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Time for more VirtualBox exercises ?

2moldy4me

Sun Sep 30, 2012 4:50:50 pm

Could be.
I see MadVinegar's very helpful & concise tutorial here:
http://zoringroup.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=2380

And it looks very promising - Great Big Kudos for making that for all of us, MadVinegar !!!

BUT:
There is a seriously missing bit in all of these Vbox antics, I have found.

Please allow me to 'splain=>
I likes windurrs the way some folks like their coffee, simple, straight up, hot, and black...no cream, no sugar, nothing fancy - plain as can be.
So I snip away the excesses (which are MANY) and this takes alot of time & effort.
It also makes that notoriously fickle OS far more stable.

What is missing from most of the info I have found is any concise guides to do what is called P2V.
I have TWO versions of windurrs to try inside Vbox - XP Pro SP2 and Win2kPro - and have each all nicely slimmed down and running (I'm using the XP right now...) and ready to do P2V on - if only I could gain the needed directions for getting HERE from THERE !!!

I've been searching and found some nice looking info as well as free tools.

Last time I tried this it nearly drove me over a cliff because there was no instructions as to how one opens and/or attaches the created VDI, VHD or VMDK file(s).

I'm working at making this become clearer for me - and aim for results to be visible very soon.
1st, of course, I must re-install Vbox, which I'd completely obliterated when it seemed impossible for the version included with ZorinOS to be useful to me.

Between my last posting about this and the present, I came into some nicer hand-me-down parts too, so now my ZorinOS PC has a better CPU and more RAM, which should make all of this work better too.

More later...as this develops - but in the meantime, if anyone can list off the exact steps one must perform to go from a freshly installed Vbox program => to having a VM open with an already made & P2V'd OS running inside of it - please, please, please do post this info and it will be greatly appreciated (and by more than just me, I bet) !!!

Thanks.

madvinegar

Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:33:53 am

2moldy4me

Mon Oct 01, 2012 5:49:33 pm

Thanks again Madvinegar.
I would like to bring attention to a couple of details regarding that info (which is what I tried using originally...):
1.
The article is concerning 'Sun VirtualBox', and was posted January 18, 2010 - whereas Virtualbox is now an Oracle product.
2.
The comments indicate clearly that the posted procedure is not universal and many different problems are possible - with some of them and their unique workarounds also posted there.
3.
Much has been posted around the internet about version problems with Virtualbox - so, for instance, when I tried the existing/already present version in ZorinOS 5, it gave me only trouble with perfectly good P2V'd images - whereas newer versions have been claimed to work - this I must confirm for myself, soon...
4.
The difficulties seem to center upon just 2 areas=>
A) Getting the file made P2V style to open in a VM.
B) Getting the settings correct for that pre-made image to be bootable, either beforehand, or within the VM.

As I operate 100% of the time using the 'standard IDE' controller driver, I can avoid BSOD problems leading to the dreaded '0x0000007B error' - but it is not the only documented problem folks are seeing.

My request, therefore - remains in limbo, as there is not any full & accurate & current guide to making P2V and attaching/opening/using it within Virtualbox.

I have extensively searched and read this past weekend, and have many links and write-ups to examine further.
As my access to my newly refurbished ZorinOS PC is on the weekends, I will do some reading in the next few days, and hopefully have time for implementation of what has looked best this coming weekend.

Thanks again.

2moldy4me

Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:01:07 pm

P2V = Physical to Virtual.
As in taking an existing, already in use windows on your existing PC - and making it so it may be used as a VM inside ZorinOS via Virtualbox.

This is FAR better than creating an empty VM and making a fresh installation of windows as the P2V method will have all of your individual preferences & settings already in place & ready to use as you like it.

2moldy4me

Mon Oct 01, 2012 6:27:04 pm

I do not have - and never plan to use - 7.
My entire purpose in seeking the ZorinOS was to make it my full-time daily OS in replacement of XP.
I have posted here and elsewhere, previously, on this subject.
(If I was OK with newer versions of windows, I would have no need of the ZorinOS at all...)

Addendum=>
I emailed Dinesh, and the message is below (please pardon that I've re-used much of the text from a previous posting here, as I presume Dinesh is unlikely to see things posted at a ZorinOS dedicated forum...)
****************email follows***************

Hello Dinesh.
I hope you will seriously consider my message to you here.

As a long-time windows user, I have concluded that XP is the last version I will use, and that it is time to become a full-time Linux user.

This poses serious problems, because there are still windows programs I must use, as they have no equivalents for Linux - and Wine is not a very good way to use them, for very many of these.

So the best way to accomodate such needs is via using a reliable P2V method and Virtualbox to maintain access to XP for as long as it is needed.

Also, it is most likely that most internet access will be via the host OS, so that stability, reliability and malware worries can be much lower.

Here is the problem:
You have made one of the very few useful & usable write-ups for the above in your guide, here:
http://www.sysprobs.com/physical-virtua ... ualbox-p2v

But, a fresh write-up is very needed, because...
1.
The article is concerning 'Sun VirtualBox', and was posted January 18, 2010 - whereas Virtualbox is now an Oracle product.
2.
The comments indicate clearly that the posted procedure is not universal and many different problems are possible - with some of them and their unique workarounds also posted there.
3.
Much has been posted around the internet about version problems with Virtualbox - so, for instance, when I tried the existing/already present version in ZorinOS 5, it gave me only trouble with perfectly good P2V'd images - whereas newer versions have been claimed to work better.
4.
The difficulties seem to center upon just 2 areas=>
A) Getting the file made P2V style to open in a VM.
B) Getting the settings correct for that pre-made image to be bootable, either beforehand, or within the VM.

