Arun's Blog

The easiest way is to install virtualbox is through Automatix2.
Setting up a guest OS is just like how you would do it in VMWare or Virtual PC which is really easy.

Well done arun. You are on digg now

ooh i hate when the security code screws up and makes me start over, and my well-thought-out comments are lost. I am not going to retype them, but i was looking for a clarification on the «If you want to get the control back to your Ubuntu box, click the right control button» comment -- just where is that button??

@lefty.crupps:

that little bit about the «right control button» is a little misleading... i was confused after running virtualbox the first time. i ended up killing it with the «X» button on the window.

the next time i ran it i accidently touched the «ctrl» key on the right side of my keyboard and all of a sudden i was back controlling my Ubuntu windows -- no longer captured...

try tapping the «ctrl» key and see if it works for you...

dennis

arun -

thanks for the stuff on how to make USB work!! that will save me some time since i run photoshop cs2 on win2k using virtualbox...

good stuff!!

I keep getting errors,
cannot access archive: No such file or directory
errors were encountered while processing.

I've redownloaded about 5 times and downloaded one to my windows box and transfered it by flash drive. Still I get the same error each time. And yes, I also double checked to make sure I typed it all correctly.

Followed the instructions to the letter. Installing in feisty, it fails to add /lib/modules/2.6.20-15-generic/misc/vboxdrv.ko. The end result was that I could run the program and set up the VM, but once I tried to run the VM it made a fatal error and crashed the program.

This is a nice, easy to follow guide, but I wouldn't recommend trying it because of the file problems.

How about Host networking? I cant even receive files using NAT through msn. Did some guide but got confused haha any help there?

A couple of comments. An important step that you missed is the installation of the guest add-ons, which installs the necessary drivers in the guest and allows better host-guest interactions. You wont need right control key anymore.
The other is to set up a shared folder. It is a little more tricky but more robust compared to vmware.
I think you are allocating too much RAM to the guest, That is what is making your ubuntu system slower. It runs perfectly on my machine with no effect on the host speed at all.

Why did you use VirtualBox, and not KVM? I beleive it's supposed to give a better preformance (with recent hardware that support virtualisation, that is), as it's allowing direct access to the hardware, instead of a «translation-layer».

I just installed Virtualbox on Gentoo and Windos XP just runs like it would be installed natively. VirutalBox is a really great product what I can tell so far! Does not run on 64bit arch's yest ;(

I did have host networking running under 6.10 with XP. When I upgraded to 7.04, it would not work and have not been able to get it working since.

Great tutorial, thanks.
The info on how to make USB work is really handy for me as I have a fairly small Partition and use USB keyrings and an external hard drive for a lot of my data.

Arun,
'Install guest-addons' is accessible from the menu in virtualbox. It is an absolute must to vastly improve the user experience. The details on creating a shared folder and mentioned in the manual, but you can also look them up in my tutorial here - http://reachbeyondgrasp.blogspot.com/2007/04/how-to-install-virtualbox-in-ubuntu.html

Why not just use vmware? Sure it's not open source but I know it will work 100x better.

Motorcycle guy,
Having used vmware for a long time and recently switched to virtualbox, I can assure you that virtualbox is not only opensource, it is a little faster, and leaner.
However, Arun, you can use USB devices on vmware without purchasing anything.

Hi,

Worked great for me, but I got one problem, I don't seem to get my mouse back, when using 'right CTRL' key, I get the keys back but not the mouse. The same happens when I shutdown the Vbox, I need to execute a couple of modprobe commands to get the mouse to working, any ideas?

I got a logitech wireless mouse using USB

Thanks,
K

Hi Arun.. I'm currently having to hard disk.. primary HD i installed winXP and the second HD I installed feisty. My question is how do I open my windowXP in ubuntu. Thank you

I installed a windows 2000 guest within an UBuntu host. Following notes based on experience:

1. Virtualization needed to be enabled in the bios. Without this Virtual Box would essentially not launch.

2. If you are attempting to install using a combination of floppies and non-bootable CD you might have to share the floppy drive as «a:» in Linux. A better alternative is to create a bootable CD.. see http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/

3. Do NOT enable the «Enable IO APIC» option, as the Windows installation will hang about 1/3 the way through. Enable ACPI seems to be okay, but I am not sure if it accomplishes anything.

4. Before installing you must execute the following from a terminal Window within linux:

VBoxManage setextradata «VBoxInternal/Devices/piix3ide/0/Config/IRQDelay» 1

If you don't, the installation hangs after the installation of network files. When done with the installation, execute

VBoxManage setextradata «VBoxInternal/Devices/piix3ide/0/Config/IRQDelay» 0

5. I tried with a dynamic expandable and fixed size virtual drive and both are equally buggy.

Whoever did the front end on the Virtual Box was really a good designer and coder. The back end unfortunately, at least in my experience, seems to be lacking. In general, when running Windows within VirtualBox, the application does not like large files (either moving the files around or opening with an application) and frequent crashes are encountered. (I am probably wrong, but I suspect it just does not handle well files larger than 16 MBytes and that its a 24 bit address issue. I had the file system set as NTFS within the virtual hard drive.) Whats more, the applications (probably by necessity) do not appear to run in their own protected space within the virtual operating system; if one app crashes it will generally bring the whole virtual operating system down.

i had to install the following dependencies before i was able to install virtualbox:

virtualbox depends on libxalan110;
virtualbox depends on libxerces27;

I was happily installing a vbox on my laptop when I realized that my laptop does not have a right CTRL key on the keyboard! I tried plugging in a USB keyboard, then realized the compact keyboard I had does not have a right CTRL key either. It seems that the best option at that point is to try to shut down the guest OS somehow.

