[Solved] Osboxes

[chameau]

I'm sorry in advance if this is a stupid question, but I could not find any info on it.
I use Linux Manjaro as the Host. I downloaded 'Android X86' from Osboxes to the 'Download' folder and I extracted the VDI to the 'Download' folder as well. I don't think I want to run the VDI from the download folder.
To have the VDI run from within the 'VirtualBox VMs' folder, do I have to move the VDI file from the 'Download' folder to the 'VirtualBox VMs' folder first? or does VirtualBox take care of that automatically?
Thanks

[mpack]

Basic stuff out of the way first: we are not OSBoxes, we don't look at what they do, and we don't provide support and free tutorials for their stuff.

That all said. You don't copy bare VDIs around. If the OSBoxes people know what they're doing then the VM came in one of two forms:

1. As an OVA appliance file, which you import into VirtualBox using File|Import Appliance...
2. As a zipped VM folder, which you unzip into a folder in the "VirtualBox VMs" container folder, then you register the VM using Machine|Add... and navigating your way to the .vbox file that defines the VM properties.

[chameau]

Thanks for the reply.
Yes I thought their VMs would came as OVA, but they come as a 7z file that contained just a VDI file.
Their install instruction are: OS name, OS type, set amount of RAM, for hard drive use third option 'use an existing virtual hard drive file' and select the VDI file. It's here that I posed my question because at that stage (according to their instructions) the VDI file was still in the 'Download' folder!
So I do extract the VDI file into a folder (in my case AndroidX86) within the 'VirtualBox VMs' folder.

Thanks for your help

[mpack]

You can't install a VDI, that's why I said you don't copy VMs around that way.

A VDI has to be part of a VM. So the only way to use that VDI would be to create a VM, plonk the VDI in the VM folder, then use the Storage panel in the VM settings to replace the default VDI created for the VM. You then have to hope that you are able to create a VM recipe that's compatible with whatever is on the disk. If the website gave instructions then that helps, though heaven knows why they didn't just include the .vbox file in the zip. Since it's Android (an unsupported OS that sometimes doesn't work even when installed from scratch) I don't hold out much hope of it working.

I gave more reliable (tested) instructions for creating an Android-x86 VM from scratch here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=92683&start=15#p464073. I suggest you ditch the incompetent OSBox stuff and do that instead. It's not difficult.

[chameau]

I tried both - the VDI file from Osboxes, and an install from an ISO file They both are the Android-X86_64 -9.0-r2 They both got me to the same place 'The dusty-pink' android interface. But that's as far as I got with both VM's
They are very unstable! the minute I do anything with the pointer or the arrow keys, the system re-starts?? It's unusable.
I also run a VM of Windows 7 and that works perfectly!?

Maybe my system is too old? but based on all the posts I seen, Android-X86 is hit and miss!
The specs of my system are: Lenovo x230t, CPU: i5 3320M @ 2.6GHz, RAM: 8 GiB
The host OS is: Manjaro Linux 21.3.0 with Cinnamon desktop (version: 5.4.3)

I tried various settings in VirtualBox
Under General, Basic, Type 'Linux' I tried Version 'Linux 2.3 /3.x /4.x (64-bit)' and 'Other Linux (64-bit) = no difference
Under System, Motherboard, I gave it 2GiB RAM, Chipset: PIIX3, ticked Enabled I/O APCI and Hardware Clock in UTC Time
Under System, Processor, I gave it 2 (out of 4) CPUs, ticked Enabled PAE/NX
Under System, Acceleration, Paravirtualization interface: KVM and ticked Enabled Nested paging
Under Display, Screen, Virtual Memory, I tried 64MB and 128MB = no difference
Under Display, Graphics Controller VMSVGA does stops at the CLI screen, VBoxVGA and VBoxSVGA go to the dusty-pink interface with the '3D acceleration' unticked, Ticking the '3D acceleration' box makes it stop at the CLI screen
Under Storage, Controller IDE, type: PIIX4
I'm not sure what else to try - any suggestions?

[mpack]

My last post gave a link to detailed instructions, including a specific ISO download to try. The linked instructions didn't say that any Android ISO download would do.

[chameau]

Ok mpack, I downloaded the ISO version from your post (Andriod 8.1 64bit)and installed it in Virtualbox making sure I stick to your settings. Unfortunately the results are the same as for the previous 2 installs. At first It seems to work fine, I get the grub menu, use default selection (top one). Then get the 'Android' on black screen. After that, get the blue background with the white window with the initial settings. But then the minute I move the mouse into the VM, it goes back to a black screen and it re-starts again!
Something wrong with the mouse integration? I tried the 3 options for the Pointing Device. The default was 'USB Tablet' changed too 'USB Multi-Touch Tablet' had the same effect. And using 'PS/2 Mouse' did not work.
ps: I'm using a wireless mouse (Logitech M171)

[mpack]

Something wrong with the mouse integration?

Not possible. Mouse integration is a feature of the Guest Additions, and none are available for Android. Sans GAs the default mouse is part of the virtual hardware, the same for all guest OS's.

[chameau]

My reason for wanting to have Android in a VM was to try apps before I decide to use them or not on a phone. I do not have (nor do I want) a Google account, so I source the apps from third parties provider (like F-Droid, Apkpure, Apkmirror, etc...) and I side load them into the phone.
As a last resort I installed the 32bit version of Android-X86 in VirtualBox. It was stable enough to be able to finish the initial set-up and start the interface before it spontaneously re-started! Nevertheless, It was stable long enough to get into the settings menu, but they are very different and more limited than the standard settings in an actual Android phone, and I could not find the settings I was looking for (USB debugging, Unknown source, etc...) I tried a few more times between restarts but in the end I gave up because 1) it is unstable and therefore unusable. 2) It does not do what I intended to use it for.
Thanks for your help I will have to look for alternatives.

[chameau]

Hi,
I solved the issue!
The problem was caused by VirtualBox and Guest Additions been the current version and the Extension Pack been an older version. The disparity between the versions happened because my Linux distribution (Manjaro been a roling distro) updates everything including VirtualBox EXCEPT for the VirtualBox Extension Pack as the license has to be 'Agreed Too' each time. Once I updated the Extension Pack, Android-X86 was stable and worked perfectly (regardless of the version or 32/64 bits).
However updating the Extension Pack had it's one issues - too long to elaborate here, but if anyone has an issue with updating the extension pack here is a link to my post and solution on another forum https://forum.manjaro.org/t/pamac-updat ... x/118241/3

PS: I was going to mark this post as 'Solved' but I can not find the button to click?

[mpack]

Thanks for reporting back.