As I operate 100% of the time using the 'standard IDE' controller driver, I can avoid BSOD problems leading to the dreaded '0x0000007B error' - but it is not the only documented problem folks are seeing.

My request, therefore, is that you make an updated write-up - as there is not any full & accurate & current guide to making P2V and attaching/opening/using it within Virtualbox.

I have extensively searched and read this past weekend, and have found many partial & limited guides - and your old one remains the best I've yet found.

Is there some chance that you will re-visit this very important subject and post one of your very well made guides to it ???

Thank you for your time.

PS: I know there are conflicting opinions about this, but this little posting makes my position look very common:
http://tricks-collections.com/windows-x ... the-world/

2moldy4me

Mon Oct 01, 2012 7:33:31 pm

Some amazingly good news:

"Thanks for the mail.
It is a correct and resonable request. I will do it in latest oracle virtualbox and update.
Give some time"


This reply truly made my day !!!

2moldy4me

Thu Oct 04, 2012 8:15:12 pm

Whilst awaiting good news from Dinesh's works, I remain alert for interesting tidbits about this subject...

One seemingly valid option has always been Vmware Player - but when I tried to get it a while back, their site told me downloading it required some sort of 'approval' - which never came...but now, look here:
https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/free#desktop_end_user_computing/vmware_player/5_0
There it is, easy as pie to get and even in the m$ version too !!!

And here are 2 conflicting, but very interesting write-ups about Crossover:
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/codeweavers-crossover.html
http://distrowatch.com/weekly.php?issue=20120326#feature
One says Great!, the other says Meh! - fascinating.

Here's a link to get a free PDF ebook entitled "Computer Inside Your Computer: How To Use VirtualBox":
http://distrowatch.tradepub.com/free/w_make42/?p=w_make42
(They do make you sign up with alot of info to get it...)

I wonder if anyone has done the P2V thing with ZorinOS using Vmware Player to open/run VMs of other pre-existing OSs ???

Thanks.

2moldy4me

Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:59:46 pm

OK then, how about this:
I make a P2V VM of my desired guest OS outside of the ZorinOS; do whatever must be done so it will open/run in Player; and then use it within ZorinOS (after installing the Player, of course...).

It is usable - accepts changes as desired, and lacks for no access to network, sound, USB, etc. .
And when it's use is desired, one merely opens that VM and it's right as it was last used and ready.

How does any of the above create objectionable limitations ???

If I don't need to make new VMs, do any other advanced stuff, and merely wish access to my XP programs with their full abilities and to save files - this sounds like a good fit to me.

Thanks.

2moldy4me

Tue Oct 16, 2012 3:38:28 am

Well, I'd been hoping for a miracle, and it seems none were forthcoming - so I took a side-road, with really great results too !!!

I wanted to see Ubuntu 12.04, so I grabbed it's ISO and installed it on a spare drive.
Nasty - not for me.
I cannot handle overly graphics-oriented stuff; all it does is give me a serious headache.

But I remembered some smart folks here mentioning Lubuntu, so I installed LXDE on 12.04, and Presto!
What a lovely change that made; easy on me olde brain & eyes, and it responds faster too.

Then it was time to install Virtualbox & VMWare Player - those went in nice and easy.

My desire remains to make an XP VM, P2V-style, without installing/tweaking it for my needs all over again in an empty VM, so...
Once again, I used the below P2V program on XP to make ready-to-use VMs from my (ready to use) XP to a USB stick:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/OS-Enhancements/Paragon-Go-Virtual.shtml

Since my Linux box has a dual-core CPU and 4gb RAM, I gave the VM 1 core & 1gb to use.

Changed drives, and started 12.04.
Then tried to use my shiny new VM in VBox...phooey - no matter what I tried all I got was errors.
Fine. Enough of this nonsense; time for Player.

BAM!!!
It opened my VM - booted - ran instantly - no problems at all - and lightning fast too - might even be faster than running XP natively using all system resources (?) !!!
Opened programs, changed the desktop a bit, used a few things, verified network presence - all good.
(A single thing requires attention=> it needs me to re-install the display driver, which I will do next time I am there.)
Then I closed the VM, closed Player - and re-opened my VM in it again.

And how did that go ?
Perfectly. All my previous changes were there and it ran with zero problems.

This might be a perfect solution for anyone who wants to be a full-time Linux user but needs full access to more than 1 or 2 programs which are XP only.
(It is also a wonderful configuration for anyone with visual/physical problems like myself.)

2moldy4me

Tue Oct 16, 2012 8:25:20 pm

Hi Swarfendor437
Code:
Quick Question - does this software enable you to take an existing install and 'dump' it as a VM? That would be great for me!

All you do after downloading & getting a registration for free is to install it in win-doze, run it and make your selections=> then it'll create ready-to-use VM.
It worked very fast for me with my active C: and D: partitions when I dumpted it to a separate partition - but took a long time to copy to the USB stick - so next time I was a wise guy and had it make the VM on the stick, and it took WAAAAAY LONGER !!!
(Served me right, right ?)