D&C GLug - Home Page

[ Date Index ] [ Thread Index ] [ <= Previous by date / thread ] [ Next by date / thread => ]

Re: [LUG] Virtual machines/VirtualBox

 

On Thu, 2008-01-24 at 09:18 +0000, george wrote:
> I have just installed virtual Windows XP using VirtualBox and I thought my 
> experience might be useful.  This is fairly long so be warned.
> 
> I have 2 computers, a 32 bit and a 64 bit, both AMD and both with Mepis 
> installed.  I have a Windows XP installation on the 32 bit which I use for 
> mostly legacy work, the odd app that I haven't found a Linux replacement for 
> and some family trees in a micrografx format that I can't export. You know 
> what a PITA rebooting is so I managed to instal virtual WinXP on the 32 bit 
> about a 9 months ago with much kerfuffle. Mepis was then based on Ubuntu, no 
> 64 bit was available and how I did it is lost in the mists of time except 
> that I did it from the command line as it wasn't in Synaptic's repositories.
> 
> The latest release Mepis 7 is based on Debian 4.0 Etch and that's what this is 
> about and is probably relevant to quite a few on the list.
> 
> I started with the 64 bit machine (leave the working one be), updated Mepis 
> and there in the Apt repositories in Synaptic was Virtual Box for Debian 4.  
> I installed it and got an error message that it could not compile a kernel 
> (the heart of the virtual system) due to incompatibilities.  The VBox user 
> manual is very good so I downloaded the latest and refreshed my memory.  
> There are several lib files that you have to have but all were already 
> included in the distro.  What you must do is ensure that you have a matching 
> set of the following by checking the versions in Synaptic:
> 
> linux-headers
> linux-image
> linux-kbuild
> linux-kernel-headers (not too sure about this one)
> linux-source
> 
> These files are all installed in /usr/src/
> 
> The source seemed OK but a couple of the others were not installed. I 
> rectified that and then ran as root /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup as instructed.  
> The kernel compiled without a hitch.  But Virtual Box (under System on the 
> menu) would not run as I didn't have permission.  This was my only criticism 
> of the manual as it told me to add my user name to the vboxusers group but 
> not how to do it.  To my trusty O'Reilly's Linux Pocket Guidewhere I found 
> that the place to be is a text file, /etc/group.  VBox install adds vboxusers 
> to the end of this file and you just add your user name to this entry (as 
> root of course).
> 
> And away I went, VBox opened no bother and I installed WinXP following the 
> pretty simple instructions.  It now resides in a 10 Gb directory in my home 
> partition.
> 
> The 32 bit install was a bit more difficult.  I upgraded Mepis to 7, found 
> VBox in Synaptic, checked the linux-* (see above) dependencies, installed and 
> read the error messages. The Linux source was not installed and I had trouble 
> getting a matching set of linux-* flies.  The 32 bit distro seems to have a 
> fair bit of legacy rubbish in its repositories.  The biggest problem I had 
> was with the linux-source files.  I installed from Synaptic but VBox still 
> couldn't see them when I ran /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup.  I then found that 
> Synaptic only downloaded a tar file.  
> 
> I unpacked the tarball into a sub directory (/usr/src/linux-source-2.6.22 in 
> my case) but VBox couldn't find them.  The error message said set the 
> directory using a command DEV-???=directory but this didn't seem to work (I 
> can't remember what the 2nd half of the DEV- was and I'm not going to screw 
> up my system to find out).  I then looked at the /var/vbox-install.log file 
> which seemed to be looking for the source in a sub directory called /linux/.  
> I renamed the source directory to /linux and everything worked.  Installed 
> WinXP etc., etc.
> 
> Install the Guest Additions from the virtual machine or the mouse will drive 
> you mad.
> 
> You have to set up a share directory between the host and virtual machine to 
> access files between the 2.  Not a very convenient way to work but 
> acceptable.  I can't access the files on the virtual XP as I can on the real 
> XP by mounting fat32 drives.
> 
> I now have WinXP on both my computers (I only use one at a time) so now to 
> sort out the networking.
> 
> You know you can do it.  Give it a go.
> 
> George 
> 
Phew - I don't think that it was as hard as that for me (64bit Kubuntu),
or I would not have ever got it installed !

Viv


-- 
The Mailing List for the Devon & Cornwall LUG
http://mailman.dclug.org.uk/listinfo/list
FAQ: http://www.dcglug.org.uk/linux_adm/list-faq.html