Windows 8?

Discussions about using Windows guests in VirtualBox.
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selden
Posts: 65
Joined: 1. Oct 2010, 18:01
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Arch linux
Location: usa

Re: Windows 8?

Post by selden »

Redquill,

Did you select the "experimental" WDDM graphics driver or the non-experimental driver?
Your symptom is consistent with having selected the non-experimental driver.

It seems to me that the VirtualBox graphics drivers need some work by the VB developers in order to be compatible with Win8:
The experimental driver is signed and does install, but its OpenGL support doesn't work on at least some systems (e.g. mine)
The non-experimental driver does not install because it isn't signed (your symptom). OpenGL then works because Win8 uses the software OpenGL v1.1 library provided by Microsoft.

*sigh*
Selden
hawkeye62
Posts: 42
Joined: 4. Mar 2012, 00:07

Re: Windows 8?

Post by hawkeye62 »

selden wrote:djesteban,

Also, at the bottom of page 11 of this thread are instructions for how to install the Guest Additions correctly.
Still no joy in Mudville. NAT mode still does not show any network PCs. Bridge mode works perfectly. I even have Host able to access Guest shared folders.

What are the pros and cons of NAT vs Bridge mode?

Thanks for the help, Jim
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Windows 8?

Post by Perryg »

What are the pros and cons of NAT vs Bridge mode?
Bridged will show you LAN PCs and NAT won't.
See chapter 6 in your VirtualBox users guide.
Priyesh
Posts: 12
Joined: 15. Feb 2012, 01:57

Re: Windows 8?

Post by Priyesh »

PLEASE HELP MEEE!!!
So far ive setup all the settings for the virtualmachine correct, but when i go to the storage tab and try to select my Windows 8 32 bit iso i get the following error:

Result Code:
VBOX_E_IPRT_ERROR (0x80BB0005)
Component:
Medium
Interface:
IMedium {53f9cc0c-e0fd-40a5-a404-a7a5272082cd}
Callee:
IVirtualBox {c28be65f-1a8f-43b4-81f1-eb60cb516e66}
Perryg
Site Moderator
Posts: 34369
Joined: 6. Sep 2008, 22:55
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: OSE self-compiled
Guest OSses: *NIX

Re: Windows 8?

Post by Perryg »

Check the hash against the download site and make sure it matches. Sounds like a corrupt download.
Grinch
Posts: 2
Joined: 1. Sep 2011, 10:54
Primary OS: MS Windows XP
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: MS Windows Vista

Re: Windows 8?

Post by Grinch »

Virtualbox 4.1.8, CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ (AMD-V), Host system: Windows XP Pro
Virtual machine with Windows 7 32 bit - works, virtual machine with Ubuntu 11.10 32 bit - works
Virtual machine (default settings for Win 8 vm) with Windows 8 Consumer preview iso - don't work :(
Virtual machine (with enabled processor pae/nx) with Windows 8 Consumer preview iso - the best result install start and after first restart vm freezes and nothing helps :(
Working VM with that cpu and W8 consumer preview iso can't be created or there is some hidden trick?

UPDATE 1 Virtualbox 4.1.10 works better, already can restart and get to the pc repair, but ... no boot in windows 8 :(
Last edited by Grinch on 14. Mar 2012, 17:34, edited 1 time in total.
dani00
Posts: 4
Joined: 10. Mar 2012, 12:18
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows 8 CP x64

Re: Windows 8?

Post by dani00 »

Here is my experience.
It was the first time I ever tried a virtual OS and it all went fine. Running Win8 CP x64 on a Win7 Pro x64 host. RAM and video memory maxed out and it runs very smooth. No problem with shared folders, as long as "Auto-mount" is selected.
I installed GA with the experimental drivers and although it looks better, the Metro apps problems appeared. It is the only problem I have found for now. I read in many places that some apps need at least 1366x768 to work but after GA I can only get 1360x768... So maybe those apps are not working because of 6 pixels! Tried to force a custom resolution using VBoxManage.exe commands and/or direct editing of the *.vbox file but to no avail. I think this method only works on non-windows hosts.
Does anyone knows any other way of forcing resolutions??
mpack
Site Moderator
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Re: Windows 8?

Post by mpack »

I don't know where that "1366" came from, but I frankly don't believe that came from any official source, or even a knowledgeable one. Display sizes are usually chosen so that they are relatively round numbers in binary, e.g. divisible by 4,8,16,32 - as high up as possible, as that allows full scope for SIMD and caching etc. 1366 is only divisible by 2, the only thing worse would be starting with an odd number. 1344 or 1376 I could believe.

768 on the other hand is a very good number in that regard (divisible by all powers of 2 up to 256).
dani00
Posts: 4
Joined: 10. Mar 2012, 12:18
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows 8 CP x64

Re: Windows 8?

