best way to import guest VMs to opensuse host

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
Post Reply
LMHmedchem
Posts: 78
Joined: 7. Feb 2013, 19:35

best way to import guest VMs to opensuse host

Post by LMHmedchem »

Hello,

I am running virtualbox from an opensuse 12.3 host. I have several VB guests that I run from a windows host and I would like to bring them into the suse host. I know that I can export the VM to a file and then re-import it, but I also seem to remember that you can just copy guest and manually add it to virtualbox. I don't remember how to do the manual add and I don't know which method is best. Any advice would be appreciated.

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

Re: best way to import guest VMs to opensuse host

Post by Perryg »

LMHmedchem
Posts: 78
Joined: 7. Feb 2013, 19:35

Re: best way to import guest VMs to opensuse host

Post by LMHmedchem »

Thanks, that worked fine. I am now having trouble because it seems I don't have the latest version of Guest Additions and the Extension Pack. It doesn't look like I can do the install through Yast since there is no entry there for the Extension pack and I can't open the VM without it because it is set up for USB2. I ended up uninstalling virtualbox through Yast and downloading the rpm,

VirtualBox-4.3-4.3.36_105129_openSUSE123-1.x86_64.rpm

I think this is the latest version of virtualbox that I can install on opensuse 12.3, please let me know if I should be using version 5 instead. I can install the rpm with zypper, but I have not idea how to install the extension pack. The extension pack has it's own file,

Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.3.36-105129.vbox-extpack

but this is not a rpm, so I'm not sure what to do.

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

Re: best way to import guest VMs to opensuse host

Post by Perryg »

You install the extension pack within the VBox main manager under preference or from command line with VBoxManage. See http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch01.h ... installing
LMHmedchem
Posts: 78
Joined: 7. Feb 2013, 19:35

Re: best way to import guest VMs to opensuse host

Post by LMHmedchem »

Thanks, I have it working now.

I have done some updates and now am on opensuse 13.2 with virtualbox 5.0-5.0.16_105871, Extension_Pack-5.0.16, and Guest Additions 5.0.16 installed in my guests. Are there any known issues using vbox 5 with opensuse 13.2? I know that 13.2 is no longer the latest opensuse.

I installed from the rpm,
VirtualBox-5.0-5.0.16_105871_openSUSE132-1.x86_64
I took openSUSE132-1 to mean opensuse 13.2, but that was a guess.

This was installed with,
zypper in VirtualBox-5.0-5.0.16_105871_openSUSE132-1.x86_64.rpm

after running,
zypper in gcc make kernel-devel dkms
there was nothing added for dependencies when I ran this, though it couldn't seem to find anything for dkms.

I still find the semi-ridiculous number of ways to manage software installation under linux (zypper, apt, yum, package managers, etc) to be unhelpful at times. YaST rarely seems to have the latest versions of applications available in the default repositories, and when I install with zypper, I am never really sure I have everything that I need. After my vbox install with zypper, YaST only has a single entry for virtualbox 5.0, while there are 14 entries for vbox 4.3 modules. Is there a repository I should add to get all of the vbox 5 packages available? Vbox seems to work, but that is not always reassuring.

Also, I tried to make a desktop shortcut for one of my VMs, but it always ends up in the widget area on the desktop and not on the desktop itself. I can move it to the desktop, but if I delete it from the widget area, it gets deleted from the desktop as well. I really don't know kde very well, so if someone can give some advice on how to manage this sort of thing, that would be appreciated.

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

Re: best way to import guest VMs to opensuse host

Post by Perryg »

All of the answers that you are seeking actually come from the openSUSE community as they are outside the scope of this forum. At least from the sounds of it you have satisfied your VirtualBox issues. One other thing I would pass along to you. KDE is not well supported by either the guest OS nor VirtualBox. There will be issues but not the ones you posted.
Post Reply