Guest Additions on Ubuntu 7.10 / VB 1.5.2

[agm]

I've just spent a few hours creating a VM on my WinXP host and installing Ubuntu 7.10. All seems well, with one exception.

I seem unable to install the guest additions for Linux. As discussed in the user guide, I opened a terminal window, navigated to the appropriate directory and executed the guest additions installer.

The archive was validated OK but then the script aborted saying administrator priveleges were required.

Checking my user account priveleges show that I should have administrator rights.

Anyone seen this before?
Is there a way I can verify my account priveleges from the command line?

I assume I'm doing something dumb, but I've installed this so I can start working with Linux, having not touched UNIX since leaving university many many moons ago, so please be gentle.

Thanks in advance...

[Eftichia]

Hi,

I had exactly the same problem an hour ago. BTW, during installation of Ubuntu (I'm a beginner!) I already wondered that I wasn't asked for a root password.
Go to System -> Administration -> Users & Groups -> root -> properties -> you can manually give a new root password. With this new password I could do su on the console and install the guest additions.

Nevertheless (after reboot), I still could not change my screen resolution to to the required 1280 x 1024, the highest possible value is 1024 x 768. So I still have a small screen.
Did it work for you and how ?

Regards, Eftichia

[agm]

Thanks Eftichia.
I've now managed to install the guest additions using your solution!

Although the mouse integration works, I too still only have a highest resolution of 1024x768. I haven't yet managed to resolve this, but I'll get back to you if I get this working.

Thanks again,
Gavin

[holgi]

you need to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to get higher resolutions
- modify the "HorizSync" value of the monitor section to suit your monitor (the default value is too low, higher resolutions will be rejected unless you modify this value)
- add "1280x1024" as additional mode.

Example (with addition resolutions 1600x1200 and 1280x1024, only the two relevant sections):

Code: Select all

....
Section "Monitor"
	Identifier	"Generic Monitor"
	Option		"DPMS"
	HorizSync	30-95
	VertRefresh	60-75
EndSection

Section "Screen"
	Identifier	"Default Screen"
	Device		"Generic Video Card"
	Monitor		"Generic Monitor"
	DefaultDepth	24
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		1
		Modes		"1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		4
		Modes		"1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		8
		Modes		"1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		15
		Modes		"1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		16
		Modes		"1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
	SubSection "Display"
		Depth		24
		Modes		"1600x1200" "1280x1024" "1024x768" "800x600" "640x480"
	EndSubSection
EndSection
...

[/code]

[spode]

Hi,

I had exactly the same problem an hour ago. BTW, during installation of Ubuntu (I'm a beginner!) I already wondered that I wasn't asked for a root password.
Go to System -> Administration -> Users & Groups -> root -> properties -> you can manually give a new root password. With this new password I could do su on the console and install the guest additions.

Nevertheless (after reboot), I still could not change my screen resolution to to the required 1280 x 1024, the highest possible value is 1024 x 768. So I still have a small screen.
Did it work for you and how ?

Regards, Eftichia

Ubuntu is designed to use sudo as standard. If you put "sudo" before any command, it will run as root. You can also type "sudo su" and that will log you in as root.

[spynappels]

I'm having real trouble editing the xorg.conf file. I can open it and add the section from the above post, but when I try to save it, I get the following message:

You do not have the permissions necessary to save the file. Check that you typed the location correctly and try again.

I am using Gedit to edit the file after navigating there using the computer window. Is there another way that allows me to edit the file as a root user in Ubuntu?

Thanks for your help.

[DaLaunge]

Hi there,

you'll need administrator rights for editing xorg.conf.

In case of gnome desktop type:
sudo gedit xorg.conf

In case of KDE desktop type:
sudo kate xorg.conf

After that enter your root password and you will be able to save your changed file

Greetings from Vienna,
DaLaunge

[agm]

Just thought I'd share my experiences in obtaining a higher resolution than the default 1024x768.

Yes, you need to have admin rights to save changes to the xorg.conf file, but I found that having made the relevant changes, the virtual machine would not draw anything correctly and the machine was rendered unusable. Back to the drawing board.

After re-creating my guest Ubuntu system I made good (read: excessive or paranoid) usage of VB's snapshot facility to protect against broken graphics configurations (or any other unintended damage).

Here's how I got my resolution up to 1600x1200:

Step 1: Log in using an account with admin rights.
Step 2: Use the "Screens and Graphics" tool (System>Administration>Screens and Graphics) to select the monitor you are using.
Step 3: Shut down the VM and create a snapshot.
Step 4: Restart the VM and log in using an account with admin rights.
Step 5: Use the "Screens and Graphics" tool to select your preferred resolution; the drop down list should list all resolutions supported by your chosen monitor.
Step 6: Restart the VM; when the login screen appears, it should be using the new resolution.

Note: It may be possible to combine steps 2 & 5 without the need to restart the VM and create a snapshot, but I tried this first and ended up with a system with a broken graphics configuration.

Good luck!