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Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 20:36
by humpsb
HI All this is my 1st post here, been using Virtualbox for years but i never used it on a headless server before.
I have setup VirtualBox 4.0 On A Headless CentOS Server using this tutorial here : http://www.howtoforge.com/vboxheadless- ... 6-server[b] but i cant seem to connect to the VM using Remote Desktop[/b].
I Dont know what is the problem but everytime i try connect its says "the client could not connect to the remote computer"
The machine starts fine

See details below to see if anyone can understand what could be the problem ? :?:

Start VM

[admin@test root]$ VBoxHeadless --startvm "Windows XP"
Oracle VM VirtualBox Headless Interface 4.0.14
(C) 2008-2011 Oracle Corporation
All rights reserved.

VRDE server is listening on port 3389.

The Extension Pack is installed:

[root@test ~]# vboxmanage list extpacks
Extension Packs: 1
Pack no. 0: Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Version: 4.0.14
Revision: 74382
Description: USB 2.0 Host Controller, VirtualBox RDP, PXE ROM with E1000 support.
VRDE Module: VBoxVRDP
Usable: true
Why unusable:

What could i be doing wrong ? :?:

Virtual Machine Details:

[admin@test ~]$ VBoxManage showvminfo c25f0e4e-0b6a-4987-b7f2-ca7772dd8649
Name: Windows XP
Guest OS: Windows XP
UUID: c25f0e4e-0b6a-4987-b7f2-ca7772dd8649
Config file: /home/admin/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP/Windows XP.vbox
Snapshot folder: /home/admin/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP/Snapshots
Log folder: /home/admin/VirtualBox VMs/Windows XP/Logs
Hardware UUID: c25f0e4e-0b6a-4987-b7f2-ca7772dd8649
Memory size: 256MB
Page Fusion: off
VRAM size: 8MB
HPET: off
Chipset: piix3
Firmware: BIOS
Number of CPUs: 1
Synthetic Cpu: off
CPUID overrides: None
Boot menu mode: message and menu
Boot Device (1): DVD
Boot Device (2): DVD
Boot Device (3): HardDisk
Boot Device (4): Not Assigned
ACPI: on
IOAPIC: off
PAE: off
Time offset: 0 ms
RTC: local time
Hardw. virt.ext: on
Hardw. virt.ext exclusive: on
Nested Paging: on
Large Pages: off
VT-x VPID: on
State: aborted (since 2011-10-27T17:58:56.000000000)
Monitor count: 1
3D Acceleration: off
2D Video Acceleration: off
Teleporter Enabled: off
Teleporter Port: 0
Teleporter Address:
Teleporter Password:
Storage Controller Name (0): IDE Controller
Storage Controller Type (0): PIIX4
Storage Controller Instance Number (0): 0
Storage Controller Max Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Port Count (0): 2
Storage Controller Bootable (0): on
IDE Controller (0, 0): /home/admin/WinXP.vdi (UUID: 19f0f146-d198-4410-b1c9-cc84f6a71750)
IDE Controller (0, 1): /home/admin/WINXP.ISO (UUID: d86e1514-db93-454e-9990-12ba486b9d2b)
NIC 1: MAC: 08002796E0F0, Attachment: NAT, Cable connected: on, Trace: off (file: none), Type: Am79C973, Reported speed: 0 Mbps, Boot priority: 0
NIC 1 Settings: MTU: 0, Socket( send: 64, receive: 64), TCP Window( send:64, receive: 64)
NIC 2: disabled
NIC 3: disabled
NIC 4: disabled
NIC 5: disabled
NIC 6: disabled
NIC 7: disabled
NIC 8: disabled
Pointing Device: PS/2 Mouse
Keyboard Device: PS/2 Keyboard
UART 1: disabled
UART 2: disabled
Audio: disabled
Clipboard Mode: Bidirectional
VRDE: disabled
USB: disabled

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 20:53
by Perryg
try in a terminal

rdesktop <put the hosts IP here>:3389
replace the <put the hosts IP here> with the hosts IP address.

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 21:17
by humpsb
Perryg wrote:try in a terminal

rdesktop <put the hosts IP here>:3389
replace the <put the hosts IP here> with the hosts IP address.
This is what i get "Error: Unable to connect"
am i suppose to open port 3389 on the centos server ?

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 21:32
by vbox4me2
Your on NAT so you need to port forward the rdp port.

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 22:15
by humpsb
vbox4me2 wrote:Your on NAT so you need to port forward the rdp port.
I Dont quite understand ur reply, explain for me...but how can i change it to bridged or internal network ?
I'm trying to install the OS on Virtual box using a .iso, i'm not trying to connect to a Desktop already running on the Virtualbox

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 22:23
by Perryg

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 22:26
by humpsb
Been reading that manual all day, i think i maybe confuse myself a lil with it
Think i need some human intervention now

Thanks anyways........

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 22:34
by Perryg
If you have access to the host all you need to do is follow the steps, one at a time. Change information as needed like memory if you want more, hdd size if you want it bigger, that kind of thing.

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 27. Oct 2011, 22:41
by humpsb
Perryg wrote:If you have access to the host all you need to do is follow the steps, one at a time. Change information as needed like memory if you want more, hdd size if you want it bigger, that kind of thing.
I followed the steps exactly as they are posted in the manual here: http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch07.html#vboxheadless
The only thing i change was the hard drive size to 20GB. the terminal says the machine is started an listening on port 3389 but when i use remote desktop to try connect it jus times out..
I probably take a break an try again tommor .. really been at it mos of the time today :(

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 28. Nov 2011, 23:40
by cgacimartin
I'm having the same trouble. While i have been working with this RemoteDesktop option of VB for several years, in this version it seems not to work when you have a installation of VB from scratch (delete your .VirtualBox :twisted: ). IThe port 3389 is not being opened. I set up the config of the virtual machine using the remote desktop default settings, checking that the port is not being used by anybody, enabling again the remote desktop from the devices menu of the window of the running guest and even installing the Guest tools and rebooting. There is no firewalls or strange items in the architecture, even i can not connect using a "rdesktop localhost:3389". Any tip?

Thanks.

Re: Cant Connect to Headless VM from Remote Desktop

Posted: 3. Dec 2011, 13:16
by cgacimartin
Solved.

Oracle has decided to release this features in a separated pack called "VirtualBox 4.1.6 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack", downloable at VB download section and which you have to install in Virtualbox through

Code: Select all

 VB > File > Configuration > Extensions