Accessing raw partitions with VMDK (VirtualBox 1.4)

This is for discussing general topics about how to use VirtualBox.
halgol60
Posts: 15
Joined: 3. Dec 2010, 01:45
Primary OS: PCLinuxOS
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: pclinuxos, fedora, centos, others

Re: Accessing raw partitions with VMDK (VirtualBox 1.4)

Post by halgol60 »

chmod 666 /dev/sda
Really? what if something or someone were to:

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dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda
Maybe not the best solution ...
pavkb@yahoo.com
Posts: 1
Joined: 8. Jun 2011, 03:34
Primary OS: Ubuntu 8.10
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Re: Accessing raw partitions with VMDK (VirtualBox 1.4)

Post by pavkb@yahoo.com »

Hi.. Not sure if this has been resolved.
Tried all the steps across different post & created the .vmdk. When i try to run XP i get grub error as below

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GRUB Loading stage 1.5

GRUB Loading please wait...
Error 22

After this only thing i can do is to shutdown the virtual machine.
My setup is as follows
Host: Ubuntu
Guest: XP
Ubuntu loads off on /dev/sda
My windows XP is from /dev/sdb1 (an old installation)
Used to dual boot Ubuntu/XP from /dev/sdb which was once a Primary (/dev/sda).
Restored XP from recovery disk on it and i believe GRUB on that drive has been removed on that drive.

PS: I am ensuring that everything from /dev/sdb* has 666 permissions on it.

What am i missing.
Thanks
tombrdfrd66
Posts: 26
Joined: 10. Jul 2009, 01:28
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: RouterOS

Re: Accessing raw partitions with VMDK (VirtualBox 1.4)

Post by tombrdfrd66 »

I can get vms up and running in the conventional way with no problem but when I try to utilise a raw disk the nightmares begin.

Having been working my way through this thread but am no grounded on a problem seen nowhere previously.

Host is Ubuntu Server 10.04LTS. The guest is a small Linux-based routerOS installed (and licensed) on a hdd.

When I try to create the raw disk vmdk image I get the following error messages:

tom@Gwen:~$ VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /home/tom/ROS/bigfoot.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda
VBoxManage: error: VMDK: could not create new file '/home/tom/ROS/bigfoot.vmdk'
VBoxManage: error: Error code VERR_ACCESS_DENIED at /home/vbox/vbox-4.0.12/src/VBox/Storage/VMDK.cpp(3598) in function int vmdkCreateRawImage(VMDKIMAGE*, VBOXHDDRAW*, uint64_t)
VBoxManage: error: Cannot create the raw disk VMDK: VERR_ACCESS_DENIED
VBoxManage: error: The raw disk vmdk file was not created

Now, the particularly puzzling thing is that "/home/vbox/vbox-4.0.12/src/VBox/Storage/VMDK.cpp(3598)" doesn't exist, even as a .file. Which presumably is why it can't be accessed.

Any hints?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: Accessing raw partitions with VMDK (VirtualBox 1.4)

Post by mpack »

tombrdfrd66 wrote:Now, the particularly puzzling thing is that "/home/vbox/vbox-4.0.12/src/VBox/Storage/VMDK.cpp(3598)" doesn't exist, even as a .file. Which presumably is why it can't be accessed.
No, that's just telling the devteam which line of the VBox source code signalled the error. Access will have been denied to one of the filesystem objects you named on the command line, or else the code was denied permission to create the named target .vmdk file (e.g. no access to that folder, or a protected/open file with the same name already exists). I interpret the error message as meaning the latter, i.e. a file creation error.
PHP
Posts: 2
Joined: 6. Oct 2014, 09:23

Re: How to change partition table

Post by PHP »

klaus wrote:If you want you can change the partition table (in the guest only of course) at your will. The host won't notice - as long as you really configured raw partition and not raw disk access.
How to change partition table of a vmdk file?
mpack
Site Moderator
Posts: 39156
Joined: 4. Sep 2008, 17:09
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Mostly XP

Re: How to change partition table

Post by mpack »

PHP wrote:How to change partition table of a vmdk file?
The same way you would on any physical PC. E.g. using something like GParted.
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