Post by dani00 »

mpack wrote:I don't know where that "1366" came from, but I frankly don't believe that came from any official source, or even a knowledgeable one. Display sizes are usually chosen so that they are relatively round numbers in binary, e.g. divisible by 4,8,16,32 - as high up as possible, as that allows full scope for SIMD and caching etc. 1366 is only divisible by 2, the only thing worse would be starting with an odd number. 1344 or 1376 I could believe.

768 on the other hand is a very good number in that regard (divisible by all powers of 2 up to 256).
That is my current laptop's base resolution and it was also on my previous one and as far as I know its the most common res in 15.6" laptops.
michaln
Oracle Corporation
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Re: Windows 8?

Post by michaln »

mpack wrote:I don't know where that "1366" came from, but I frankly don't believe that came from any official source, or even a knowledgeable one.
Well... 1366x768 is a somewhat common resolution.

Where it came from I don't want to speculate, because it is a dumb resolution you'd expect to find on cheap junk hardware (no offense to the people who have to suffer such resolutions). The problem with it is that it's not quite 16:9. So you either have non-square pixels, or you leave a small part of the screen unused, or you just pretend there's no problem. Or do something similarly awful you'd expect from cheap junk.

The fact that 1366 is not divisible by 8 or even 4 is certainly not helpful.
selden
Posts: 65
Joined: 1. Oct 2010, 18:01
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Arch linux
Location: usa

Re: Windows 8?

Post by selden »

Regardless of the size of the physical screen, if you right-mouse-click on the desktop background of the Win8 client, the "screen resolution" option in the popup menu should include several screen sizes. If you select one that's larger than your physical screen, VBox will provide scroll bars so you can scroll the virtual screen. With Guest Additions installed in the client, I think you should be able to drag the virtual screen's window partially off the physical screen and stretch its sides larger. Once you've done that, the stretched size will show up as one of the Win8 client's screen size options.

For whatever reason, Win8 does require at least 1024x768 to have 1 Metro app onscreen, and 1366x768 to have 2 apps onscreen at the same time.
Selden
dani00
Posts: 4
Joined: 10. Mar 2012, 12:18
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows 8 CP x64

Re: Windows 8?

Post by dani00 »

Selden, I tried that but I can't get the resolution maxed out. Also, because I cannot use that function during fullscreen, there is always the top VM bar which wont allow me to go 768 and therefore it gives me a message that any resolution I get this way is lower than 1024x768...
On fullscreen I only get two resolutions: 1360x768 and 1024x768.
Some Metro apps work, like Messenger and Weather, but Maps, Solitaire, Pinball, Camera, Autodesk Sketchbook and others do not work. Tried to launch them outside the Metro StartMenu (in case it also counts as one app running) but I get an error message saying: "This application can only run in the context of an AppContainer."

Oh, by the way, these apps were working before installing GA and the drivers, so maybe there is no solution besides new drivers...
selden
Posts: 65
Joined: 1. Oct 2010, 18:01
Primary OS: MS Windows 10
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: Arch linux
Location: usa

Re: Windows 8?

Post by selden »

Dani,

I'm sorry my suggestions didn't help.

There is another possibility: not running in a VM at all. Of course, that means you can't take advantage of all of the protections that a VM can provide. If you have an external USB disk (or 32GB or larger thumb drive) and if you can configure the order of your computer's boot devices so USB comes first, Win8's "Windows-to-Go" support seems to work quite well. Like using a VM, using Win2Go avoids the complexities (and dangers) of configuring a computer to dual boot. (Apparently quite a few people have managed to "upgrade" their current Windows boot partitions instead of configuring Win8 to dual boot.) Since VB is supposed to be able to boot a VM client from a dedicated disk or partition, it should be possible to boot Win8 in a VM client from a Win2Go disk. I haven't tried that yet, though. Maybe tomorrow.

Discussing the details of Windows-to-Go is inappropriate here. You can send me a PM for more info, or do a Web search.
Selden
dani00
Posts: 4
Joined: 10. Mar 2012, 12:18
Primary OS: MS Windows 7
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Windows 8 CP x64

Re: Windows 8?

Post by dani00 »

Thanks selden, but I can wait until it is officially released :) I just tried Win8 out of curiosity, I am no developer, nor tester or anything like that, so... But thanks for the tip!
Anyway, I will keep searching for a solution for the 1366px problem!
dpeteual
Posts: 3
Joined: 13. Mar 2012, 20:01

Re: Windows 8?

Post by dpeteual »

Host Win7 64, Guest Win8 CP 32. Works fine. As stated earlier no guest additions.

Problem: Can't access a USB flash drive. I use VB with other OS and I know how to set a filter etc. Works fine in other OS. When I set the filter in the Win8 VM and open the Win8 VM, Win8 captures the USB drive. It shows up in Devices in VB and not in the Host. The problem is that I can't see it in Explorer. Also the USB eject icon in the task bar on the Win8 desktop shows the VDI Hard drive but not he USB drive.
Last edited by dpeteual on 16. Mar 2012, 19:41, edited 1 time in total.
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