How to get two guests running at same time?

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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gboswellsac
Posts: 16
Joined: 8. Sep 2008, 06:11

How to get two guests running at same time?

Post by gboswellsac »

I've just found Virtual Box and have installed on a MacBook for a student. We successfully installed XP Pro and Fedora 8. Easiest installs on a virtual environment so far. The problem is we cannot get both to run at same time. I can do that on my machine in parallels and Fusion but not on the student box with Virtual Box. She has 4GB ram so it is not a memory problem, I hope!. I may not have installed correctly or set an option and I have run out of time to try and duplicate the problem on my MacBook with similar specs. Any know how or have already done it?

Thanks
amagine
Volunteer
Posts: 177
Joined: 28. Jul 2008, 19:52

Post by amagine »

Hmm I am not sure why that is not working for you...

I just launched FreeDOS, XP, and Linux Mint and they all work fine.

I'm not sure exactly what may be the problem.
gboswellsac
Posts: 16
Joined: 8. Sep 2008, 06:11

Post by gboswellsac »

Did you do anything special when you installed the three. I apologize as I've just started with Virtual box and I have not RTFM yet. I looked through the FAQ but found nothing that would require any special settings. Now knowing you are doing it makes me want to read a little more, Thanks for the help.
BTW does running Leopard change what your telling me? This box is running Leopard 10.5.
amagine
Volunteer
Posts: 177
Joined: 28. Jul 2008, 19:52

Post by amagine »

There are no specific settings targeted at running multiple VirtualMachines that I know of.

The UserManual is very good, and fairly easy to read.

I am using 10.5.4 and do not see why this would have any specific effect on what you are trying to do.

.... A common first time mistake is to "accidentally" allot too much RAM to the Virtual Machine.

If the Student Box has 4GB, then quickly setting 1GB to Each VirtualMachine (1000MB to XP Pro, 1000MB to Fedora) should be ample for testing.

I presume you are using VirtualBox 2.0
gboswellsac
Posts: 16
Joined: 8. Sep 2008, 06:11

Post by gboswellsac »

We had allocated 512MB to both XP and FC8. With all your help I just need to go back and check the settings and see what happens on a cold reboot. I will check but since it was downloaded Saturday I'm sure it is 2.0 but you never know. Thank you so very much for the helpful information.

I teach a class where VPC 2007 is used only because the text book uses it. With the increasing number of Mac users in the class I would either need to explain Parallels and/or Fusion, both better than VPC, and it took time away from material needed to be covered. With Virtual Box I can explain it one way as it can be used in Linux, OSX and M$. This is an awesome opportunity for me for I'll be able to create one guest and be able to give it to the student no matter what the underling OS they have on their box. I'm excited about this and thank you again for the help.

Boz
aquarius
Posts: 69
Joined: 3. Jun 2008, 22:35
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: MS Windows XP

Post by aquarius »

Don't get amagine wrong in the first place :wink:

Version 2.0 has some annoying bugs, especially (but not only) in the GUI.
Perhaps click on some greyed out option does work anyhow ...

For your evaluation you could as well use version 1.6.6 which is a lot more stable or wait for 2.0.2 before rolling out on too many PCs ...

aquarius
amagine
Volunteer
Posts: 177
Joined: 28. Jul 2008, 19:52

Post by amagine »

aquarius is correct,

some users have been finding random bugs in the new 2.0 release, this would be a new one.

1.6.6 would probably be a better release for mass roll out, depending on your feature needs as suggested by aquarius.

For Bug Testing purposes you can try launching the Virtual Machines from the command line:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage startvm nameofyourmachine
This would single out whether this is a GUI bug or some other issue.

All VirtualBox Commands are found within the VirtualBox.app package:

Code: Select all

/Applications/VirtualBox.app/Contents/MacOS/
Some of the VirtualBox shell commands have been placed in usr/bin on installation of VirtualBox 2.0, so these commands should already be in your path:

VBoxHeadless
VBoxMange
VBoxVRDP
VirtualBox

FYI: I have installed hundreds of OS's over the years now using Parallels, VMWare, Q, VirtualPC, and now VirtualBox. All in all I would say that VirtualBox is a very stable and dependable Virtualization application with a very active and growing user community.
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