VirtualBox Assistance Please

[jcfuller]

It appears it's possible to backup (save) your VirtualBox guest installs.
I read the how to but I'm still not quite sure of the steps.
I want to reinstall ubuntu but I don't want to have to install XP again in
the new VirtualBox host. Step by step would be nice for this old codger.
I have a NAS where I would put the files.

Thanks,

James

[John Spikowski]

VBoxManage clonevdi current.vdi your_backup.vdi

This is the only way to backup a .vdi VM. Just doing a copy will not work.

John

[jcfuller]

Originally Posted by John Spikowski

VBoxManage clonevdi current.vdi your_backup.vdi

This is the only way to backup a .vdi VM. Just doing a copy will not work.

John

John,
That does both the vm and the virtual HD?

James

[John Spikowski]

This makes a clone of your current VM. I have restored from a .vdi clone and it works great. To restore a clone, create a new vm and select use existing .vdi file rather then creating a new one. If you have a second .vdi as an additional hard drive, use the same clone command for it as well.


John

[Scott Hauser]

VBoxManage Clone VDI has a known bug that prevents it from working. The workaround is here. http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=21796

I can confirm that the bug exists in version 1.6.0 and that the workaround works[around].

[Donald Darden]

Originally Posted by John Spikowski

VBoxManage clonevdi current.vdi your_backup.vdi

This is the only way to backup a .vdi VM. Just doing a copy will not work.

John

I beg to differ. I've copied the .VDI image found at ~/.VirtualBox/VDI to a different partition and brought it up in a different instance of VirtualBox. The problem is that the Virtual Disk Image gets a unique UUID which is what VirtualBox tracks it by. So it will not let you use the same UUID twice in the same instance of VirtualBox (this was not implemented until recent revisions).

If you want the same drive image to be used in the same instance by cloning it, then you have to use a method that will change the UUID of the cloned image. But it you are porting it for use elsewhere, then a straightforward copy will work.

I think XP is eventually going to force the courts to address the issue of what
is Abandonware or Orphanware, and at what point the rights to it shift into the public domain. Technically, Abandonware is not law, but there is a need for it. We have too much vested in being able to continue to use and treat it as real property for it to be ignored forever.

My own take on Abandonware is that:

(1) The original source no longer promotes it
(2) The original source no longer markets it
(3) The original source no longer supports it
(4) The original source no longer upgrades it
(5) The original source ceases to exist as a legal entity
(6) The original source either officially discontinues the product, or ceases to give evidence of any of the above for some specified period of time.

By "original source", I merely seek to clarify a point about origin, Legal rights
can be transferred or disposed of, at which point the new party would then be identified in place of the original source. So if Microsoft chose to sell off the XP product line, there would be a new owner to contend with.

[jcfuller]

In my case I will be reinstalling Linux and VirtualBox but first I want to save my XP guest to my nas. What is the procedure here. I won't be cloning it so as to have 2 Virtual machines.

James

[Scott Hauser]

James,

Merely copy your existing VDI to another drive. You should be able to remount it when you reinstall VirtualBox and create the new VM. I presume VirtualBox will use the existing uuid.

I keep a fresh windows VDI handy to test my setup programs when doing something new with innosetup, etc.. It is quicker to clone a 2 GB VDI and dispose of it after testing than to reformat and install windows on my extra computer.

[Donald Darden]

I concur with the advise above. If you reinstall VirtualBox, there is no problem with having it recognize an existing VDI, except to locate it where you placed it before attempting the reinstalls. Most Linux installs presume you want the partition to be reformatted (some require it), and that means putting it on a different partition. I just copy it to one of my NTFS drives.

Note that the copy process is much faster under Windows than it is under Linux if copying between partitions configured for both OSes. To enable Windows to recognize Ext2/3 partitions, you need to search for Ext2 and Windows, and install the necessary driver.

[John Spikowski]

cp disk1.vdi disk2.vdi
VBoxManage internalcommands setvdiuuid disk2.vdi

I was able to restore a .vdi with a cloned copy. I will try the above as it would be a faster then cloning.

Thanks for the information !

John

[jcfuller]

Originally Posted by Donald Darden

I concur with the advise above. If you reinstall VirtualBox, there is no problem with having it recognize an existing VDI, except to locate it where you placed it before attempting the reinstalls. Most Linux installs presume you want the partition to be reformatted (some require it), and that means putting it on a different partition. I just copy it to one of my NTFS drives.

Note that the copy process is much faster under Windows than it is under Linux if copying between partitions configured for both OSes. To enable Windows to recognize Ext2/3 partitions, you need to search for Ext2 and Windows, and install the necessary driver.

Thanks Donald. I have a 500GB NAS so I'll use that.

James

[John Spikowski]

I have been using VirtualBox on my CentOS 5 Linux system for some time without issues. I tried to install VirtualBox on my Ubuntu 8.04 system and ran into all kinds of issues. My first attempt was to use the add/remove programs menu option to install VirtualBox. This option tried to install 1.5.6 and wouldn't allow me to start a .vdi I had created on the CentOS system. I kept getting errors saying that the kernel couldn't be regenerated. I also had permission problems which is strange seeing that I'm logged in as root. After an hour of messing with it and getting nowhere, I uninstalled 1.5.6 and tried to install 1.6.0 of VirtualBox. I'm still having issues with the kernel rebuilding. I even intalled the kernel source and headers with no luck.

The CentOS 5 (Red Hat) install on Virtualbox worked as soon as I installed it. Has anyone else run into problems getting VirtualBox to work on Ubuntu?

[jcfuller]

Originally Posted by John Spikowski

Has anyone else run into problems getting VirtualBox to work on Ubuntu?

John,
No problems at all with 1.6 on ubuntu 8.04. One Xp vm and one ubuntu 8.04 so far


James

[John Spikowski]

James,

I was able to get VirtualBox installed on Ubuntu.

1. Make root a member of the virtualbox group
2. Download essential kernel headers
3. Other tweaks I found while researching the errors I was getting.

Installation Instructions (5/30/2008) Ubuntu 8.04

The CentOS install was MUCH easier. (install and run)

John