Tag Archives: virtual machine

Downloading Windows 8 Consumer Preview

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Posted by on in Microsoft and Windows
English: Original source file of the “About Vi...

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People can now download Windows 8 Consumer Preview and install this onto VirtualBox virtual machines to test and experience what Windows 8 has to offer.  Rumors have that Windows 8 might be due for an official release in upcoming holiday, but which holiday?  The truth is, we can expect Windows 8 to be released this year, and so you don’t have to cross your fingers for this!

Anyhow, the consumer preview version of Windows 8 might be the closest thing to the official release versions of Windows 8 so far, therefore it might be a good idea for everyday folks to just use VirtualBox to test it out beforehand so they can make a wise decision in regarding to upgrade to Windows 8 from their Windows 7.  The download link is at windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso.

After downloading the ISO, you also need to copy down the product key, because you will need it to install Windows 8 consumer preview version onto a VirtualBox virtual machine.  Meanwhile, if you don’t have VirtualBox yet, you need to grab this also.  Go to Google, type in VirtualBox and you will see how to download it!  Enjoy!

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How To Install PC BSD 9 Onto VirtualBox Virtual Machine

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Posted by on in Open Source
Unix Hair Design

Image by LonelyBob via Flickr

People who have never used Unix type of operating system before and wanted to try out PC BSD distribution might not know where to start.  I had created a video to show these folks how to install PC BSD 9 (Unix type of operating system) onto VirtualBox virtual machine.  Once people know how to play with PC BSD 9 on a virtual machine, it’s pretty much set that these folks will know how to install and play with PC BSD 9 and future versions of PC BSD on a real machine.  PC BSD 9 is the latest version of PC BSD as we speak.  Nonetheless, if someone watches this video much later, PC BSD 9 might not be the latest version of PC BSD anymore.

Anyhow, for bonuses, this video also shows Unix beginners to how to use Portsnap to fetch, extract, and update Ports Collection (i.e., installing Linux software onto Unix type of operating system), to use AppCafe to install PC BSD 9 software/packages, to install ClamAV (i.e., antivirus), to install Rkhunter (i.e., rootkit detector), and to configure firewall.  I hope whoever has the urge to learn how to use PC BSD might find this video of mine somewhat helpful.  Please enjoy if you care! (Don’t forget to watch the video in 1080p/HD, because it’s better that way!)

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How To Enable Guest Additions For PC BSD 9 Guest Virtual Machine Under VirtualBox

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Posted by on in Open Source, Software

Image Copyright By Vinh Nguyen

PC BSD 9 just came out.  Users who want to install PC BSD 9 as a VirtualBox guest virtual machine might not know how to install VirtualBox guest additions.  Well, this post is going to show you how to do just that!  Before we get going, you must know that you have to obtain Ports Collection.  Usually, you can obtain Ports Collection by allowing the installation of PC BSD 9 to automatically do that for you.  If you haven’t done so, then you must look up through Google for how to manually obtain Ports Collection for PC BSD 9.

You should open up a terminal and become root.

  1. Type the command [cd /usr/ports/emulators/virtualbox-ose-additions && make install clean]
  2. Type the command [nano /etc/rc.conf]
  3. Add the two lines below into /etc/rc.conf file
    1. vboxguest_enable=”YES”
    2. vboxservice_enable=”YES”
  4. Use Ctrl+X  to save the file and exit nano editor
  5. Open up PCBSD Control Panel
  6. Open up Display
  7. Choose General tab.  Make sure you choose the new video driver as vboxvideo.  Pick the right screen resolution.  Choose Advanced tab and check the box that says Monitor Settings.  Click Apply to save everything.

When your machine is done with its rebooting, you should now be able to see PC BSD 9 enters the correct screen resolution by using VirtualBox guest additions.  Also, if you still see a problem, I think you should use right Ctrl + F to enter fullscreen mode, and if fullscreen mode is at the right screen resolution, then you know VirtualBox guest additions is working for PC BSD 9.

Lastly, you should learn how to use Ports Collection to install additional software that PC BSD 9′s AppCafe might not carry.  Of course, you can always use AppCafe to install whatever is available inside AppCafe.

PC BSD 9 enables firewall by default.  Nonetheless, you should go into PCBSD Control Panel > Firewall Manager and configure it to your own liking.  Make sure you do not allow any incoming connection even though some incoming connections might be enabled by default under the Exceptions tab.  Well, that was how it was done by me.  You might do it differently with your firewall!

I can go on forever, but this post is specifically addressing the installation of VirtualBox guest additions for PC BSD 9 VirtualBox guest virtual machine.  So, let me end this here, and good luck to you in installing guest additions for PC BSD 9 under VirtualBox.

Source:  http://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/virtualization-guest.html

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VirtualBox’s Seamless Mode Saves Users From Switching In And Out Between The Virtual And The Real Machine Computing Environments

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Posted by on in Linux, Software

Scientists successfully boot one million Linux...VirtualBox‘s Seamless Mode creates an illusion that you are using applications of a virtual machine and applications of a physical machine in the same computing environment.  This way, you don’t really have to switch in and out between the two computing environments (i.e., one is virtual machine and the other is the real machine).  I created a video to show VirtualBox’s Seamless Mode in action and walk you through how to activate VirtualBox’s Seamless Mode.  You can check out the video right after the break.  Enjoy!

