Remove VirtualBox OSE

This is the easiest part of the tutorial. All you need to do is open up a terminal window and issue the command:

sudo apt-get autoremove virtualbox-ose

Once the OSE version has been removed it is time to install the closed source version of VirtualBox.

Installing closed source VirtualBox

The first thing to do is to add the proper sources to your /etc/apt/sources.list file. Open up that file, with your favorite editor, and add the following line to the end of that file:

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jaunty non-free

Now save the VirtualBox repository key on your machine (for the sake of simplicity place it in ~/Downloads) and issue the following command:

sudo apt-key add ~/Downloads/sun_vbox.asc

which will add the repo key to your system. Before you run the install update apt with the command:

sudo apt-get update

Now you can install the closed source version of VirtualBox with the command:

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-2.2

During the installation you will also have to OK the compilation of the proper kernel module. If you do not do this you may not be able to create any VMs.

The last step for the installation is to add your user to the vboxusers group. Do this with the following command:

sudo gpasswd -a USERNAME vboxusers

Where USERNAME is your login. You will be prompted for your username.

Configure USB

Now it’s time to configure the system to allow USB support. You have to get the user ID of the vboxusers group. To do this issue the following command:

grep vboxusers /etc/group

which will report something like:

vboxusers:x:123:

What you need to now do is add a line to the /etc/fstab file. This line will be (if we stick with the user ID report you see above):

none /proc/bus/usb usbfs devgid=123,devmode=664 0 0

With that file saved you are ready to reboot and start up VirtualBox with USB support.

Final thoughts

There are a lot of reasons why you would want to have USB support added to VirtualBox. For those iPhone owners out there it will give you a means to administer your phone without having to have a separate machine (or dual boot) in order to do so. This also greatly expands the capabilities of VirtualBox. The only downfall is you are giving up the open source version in order to gain USB support. For many this will be a worth wile trade-off. For others, giving over to closed sourced software isn’t worth having USB support. It would be nice, however, if Sun would open source the USB supported version.

Installing and configuring VirtualBox for virtual OSes.

Installing Windows XP as a virtual machine in VirtualBox.

Install Guest Additions for a better VirtualBox experience.

A new way of thinking thanks to virtual machines.

Although the Guest Additions tool has been covered already, if you’ve tried using Windows 7 in VirtualBox you will have most likely encountered some issues. The main issue is that Guest Additions isn’t supported. That doesn’t mean it can not be installed. It can, you just have to trick Windows 7 in order to do so. In this article I will show you just how to do so.

The basic installation

The first thing you need to do is get Windows 7 installed as a virtual machine. You can follow the directions for installing Windows XP. The only difference will be selecting the version of Windows you will be installing. Even though Windows 7 is not yet officially supported, there is an entry for the latest Microsoft OS in the dropdown.

After Windows 7 is installed you might notice (depending upon your hardware) that you can not see the task bar. This is because, without the Guest Additions, VirtualBox can not handle the proper resolution for Windows 7. So, it’s obvious you will need this tool.

The trick

The trick for installing Guest Additions in Window 7 is to trick it into thinking it’s being installed in Vista. While Vista is running click on the Devices menu and select Install Guest Additions. You will go through the same steps as you would for installing the Guest Additions on Windows XP at this point. The difference is the actual installer won’t start up. This is where it gets a bit tricky.

The process of installing the Guest Additions will have downloaded a mountable file on your system. If you click on the Windows 7 Start Menu and then click on Computer you will see that file listed along with Local Disk and Floppy Drive (even if you don’t have a floppy drive). Right click the VirtualBox Guest Additions entry (it will probably be labeled as “D”) and select Open.

In the resulting window you will see a number of files. Among these files you will see listed entries for both x86 and 64bit. These files are called:

VBoxWindowsAdditions-amd64

VBoxWindowsAdditions-x86

Figure 1

Which file you use will depend upon what hardware you are using. Right click the one you want to use and select Troubleshoot Compatibility (see Figure 1). This will walk you through a Wizard that will attempt to solve the problem. Most likely it won’t, so you will have to do so manually. When the wizard has finished you will have two options: Try Recommended Settings and Troubleshoot Program. Select Troubleshoot Program and then, in the new window, select the first entry which is

Figure 2

“The program worked in earlier versions of Windows but won’t install or run now.” After you select this option click the Next button and then select Vista from the list (see Figure 2). Once you have selected that option click Next and then, in the resulting window, click the “Start the Program” button. This will actually start the process of installing the Guest Additions for Windows 7. You can now finish this install as you would any other.

Final thoughts

I am confident when Windows 7 is finally released this process won’t be necessary. But if you need to test out Windows 7 now, this is the way to go.