Are Guest Additions Saved?

This is for discussing general topics about how to use VirtualBox.
Post Reply
Starkman
Posts: 5
Joined: 12. Aug 2015, 19:11

Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by Starkman »

Hey all,

Pretty much brand new here to VB. I've checked online and checked the manual, but for the life of me I can't seem to find verification of if installed Guest Additions are saved. If they are, I'm not sure how to tell upon closing and reopening a VB.

Would appreciate a bit of information here.

Thanks,
Starkman
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by socratis »

Saved in what sense? The Guest Additions (GAs) are a program that gets installed on your guest. So what exactly do you mean by saved?

Oh, BTW, you didn't mention your host, guest or VirtualBox version. Usually those are the first things that you talk about when you have a question.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Starkman
Posts: 5
Joined: 12. Aug 2015, 19:11

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by Starkman »

socratis wrote:Saved in what sense? The Guest Additions (GAs) are a program that gets installed on your guest. So what exactly do you mean by saved?

Oh, BTW, you didn't mention your host, guest or VirtualBox version. Usually those are the first things that you talk about when you have a question.
Host is Windows 10.
I'm running Linux Mint Cinn 17.3 in it, updated it, added the Guest Additions via the Terminal—I'm assuming for Linux, not VB—and now I'm not sure that they will stay there when I close the VB.
Further, are there Guest Additions just for VB as well as Linux? And, again, if so, do they stay installed once you close out VB?

Thanks.
Starkman
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by socratis »

Starkman wrote:added the Guest Additions via the Terminal—I'm assuming for Linux, not VB
I'm afraid that again this doesn't make sense. I'll have to point to to the basics of the GAs, what they are and how you're supposed to install them. If you have any more questions after reading the related Chapter 4 Guest Additions, please ask again.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Starkman
Posts: 5
Joined: 12. Aug 2015, 19:11

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by Starkman »

socratis wrote:
Starkman wrote:added the Guest Additions via the Terminal—I'm assuming for Linux, not VB
I'm afraid that again this doesn't make sense. I'll have to point to to the basics of the GAs, what they are and how you're supposed to install them. If you have any more questions after reading the related Chapter 4 Guest Additions, please ask again.
Frankly, I think it makes perfects sense, and I have already read chapter 4 on the matter of Guest Additions. I've installed Guest Additions for Linux (I see now, too, that there's only one set to be installed, not two.)

From the manual: ". . . the Guest Additions are designed to be installed inside a virtual machine after the guest operating system has been installed." So, the question becomes clear, as I see it: when I shut down VB and all the "virtual stuff, is everything, including the Guest Additions gone, kaput, for good? Do I need to reinstall them when I open another session of VB with the same guest OS?

I mean, "virtual" means just that, doesn't it; it's all gone, as if it never existed, once you close the VB session (of Linux in this case). Does that, therefore, mean the Guest Additions are gone for good as well after each session and must be installed each time you open a session of VB (with Linux)?

That's all I really want to know.
Starkman
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by socratis »

Starkman wrote:I see now, too, that there's only one set to be installed, not two.
That's why I pointed you to the manual, so we can get the terminology right. Glad it helped.
Starkman wrote:I mean, "virtual" means just that, doesn't it; it's all gone, as if it never existed, once you close the VB session (of Linux in this case).
No, virtual doesn't mean it's a "dream" that you've forgotten the next day. Virtual means not in physical hardware, but as a guest to your host computer, utilizing your host's resources. A virtual computer will act as a "normal" computer. In fact these very forums used to run on a VM. So, long story short, everything you do in a VM is like it's happening in a real computer.

There is only one exception; if you run a LiveCD and you reboot, you're starting again from scratch. Actually, come to think of it, that doesn't even qualify as an exception, because you would get the same behavior in a physical computer as well.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Starkman
Posts: 5
Joined: 12. Aug 2015, 19:11

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by Starkman »

socratis wrote:No, virtual doesn't mean it's a "dream" that you've forgotten the next day. Virtual means not in physical hardware, but as a guest to your host computer, utilizing your host's resources. A virtual computer will act as a "normal" computer. In fact these very forums used to run on a VM. So, long story short, everything you do in a VM is like it's happening in a real computer.
No, no! I neither said a virtual machine is a dream nor did I imply that. Further, I used the correct terminology in my question, only being misdirected about whether there was a Guest Addition (GA) for both the host and guest OS.

A virtual machine is just that: virtual. Yes, I understand it uses the host's resources, but that's only while the VB is running. Once you shut the VB down, it's gone; the guest machine is no longer in existence. And since that is the case, is the installed GA gone as well? It would seem it would be. And if so, it would have to be reinstalled again and again, every time you run the guest host in VB, correct?...unless there's a way to save all that information upon closing the VB.

I just shut down my VB session of Linux, as well as the VB itself, and I did notice that there were options when shutting down; I chose to save the files, but I don't know which files got saved, and I wouldn't know how to verify if the Guest Addition is part of what got saved.
Starkman
socratis
Site Moderator
Posts: 27330
Joined: 22. Oct 2010, 11:03
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Win(*>98), Linux*, OSX>10.5
Location: Greece

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by socratis »

Starkman wrote:No, no! I neither said a virtual machine is a dream nor did I imply that.
...
Once you shut the VB down, it's gone; the guest machine is no longer in existence.
No it is not. Do you remember when you set up your VM that it asked you to choose your virtual HDs size? That's where things get ... saved. Unless you got a pre-made VM, in which case it included a (typically) big file, which is your virtual HD. Again that's where things get ... saved.
Starkman wrote:unless there's a way to save all that information upon closing the VB.
Do you have to save your host's information upon shutting it down? Or it simply ... saves them?
Starkman wrote:I chose to save the files, but I don't know which files got saved
Which files did you choose to save? Did you try to close the window of your VM and you selected "Save VM state"?
Starkman wrote:I wouldn't know how to verify if the Guest Addition is part of what got saved.
Launch your VM again, open up a Terminal and type "VBoxControl -vesion". If you get an answer, the GAs are installed. And saved.

I will point you again to the manual, this time in an earlier chapter; Chapter 1 First steps.
Do NOT send me Personal Messages (PMs) for troubleshooting, they are simply deleted.
Do NOT reply with the "QUOTE" button, please use the "POST REPLY", at the bottom of the form.
If you obfuscate any information requested, I will obfuscate my response. These are virtual UUIDs, not real ones.
Starkman
Posts: 5
Joined: 12. Aug 2015, 19:11

Re: Are Guest Additions Saved?

Post by Starkman »

socratis wrote:
Starkman wrote:No, no! I neither said a virtual machine is a dream nor did I imply that.
...
Once you shut the VB down, it's gone; the guest machine is no longer in existence.
No it is not. Do you remember when you set up your VM that it asked you to choose your virtual HDs size? That's where things get ... saved. Unless you got a pre-made VM, in which case it included a (typically) big file, which is your virtual HD. Again that's where things get ... saved.
Starkman wrote:unless there's a way to save all that information upon closing the VB.
Do you have to save your host's information upon shutting it down? Or it simply ... saves them?
Starkman wrote:I chose to save the files, but I don't know which files got saved
Which files did you choose to save? Did you try to close the window of your VM and you selected "Save VM state"?
Starkman wrote:I wouldn't know how to verify if the Guest Addition is part of what got saved.
Launch your VM again, open up a Terminal and type "VBoxControl -vesion". If you get an answer, the GAs are installed. And saved.

I will point you again to the manual, this time in an earlier chapter; Chapter 1 First steps.
Excellet! That gives me what I needed to know.

Thanks much!
Starkman
Post Reply