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