[bulug] Re: suggestions for virtualization (Windows XP on Gentoo Linux; Pentium-M (no VT-x))
- From: "Jimmy C. Chau" <jchau@xxxxxx>
- To: bulug-list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2009 19:12:12 -0500
Just an update on how VirtualBox is going for those who are interested:
VirtualBox (both the binary and open source edition) were available
through Portage, making installation for Gentoo Linux quite painless.
After some consideration, I decided to go for the binary version since I
needed the USB support. As a bonus over VMWare Server 1.x, VirtualBox's
USB support also supports USB 2.0, which is handy since Windows
complained in VMWare each time I attached a USB device, telling me that
it would work better with USB 2.0.
At this point, I haven't upgraded my kernel past 2.6.25 yet since I want
to be able to fall back on VMWare if VirtualBox didn't work out. Since
VirtualBox is still new and the unstable version available through
portage was much newer than the stable version, I decided to install the
unstable version (2.0.6). After installing VirtualBox, I added myself
to the vboxusers group as prompted by the output of emerge while
installing VirtualBox. I logged out and logged back in to be on the new
group, and ran VirtualBox. It prompted me to load the vboxdrv module,
so I did (and added it to /etc/modules.autoload/kernel-2.6 so that it
will be automatically loaded on the next boot).
At this point, I created a new machine in VirtualBox and told it to use
the old VMWare image. I also loaded VMWare and told it to make a
snapshot of the machine before starting the VirtualBox machine (just in
case something bad goes wrong). After a long while, VMWare stopped
spinning my hard drive (I assumed this meant that it was done making the
snapshot). (I decided to give the virtual machine some 1GB of RAM since
I had enough to spare) I then powered on the virtual machine in
VirtualBox. A black and white progress went along my screen as usual,
but when the progress bar reached the end, the system froze.
Doing some searching, I found
<http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Migrate_Windows>, so I enabled IO APIC,
which VirtualBox warns may slow things down. I tried to boot the
virtual machine again and I made it to the login screen. However, I was
neither able to move the mouse nor type my password at the login screen
(I did click on the virtual machine's screen and told it to capture my
mouse and keyboard, but still, nothing happened).
At this point, I decided to reinstall Windows from scratch in
VirtualBox. Although there were more steps I could have tried to get
the VMWare machine to work in VirtualBox, I decided to reinstall from
scratch for several reasons:
* I still had enough space on my hard drive to keep the VMWare
Windows XP install around while trying the VirtualBox one
* I didn't want any latent problems from the migration to linger around
* I didn't feel like cleaning up any mess (tweaks from VMWare to
make XP work nicer on it) that VMWare may have left on it the
virtual machine
* I could switch to VirtualBox's native disk format, eliminating the
possibility of potential incompatibilities between VirtualBox and
VMWare's disk format
* I could try slipstreaming to remove unwanted stuff from by Windows
XP install CD before installing, giving me a cleaner install
So now, I'm carrying out the last reason, using nLite
(<http://www.nliteos.com/>) to modify my Windows XP install CD. When I
confirm the VirtualBox runs Windows XP as desired, I'll try to migrate
my information over from VMWare's install to VirtualBox's install of
Windows XP. I'll then uninstall VMWare (does anyone know how to do this
cleanly and completely?), and upgrade my kernel to 2.6.27.
Thanks again for everyone's help!
-Jimmy C. Chau
<jchau@xxxxxx>
Jimmy C. Chau wrote:
> Thank you for all of your suggestions and your fast responses. I'll
> give VirtualBox a try after OpenOffice 3 finishes building for me
> (another security update).
>
> Sincerely,
> -Jimmy C. Chau
> <jchau@xxxxxx>
>
> Jimmy C. Chau wrote:
>
>> Happy new year, BU-LUG!
>>
>> Over this break, I tried to upgrade my gentoo-sources to 2.6.26.x. In
>> the process, I realized what I have forgotten: the reason why I didn't
>> upgrade earlier was because vmware-modules for vmware-server 1.x
>> doesn't build with kernels later than 2.6.25. (The Bugzilla page for
>> the bug is at <http://bugs.gentoo.org/show_bug.cgi?id=227303>).
>>
>> Also, according to the Bugzilla page VMWare will not fix their bugs
>> since they are diverting their efforts to vmware-server 2 instead.
>> Although the Bugzilla page shows many workarounds, none appear to be a
>> permanent fix and they don't seem to work for everyone.
>>
>> Since I got a free (of cost) license for VMWare Server a few years
>> back, I've been using it to run Windows XP to use some Windows only
>> programs that I either needed: CodeWarrior, Visual Studio 2008, MS
>> Project (2007?), Motorola Software Update (firmware updater for my
>> phone), etc. These programs do not have Linux compatible versions
>> available and don't work well with Wine (according to the Wine AppDB),
>> so Windows XP as a guest OS is handy. I prefer to avoid dual-booting
>> since that requires me to interrupt my work every time I switch,
>> preventing me from using both operating systems simultaneously.
>>
>> Now that you know some background information about my problem (sorry
>> for the long, three-paragraph description), I hope you can provide
>> some suggestions for running Windows XP and/or Windows programs in
>> Linux. As mentioned before, neither Wine nor VMWare Server are
>> suitable.
>>
>> In case I haven't been picky enough, here are a few more requirements:
>> o If it costs anything, it should cost less than a one time fee of $20.
>> o I need the guest OS (Windows) to be able to access USB devices
>> plugged into my computer (e.g., for loading firmware onto a
>> microcontroller for a project or onto my phone).
>> o I want it to work with the gentoo-sources-2.6.27 Linux kernel. It
>> should also be likely to work with later versions; I don't want to
>> fall behind on security updates just to keep Windows available.
>> (Something that's open source with a large community will probably
>> remain supported.)
>> o It must have network support for Windows (the guest OS).
>> o It should either be able to use a CD/DVD drive or an ISO image
>> (preferably both).
>> o Preferably, it should be able to use the VMWare disk files (Virtual
>> Machine Disk Format, VMDK, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VMDK>), so I
>> won't have to start from scratch with the install, but this is *not*
>> necessary.
>> o It should not be too slow (i.e. I don't want to wait a minute for
>> the virtual machine to process each keystroke because it's trying to
>> simulate every transistor of its virtual processor).
>>
>> I am running on a Pentium M, so I do not have Intel's Virtualization
>> Technology
>> (<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X86_virtualization#Intel_Virtualization_Technology_.28Intel_VT.29>)
>> available on my processor. RAM is plentiful (2GB) and I should have
>> enough hard drive space to spare (~30GB).
>>
>> Advice from personal experience would be awesome; other suggestions
>> are also welcome. Let me know if you need more information to make
>> suggestions.
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> -Jimmy C. Chau
>> <jchau@xxxxxx>
>>
>>
>
>
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