Virtual Machine Software.

Deleted member 77746 · 4 Aug 2010 at 19:58

Virtual box really, it's free and a very clean interface. Done everything I have thrown at it so far.

theheyes · 4 Aug 2010 at 20:04

Rainmaker said:
To install the Guest Additions for an Ubuntu guest, you need to do the following:

<snip>

All I've ever done is double click the script, entered the root password and off you go. That's why I like it.

Rainmaker · 4 Aug 2010 at 20:08

theheyes said:
All I've ever done is double click the script, entered the root password and off you go. That's why I like it.

Even in x64? I've had issues with it completing properly in the past. If it works, great! But I've stuck with the manual way out of habit as at least I know it'll work properly, and if it doesn't I have output to show where/why.

SiriusB · 4 Aug 2010 at 23:10

I never had to go through that rigmarole getting the guest additions on my Ubuntu VM a while back. I can't remember for the life of me if it was 32 or 64 bit though.

tripitaka · 5 Aug 2010 at 13:28

Another vote for virtualbox here.

theheyes · 5 Aug 2010 at 16:21

Rainmaker said:
Even in x64? I've had issues with it completing properly in the past. If it works, great! But I've stuck with the manual way out of habit as at least I know it'll work properly, and if it doesn't I have output to show where/why.

I can't honestly remember but knowing me it will likely have been the x86 version of Ubuntu or Fedora.

FredFlint · 6 Aug 2010 at 01:37

I use this page every time I install a VM in Virtualbox:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/...untu-debian-fedora-opensuse-red-hat-and-more/
Hope its OK to post this link, if not I will remove it.

memyselfandi · 6 Aug 2010 at 06:03

SiriusB said:
I never had to go through that rigmarole getting the guest additions on my Ubuntu VM a while back. I can't remember for the life of me if it was 32 or 64 bit though.

It'll be due to some of the new OS releases mounting ISOs with the noexec option so that you cannot just run the install script off of the image. Quite common on the latest Linux releases.

I use VirtualBox a lot at work to run test systems on my Laptop, (currently have around a dozen systems setup although I fairly have more than a couple running at the same time)

robinbredin · 6 Aug 2010 at 12:29

To install the Guest Additions for an Ubuntu guest, you need to do the following:

* Open a terminal and type 'sudo apt-get install build-essential' to install the 'install from source' tools etc.
* Once that's complete, open the Devices menu at the top of the VM screen and select "Install Guest Additions".
* Ignore/dismiss any autorun prompt, and open Computer and double click the mounted VB Guest Additions to open the 'CD' to see the files.
* Copy all the files and folders from the opened 'CD' to the Desktop (it doesn't work right if you try to install directly from the actual CD/ISO as you need to change their permissions).
* Back in the terminal change directory to where the files are (for example 'cd Desktop' or 'cd /home/username/Desktop/folder').
* Now change the script file to be executable in Linux. For x86 installs do 'sudo chmod +x VB*x86.run' and hit enter. For x64 installs do 'sudo chmod +x VB*amd*.run' and hit enter.
* Now install the Guest Additions by running the script, like so: 'sudo ./VB*amd*.run' (for x64) or 'sudo ./VB*x86.run' (for x86).

Voilà. Once you reboot you should have a fully integrated and scalable desktop. Auto-resize is enabled by default, but you will likely find you have to double click the title bar (the top bar of the window the VM is running in) to un-maximise it, and then do it again to re-maximise it. That will "kick start" the auto resize and get you to a full sized screen. Done. If I've missed anything feel free to post back - I did this from memory so there may be an omission. It looks OK to me though...

Thankyou Rainmaker, finally got it to work today.