Installing VirtualBox

Installing VirtualBox

Installing VB on a Windows host

Do not forget the enable the VT-x setting step below!

Otherwise you will not be able to execute a 64bit Linux VB (and you will probably not even get an explicit error message about this)

Reboot your computer, enter the BIOS and enable the VT-x setting
- if you are not used to making changes in the BIOS settings, ask somebody who knows…

Download the latest version of VB from the VirtualBox web site
- If the host where you are updating VB has no network connection, you probably also want to download the matching VB Extension Pack
- You can also download the User Manual from the same page

Execute the VirtualBox-NN1234-Win.exe installer as an Administrator and accept the default settings.
- Warning, the host network will very temporarily be stopped during the installation, so be sure not to have anything needing a permanent network connection (eg connection to an interactive server with Putty, Cygwin/X, …) during the installation!
- Download and install the VirtualBox Extension Pack if VB tells you that a new pack is available

Change some basic Preferences:
- If the VB is not already using English, change the language and restart VB if necessary
  Fichier → Paramètres → Langue → English
- File → Preferences → Update → Once per 2 weeks
- Determine where the VB settings, the virtual disk files and the temporary files (when you suspend the execution of the VB) will be stored
  - Warning, you should be careful to choose a place where you have enough space! You need as much space as the main disk image (eg 30 Gb) plus a few Gb for storing the state of the VB when you suspend it…
    File → Preferences → General → Default Machine Folder: X:\some_path\VirtualBox VMs\
  - We will use the following path in this tutorial: E:\VirtualBox VMs\

Installing the copy of a existing Linux guest

Rather than creating a full Linux installation from scratch, it is convenient to use the copy of an existing (and working!) VB machine

Method 1: copy an existing disk image

Click on New to create a new virtual machine and use the following parameters
Name: Fedora Core 20 JYPclone
Type: Linux
Version: Fedora (64bit)

Choose a Memory size of 4096 MB. The memory size depends on the memory installed on the host and we suggest
Host = 4 Gb → VB = 2 Gb
Host = 8 Gb → VB = 4 Gb

Copy the Fedora_Core_20_JYPclone.vdi disk image file to the E:\VirtualBox VMs\Fedora Core 20 JYPclone directory that has just been created

In the Hard drive panel, select Use an existing virtual hard drive file and select the Fedora_Core_20_JYPclone.vdi disk image file, then click Create

Select the new Fedora Core 20 JYPclone machine by clicking on it only once in the left panel, then click on Settings and update the following settings
- General → Advanced:
  Shared clipboard: Bidirectional
  Drag'n'Drop: Bidirectional
- System → Motherboard:
  Select only Hard Disk
  Check that Enable I/O APIC is selected
  Disable Hardware clock in UTC Time
- System → Processor: keep Enable PAE/NX disabled
- System → Acceleration: check that Enable VT-x/AMD-V (you may also have to check that VT-x is enabled in the BIOS so that we can install a 64-bit version of Linux…) and Enable Nested Paging are selected
- Display → Video:
  Select 24 MB of Video Memory. Specifying to little video memory may lead to major and random crashes of VB
  Select Enable 3D acceleration (this may help getting rid of gnome-shell related errors)
- Click OK to save the changes!

You are now ready to start and configure your VB!

Method 2: import an appliance

Creating the appliance on the source host

Start VB
Clean the virtual machine to reduce the size of the appliance that will be created
Make sure that the virtual machine is stopped (Powered Off state)
File → Export Appliance
Select the Fedora Core 20 JYPclone machine
In the Storage settings window, select an output directory with enough space to store the exported ova (FedoraCore20JYPclone.ova or a more explicit file name, with the VB version and the export date, e.g. FedoraCore20JYPclone_4.3.28_150602.ova) file
- A 30 Gb VM disk seems to produce a 11+ Gb compressed appliance file
- OVF 1.0 works reliably, and OVF 2.0 has to be tested (by JYP). The difference between the 2 formats is detailed in the OVF 2.0 FAQ
- The appliance can't be stored on a FAT32 disk (where file size is limited to 2 Gb)!
Just click Export in the Appliance settings window… and wait (20-30 minutes)!

Installing the appliance on the target host

Copy the appliance ova file to the target host, or just have it on an external USB disk/stick connected to the host
File → Import Appliance… : specify the ova (e.g. X:\some_path\FedoraCore20JYPclone_4.3.28_150602.ova) file and import it
This will install a Fedora Core 20 JYPclone directory in E:\VirtualBox VMs\ and you will get a Fedora Core 20 JYPclone machine in the left panel of the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager window, with all the correct predefined settings. You may want to edit the settings to adapt the VM memory based on the memory available on the host!

Basic configuration of the imported Linux guest

Select the Fedora Core 20 JYPclone machine and then click on Start
- Note: the first time you start VB, you will probably get some information message about the Auto capture keyboard and mouse pointer integration. Just click on the apropriate buttons so that these messages are not displayed the next time

Update VB:unless the imported appliance was really recent, you may have to update the linux guest (if the installed Linux had some packages updated) and or update the Linux guest additions (if the VB you have installed is more recent than the VB that was used for exporting the Appliance)

Create an account for the final user of this VB

Change the name of the VB?

Configure the shared folders?

Installing a Linux guest from scratch

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