hardy, vmware -> some VirtualBox instructions

Tue Jul 29 12:45:29 UTC 2008

On 28/07/2008, Edmund Laugasson <ed.lau at mail.ee> wrote:
>> no one seems to give me a definite answer about this, is vmware any
>> better than the free alternatives available? i've heard some people
>> complain about USB support, which isn't a problem since i rarely use USB
>> in my virtual machines, but what about stability? vmware never crashed
>> or did anything funny with me, on windows and linux, not a single
>> problem with network even after kernel updates. i want to also ask about
>> compatibility, are vmware's virtual machines compatible with virtualbox?
>> and vice-versa?
>
> I use latest VirtualBox 1.6.2 under Kubuntu 8.04.1 LTS and it never crashed
> for me.
>
> To allow USB support under VirtualBox:
>
> * close VirtualBox if it were open
> * sudo nano /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh
> * approx 40. row ("Magic to make /proc/bus/usb work") remove # from the
> following rows:
>
>       mkdir -p /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
>       domount usbfs "" /dev/bus/usb/.usbfs
> -obusmode=0700,devmode=0600,listmode=0644
>       ln -s .usbfs/devices /dev/bus/usb/devices
>       mount --rbind /dev/bus/usb /proc/bus/usb
>
> * save (F3) and quit nano (F2)
> * sudo /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh stop
> * sudo /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh start
> * sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv reload
>
>
> Sometimes there is needed another hack entered from command line:
> VBOX=$(grep vboxusers /etc/group | sed 's/vboxusers:x:\(.*\):.*/\1/')
> sudo mount -t usbfs -o devgid=$VBOX,devmode=664,nodev,noexec,nosuid none
> /proc/bus/usb
>
> ... or add these rows into /etc/rc.local to have load these at boot.
>
> Some more reading:
> http://michael-prokop.at/blog/2007/07/11/virtualbox-usb/
> http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-551469.html
>
>
> To allow VirtualBox machines use external router:
> ************************************************
>      * sudo apt-get update
>      * sudo apt-get install bridge-utils
>      * sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces and add the following rows:
>             auto br0
>             iface br0 inet dhcp
>             bridge_ports eth0
>
>      * check, that to file /etc/network/interfaces will be one empty row
> (EOF - End-of-File, which
> can be entered by pressing Enter)
>      * save and do restart to networking:
>             sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
>      * add virtual network adapter to the user (will be written into
> /etc/vbox/interfaces) and
> repeat it as many times as you need virtual adapters for your virtual
> machines (e.g. vbox1, vbox2,
> etc.):
>             sudo VBoxAddIF vbox0 username br0
>      * sudo chmod 666 /dev/net/tun
>
> To check bridge, type: brctl show
> You should see something like:
> bridge name     bridge id               STP enabled     interfaces
> br0             8000.00024476a5ba       no              eth0
>                                                          vbox0
>
> Certainly, if you have someting else as eth0 - replace it with your
> interface. Each virtual
> interface, e.g. vbox0 has its own MAC-address (which can be easily change
> through VirtualBox
> graphical interface) and other network parameters as regular network
> interface.
>
> Now when you create new VirtualBox machine, choose "host interface" and into
> field "Interface name"
> type appropriate virtual interface name, e.g. vbox0. Note - you can use each
> virtual network
> interface with one virtual machine at the same time.
>
> Shared folder in Windows Vista
> ******************************
> http://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/799 - one bug is recorded about that.
>
> To have permanent share mount, type at Vista prompt:
> net use X: \\VBOXSVR\shared-folder-name /PERSISTENT:YES
>
> ....where X: replace with desired drive.
>
> To remove, type:
> net use X: /DELETE
>
> Shared folders don't work if user is not member of Administrators group.
> Regular user without
> administrator rights can access shared folders if user with administrator
> rights has accessed at
> least once the shared folder. This is annoying but so it is. Currently.
>
> Clone virtual hard disk:
> ************************
> VBoxManage clonevdi /place/where/is/located/original/virtual_hard_disk.vdi
> /place/where/you/would/like/to/have/cloned/virtual_hard_disk.vdi
>
> Then also Windows SID's will be removed and you can the same virtual hard
> disk with already
> installed OS use in the same VirtualBox in the same computer.
>
> Perfomance and other compare with freeware VM Ware server
> ************************************************************
> Perfomance is increadibly faster than in freeware VM Ware Server. Especially
> by switching between
> full and windowed screen. VM Ware has true BIOS emulator, which could be
> sometimes cool to teach it
> to somebody. VirtualBox has just graphical configuration for BIOS before you
> run virtual machine,
> when VM Ware BIOS will be accessible when you run virtual machine, which is
> more similar for true
> situation. VM Ware has better shared folder system if you have commercial VM
> Ware Workstation.
> Freeware VM Ware server doesn't have shared folder but you can share folders
> over network. I used VM
> Ware before but now I use VirtualBox and it works for me. I even use
> Estonian ID-card with
> USB-cardreader SC Micro 3110 under VirtualBox and under Estobuntu Linux
> (http://estobuntu.org/estobuntu-english).
> But you can try these virtual machine programs yourself and have your own
> experience. I like
> VirtualBox but it's my decision - you can have different likes. Here is one
> good list and comparison
> of available virtual machine programs -
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_virtual_machines
>
> Some more reading:
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM - Ubuntu 8.04 has also Kernel Virtual
> Machines also with
> graphical manager
> https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox
>
thanks for this detailed response, i'll give vbox a try for a couple of weeks
thanks for the other responses too, in the other thread
-- 
Willy K. Hamra
Manager of Hamra Information Systems
Co. Manager of Zeina Computers and Billy Net.