hi there,
this post (and the one regarding sharing folders and mouse) is absolutely GREAT!!. Thank you very much!!. By the way this virtualbox thing is very cool ahh!

cheers

hi there,
how can I make an 'access-direct' to my wirtual-box-winXP??, I mean, i already have to first to open VirtualBox, then hit 'start' in WinXP, and then appear WinXP, but i was wondering if this can be reduced to just one line or key.

thanks in advance

@pepe - You can create a launcher for a specific WM with the following command:

VirtualBox -startvm «Name of Machine»

i.e. VirtualBox -startvm «Windows XP SP2» in my case. I even went so far as making a little windows icon for my taskbar to launch it. The irony of opening Windows and flippiing it around in a Mac-like Coverflow task switcher on a Linux O/S is just delicious

I have successfully installed VirtualBox (v1.5.0). I am using Ubuntu 7.04 - the Feisty Fawn - released in April 2007. But when I am trying to start windows installation I get the following error.

Unknown error initializing kernel driver (VERR_VM_DRIVER_VERSION_MISMATCH).
VBox status code: -1912 (VERR_VM_DRIVER_VERSION_MISMATCH).

Result Code:
0x80004005
Component:
Console
Interface:
IConsole {1dea5c4b-0753-4193-b909-22330f64ec45}

Can anybody tell me how to overcome this error??????????????

Thanks in advance

Thanks for this great HOWTO! The section about Gutsy and USB provided me with help to set up my scanner in VirtualBox again. Thanks!

I installed Virtualbox via Synaptic under Gutsy, and made the changes Arun mentioned so it could see USB.

Several attempts to install winxp failed because it kept hanging up when it came time to «format the disk» It seemed like some kind of buffer or memory problem (??) because it got to 20% formatted before hanging when I tried «quick FAT» rather than the default it was selecting (regular NTFS). Then formatting would hang right from the start.

What finally worked was setting memory allocated to Windows at 256MB (I have a total of 1GB and had been giving it 512) and selecting «NTFS Quick format». I'm not sure which of those two did the trick, or whether both were needed. By then, I wasn't in the mood to start over yet again!

USB thumbdrive doesn't show up as a mounted drive, the way it should judging by Arun's screenshots. But I can define it as a shared folder in vbox Settings. I still haven't found where I can access it in WinXP. I ran «net use c:\\vboxsvr\my-share-name» but that hasn't done anything noticeable. A project for another day....

Hi Arun!

Yes, I saw that post and changed the usb settings the way it is in the post you linked to. Before that it couldn't see the usb at all. After that, I could define it as a shared folder, at least, which has to be a good sign (?). I haven't played with it in the meantime.

(But having virtualbox-winxp-ie has already saved me from major aggro with my stupid ISP whose customer service site only works under IE.... One of those good news - bad news situations. ;-))

To give you a little background. I recently purchased a Dell with Ubuntu on it. It perfectly fits my needs except for the webcam. I use Skype Video on a regular basis, and Skype didn't recognize my webcam Creative Live, even though the webcam works with Ekiga. From what I read there is a bug somewhere that is currently being worked on.
Anyway. I decided to give vritual windows a shot. I followed the instructions above and th installation worked as a charm. Thanks a lot. However, my virtual windows still doesn't see my webcam. It does however, recognize my printer hooked up via USB. So USB ports do generally get picked up. At this point, my next stop is a dual boot system, but I was hoping if there were something I have missed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Arun,
Thanks a lot for your response. I actually fixed the problem. VirtualBox documentation (page 117 I think) helped me change some settings. Now USB is recognized and I could get my skype video working. Thank you so much for your excellent how-to.
Skender

Hi Arun
Thanks for a great tutorial - worked 1st time perfectly (feisty fawn) - and considering I'm only 'aspiring' to become a newbie on linux is a testement to your tutorial skills.

Mariner

Hi Arun
Further to my last comment, there was just one small thing that I would like to ask you - how do I make the guest os into a full screen - I have f/f as my main os and have winxp as guest - if I increase the resolution settings in winxp then it cuts off the start button bottom left - any suggestions ?
Mariner

Thank's a lot!!!
I searched all over the internet and this is the only tutorial that shows me a guide I want!!!

It looks like the usb hack does not work in hardy.
I have VB running perfectly in gutsy.

nice guide... actually setting it up as i type this.. so i'll post again to my successes and problems

Everytime I try to enter the Settings screen, I get this error:

Could not load the Host USB Proxy Service (VERR_FILE_NOT_FOUND). The service might be not installed on the host computer.

Result Code:
0x80004005
Component:
Host
Interface:
IHost {81729c26-1aec-46f5-b7c0-cc7364738fdb}
Callee:
IMachine {31f7169f-14da-4c55-8cb6-a3665186e35e}

Any ideas?

Very good guide Very helpfull I setup my VMB following your guide,Thank you very much

I love the tutorial, I have one issue with my installation. I cannot get my VM to capture my mouse. I cannot control anything. I am using my laptop mouse and I just cannot get it to work. Any ideas on what this is? I would appreciate it. I had to tab the whole installation, but I need the mouse for the XP GUI! LOL

Thanks for any input!!!

Also,

how do I get the video to FULL SCREEN? I click full screen and it still the same size just the black boxes around are still there. It is frustrating.

Not sure what the issue is. I have virtualbox on my XP os and it works great when I do the mouse. I found that the screen is still does not enlarge on the PC as well. Also, can anyone tell me why Icannot get win98,95 or me loaded on virtual box? It is not only an Ubuntu issue either. Everytime I load the os's, they video is scrambled. It never popps up to the desktop, it just has a bunch of colors, like there is a video issue. Doesn't matter what OS I use, it comes out the same way.