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Watching Netflix On Linux?

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Posted by on in Linux, Web Services
The Netflix watch instantly plug-in for U.S. s...

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Watching Netflix on Linux is possible, but it’s not possible in a sense that you can watch Netflix directly on Linux.  Netflix is  using Microsoft’s Silverlight to stream movies.  Unfortunately, Silverlight isn’t fully working with Linux, therefore Linux users have to watch Netflix on Windows or Mac machines.  To circumvent the problem, Linux users can install VMware or Parallels or VirtualBox to run a Windows or Mac virtual machine.

This setting works for me.  I use VirtualBox to run Windows 7 virtual machine.  My virtual machine has at least 3 GB of RAM, max on graphic card memory, Bridge network, Guest Additions installed with experimental 3D hardware support, and guest Windows 7 is up to date with all software.  If you don’t have at least 3 GB of RAM for your Windows 7 virtual machine, you can try to start with around 500 MB of RAM to see if this is stable enough to do most things virtually within a Windows 7 virtual machine.  If not, you can always bump the RAM up little by little until your host machine runs out of RAM (i.e., RAM reserves for a virtual machine).

A weird snag I encountered while using the setting above is that Chrome isn’t working well with Netflix.  I had to use IE9 to watch Netflix smoothly.  Chrome tends to pop Netflix out of fullscreen mode and then Netflix goes black, the stream of the movie stops, and so everything else.  With IE9, I can watch Netflix in fullscreen mode without trouble.  I haven’t yet tested Firefox with Netflix in this sort of virtual environment.  Perhaps, Firefox might work, but I clearly do not know!

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Cannot Install Guest Additions For VirtualBox 4.1.2? Having d3d9.dll Error? What’s The Deal With Virtualizing Windows 7 Inside VirtualBox On Linux?

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Posted by on in Linux, Security
English: Original source file of the “About Vi...

Image via Wikipedia

Some of us love to virtualize Windows 7 inside a host, because we think we need the host to be as secure as it could be and the virtualization would be a sort of sandbox to add one extra layer of security for the virtual machine.  Of course, the security of the sandbox would give a false sense of security for whoever runs it if he or she isn’t keen on securing the virtual machine also.  Some hackers could be so smart and create a hack which allows him or her to leap from the virtual environment into the host environment.  Plus, what the use for a virtual machine if it isn’t secure enough to be used, right?  I think you get the gist.

Anyhow, the idea for those who want to virtualize Windows 7 inside VirtualBox 4.1.2 could hit a snag if they also want to run Guest Additions for Windows 7 virtual machine.  How do I know this?  I tried to install Guest Additions the normal way by clicking on Device > Install Guest Additions, but this method failed me as it could not find Guest Additions anywhere.  I guess for an unknown reason, VirtualBox 4.1.2 failed to include Guest Additions somehow.  Of course, this might not happen to everyone, but it might be just me.  Nonetheless, if you are one of those people who experiences this exact situation, don’t sweat.  Just go to download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.1.2/, and then you need to download VBoxGuestAdditions_4.1.2.iso.  Get back to VirtualBox window, click on the Windows 7 virtual machine, click on Settings > Storage, and make sure you add VBoxGuestAdditions_4.1.2.iso as virtual CD/DVD disk file.  It helps if you remember where you had saved your VBoxGuestAdditions_4.1.2.iso on the host machine.

During the installation of your Guest Additions for Windows 7 virtual machine inside VirtualBox on a host machine, you might hit another snag where an error would complain that it could not find or open d3d9.dll file.  It might be the permission for d3d9.dll file is too strict.  You need to allow write permission for d3d9.dll file before Guest Additions could finish the installation.  So, when you see d3d9.dll error, don’t exit the Guest Additions installer, but make sure you are inside your Windows 7 virtual machine, go to Windows\System32\ and search for d3d9.dll file, right click on it and choose Properties, click on Security tab, and then from here you need to allow write permission for all users.  Get back to Guest Additions installer and try to finish installing the Guest Additions.  When done installing Guest Additions, don’t forget to remove write permission for d3d9.dll file for all users so this file can once again be secure as before.

In conclusion, Windows 7 virtual machine inside VirtualBox on a Linux host is ideal for security.  Nonetheless, if he or she forgets to secure Windows 7 virtual machine, he or she is not that secure in term of allowing Windows 7 virtual machine to be hacked easily.  If he or she is lazy, it’s best to use NAT network, but it’s always better to use Bridge network as it’s much more flexible.  NAT network hides the virtual machine inside a host’s network (i.e., not using the router’s DHCP or manual IPs), therefore one could say as long the host has a strong firewall, the virtual machine too could be protected by the same firewall.  Without the installation of Guest Additions, he or she could not open Windows 7 virtual machine in fullscreen mode, and so don’t forget to do this.

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