fosslinuxland.wordpress.com/2010/12/08/how-to-install-deb-files-in-linux-mint-debian-edition/ provides simple instructions on how to set up mint in a few steps to install gdebi, the application that allows debian to use deb files.

Below is a link to the virtual box download page, use the "debian 7.0" download links (note make sure you choose the most suitable version: i386 for 32 bit and AMD64 for 64 bit). https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads

I hope this helps, never abandon the cause!!!!

GEARHEAD

Hi Gearhead,

thanks for that. According to my [Menu] list I already have Gdebi installed. Under help it list itself as 0.8.5build1. Is that new enough?

Tony N

[GEARHEAD_TI]

I am pretty sure that will do it. Try downloading one of the debian 7.0 packages I mentioned before and see how it goes.

I wish you good luck and the knowledge that you are not alone with issue like this

[Mad Penguin]

However....... if I run "locate WINXP64bSP2.is o" I still get "/home/tony/var/lib/libvirt/images/WINXP64bSP2.iso".

"locate" works off a database that's typically batch-updated overnight, it's not going to show you immediate changes in file locations. The reason many people quote this as the way to find a file is that the 'immediate' alternative can be slow. Given you "know" where you copied the file, you don't need to do this at all, you can simply do;

Code: [Select]

ls -la /var/lib/libvirt/images

To verify the copy worked. The longhand and somewhat slower mechanism would be;

find / -name WINXP64bSP2.is o

Code: [Select]

SeaBIOS (version pre-0.6.3-20120507_233324-palmer)

When you create a new VM it will prompt you for the location of an ISO image, and when you do this it will set your VM to boot off this ISO. For some reason, as you're getting PXE messages, it's trying a network boot which isn't going to fly, which suggests you're trying to start a VM without going through the creation Wizard.

I'm a little puzzled as to why this is a problem. I've done a walkthrough / screenshots of creating a new VM on my machine .. can you could look at these and tell me where you got stuck;

Details

Details

Details

Details

Details

Details

[Mad Penguin]

So apart from clicking "forward", I had to think of a name for the VM and type it in, select an ISO to install from via a drop-down list, then select the version of Linux I was installing, again from drop-down lists, everything else was a default setting ... ()

- on the last screen, that's the VM running the Ubuntu installer .. so at that point all you need to do is a new install. Same principle for Windows, if your disk is a Windows XP ISO, it'll give you the Windows installer. The installation will go into the 8Gb "file" you created as part of the walkthrough above.

i.e the VM maps hard drives onto files (or block devices) on the host machine.

[Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec)]

"locate" works off a database that's typically batch-updated overnight

Running:

Code: [Select]

sudo updatedb

first, brings the database up to date .. and in my experience is still faster than "find".

So as MP suggests .. running "locate" without first updating the database will make it "appear" as though it's in the old location.

ALWAYS update the database (sudo updatedb) before using "locate" .. or you may be reading old data


Those screenshots are handy though .. Not having a CPU that supports KVM, I couldn't help much .. it's handy to have those to work off, as I didn't know if there was an option just to use the CD/DVD instead of an ISO.

One of these days when I can get my hands on the Laptop .. It'll be interesting to run a comparison between Virtualbox and KVM/virt-manager

@ Mad Penguin

Once you have a VM running .. is the window resizeable, and/or can it be run in full screen ?

[Mad Penguin]

You can run it full-screen, or the resolution is controlled by the VM. i.e. in windows , right click on the background etc etc ... or in Linux, use the "Screen" option from the System/Preferences and change to the desired res ...

KVM is faster than Virtualbox .. don't listen to Oracle propaganda that says otherwise.
Some of the comparisons give KVM a slight edge, IRL it's way more substantial ..  KVM IO with virtio drivers is ~ 3x faster than KVM without.
Virtualbox doesn't have virtio drivers ..

- and of course Virtualbox is an Oracle product, so you can use it right up to the point where they pull the plug or start charging ..

It may well be "open source" but I would point out that Oracle are not known for supporting things they don't make money off, nor are they known for setting up Open Source communities for products they're no longer prepared to support themselves.

(eg; OpenSolaris - dead, ZFS - updates not released, OpenOffice -> LibreOffice [!], MySQL -> drizzle [!] etc etc ...)

KVM is one of the "good" decisions Ubuntu made after switching from Xen.

[Tony Norton]

Hello Mad Penguin,

I'm a little puzzled as to why this is a problem. I've done a walkthrough / screenshots of creating a new VM on my machine .. can you could look at these and tell me where you got stuck;

I followed your 'walk-through',
1) as default except for VM name.
2) as default except for  '.iso' name, OS type and Version
3) as default (some machine you've got there, 16GB RAM and 6 cores! Thought I was doing O.K. with 8GB and 2 cores.)
4) as default.
5) as default with no 'advanced options'.

and blow me, if VM didn't install O.K. "In his master's steps he trod...." (Well, it is coming up to Christmas).

I do have some questions/problems now, but I propose to make them the subject a separate Post which I will call "VM v VB". I now have 2 virtual machines and can't yet make up my mind which to use.

Tony N