Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Linux hosts.
vbmiker
Posts: 7
Joined: 7. Oct 2009, 10:35
Primary OS: Debian Lenny
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: WindowsXP

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by vbmiker »

Hello,
your tool is very interesting and useful - thanks a lot!
My Question:
Has someone succesfully mounted an exported image?
To get all the data from my vm (even snapshots), i exported it and tried to mount the resulting vmdk-file with vdfuse-v50, but i got the error:
Invalid MBR found on image with signature 0xC033

Thanks
h2o
Posts: 40
Joined: 9. Feb 2009, 04:46

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by h2o »

vdfuse version 60 is released! Quite a few bugs in the original release are fixed.
h2o
Posts: 40
Joined: 9. Feb 2009, 04:46

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by h2o »

vbmiker wrote:Hello,
your tool is very interesting and useful - thanks a lot!
My Question:
Has someone succesfully mounted an exported image?
To get all the data from my vm (even snapshots), i exported it and tried to mount the resulting vmdk-file with vdfuse-v50, but i got the error:
Invalid MBR found on image with signature 0xC033

Thanks
Unfortunately, I don't think vdfuse can deal with snapshots. This may be added in a future release, but I can't be certain. Any help or details are appreicated!
penteki
Posts: 4
Joined: 2. Oct 2009, 23:23
Primary OS: Ubuntu other
VBox Version: OSE other
Guest OSses: Linux, Windows

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by penteki »

well, if you do not have virtualbox-ose, the script says INSTALL_DIR is required. this should be extended to read as "Do you have virtualbox-ose installed? if yes, set INSTALL_DIR" or sometnig like that. Also, there are points in the compile script where clearly error is encountered, however the install script doesn't get terminated.
vbmiker
Posts: 7
Joined: 7. Oct 2009, 10:35
Primary OS: Debian Lenny
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: WindowsXP

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by vbmiker »

Unfortunately, I don't think vdfuse can deal with snapshots. This may be added in a future release, but I can't be certain. Any help or details are appreicated!
I don't think, that the snapshots cause the problem. After the export of the vm the disk with all snapshots are merged into one vmdk-file. Maybe the compression of this file is the trouble. I managed it by converting the vmdk with

Code: Select all

VBoxManage clonehd <exported vmdk-file> <outputfile> --format VDI
The mount of the resulting vdi-file worked without any problems (with vdfuse-v60).
But this solution is very time-consuming...
h2o
Posts: 40
Joined: 9. Feb 2009, 04:46

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by h2o »

vbmiker wrote:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage clonehd <exported vmdk-file> <outputfile> --format VDI
vdfuse uses the disk library from virtualbox, and I guess it will work at some later point after upgrading virtualbox when the bug is fixed.
VbRider
Posts: 26
Joined: 11. Oct 2009, 02:09
Primary OS: Linux other
VBox Version: PUEL
Guest OSses: winXP

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by VbRider »

Thank you very much h20 !!! It works greatly :D :D
My system:
Archlinux host with latest updates as per today
A couple of .vdi files mounted in /tmp/vdmnt1(and 2) and linked the Partition1 (the only one inside) on another directory by loop device :P
I'd suggest if the partitions would be seen as blocks by the kernel (if possible), like when we plug a pendrive on USB port ;)

F
h2o
Posts: 40
Joined: 9. Feb 2009, 04:46

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by h2o »

VbRider wrote: I'd suggest if the partitions would be seen as blocks by the kernel (if possible), like when we plug a pendrive on USB port ;)
That would be great, but unfortunately, fuse has no control over block devices since it operates under the filesystem (vfs) layer that fuse operates on.
nawijn
Posts: 2
Joined: 6. Jan 2010, 16:40
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: OSE Fedora
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Linux

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by nawijn »

Hello,

Today I build and installed vdfuse. No problems here. Mounting a FAT32 VDI disk also not a problem. However when I start copying files from either the host or the guest to this disk, changes are not reflected on both systems. To be honest, I am completely new to fuse and do not know what to expect.

System configuration:
host: Linux Fedora 11, Virtualbox 3.0.10
guest: Windows XP Professional, SP2

I have 2 questions:
- Should it essentially be possible to have read and write access to a FAT32 VDI disk from both the guest and the host?
- If so, does anybody have a hint on what I could do to check where things go wrong in my setup?

Mount information:
gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/nawijn/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=nawijn)
/virt/Storage/fat32-storage-1.vdi on /mnt/vdi/pluto-storage-1 type fuse.vdfuse (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other)
/dev/loop0 on /mnt/pluto type vfat (rw)


Thanks and kind regards,

Marco
TerryE
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Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by TerryE »

@nawijn, reading your post it seems to me that you are attempting to use a VDI mounted this way for concurrent access by both the VM and the Host. This will not work. If you want file sharing between the host and guest then you must use a network based fileshare such as NTFS shares, samba, SFTP, ...
Read the Forum Posting Guide
Google your Q site:VirtualBox.org or search for the answer before posting.
nawijn
Posts: 2
Joined: 6. Jan 2010, 16:40
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: OSE Fedora
Guest OSses: Windows XP, Linux

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by nawijn »

Thank you for the reply. I already expected that it would not work like this.

Kind regards,

Marco
ppr-kut
Posts: 10
Joined: 20. Mar 2009, 00:32

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by ppr-kut »

Would it be possible to put the vdfuse code somewhere on a shared hosting platform? Something like gitorious or github would already suffice.
I would like to provide a way for Slackware users to install this tool, but that unfortunately requires a direct download location. The forum link works, but wget doesn't support the content-disposition header, which leaves it as "file.php?something" on disk.
Hubbitus
Posts: 3
Joined: 23. Jun 2009, 12:14
Primary OS: Fedora other
VBox Version: OSE Fedora
Guest OSses: Linuxes, Win

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by Hubbitus »

Sorry for the offtop, but wget support it with --content-disposition option.
ppr-kut
Posts: 10
Joined: 20. Mar 2009, 00:32

Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by ppr-kut »

well, yes and no. I tried that before posting my request here and it does not work for me. I still get a random file name.
TerryE
Volunteer
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Re: Discuss: Mount any VBox-compatible disk image on the host

Post by TerryE »

Sorry but its on the forum using standard phpBB attachment functionality. It on a FLOSS licence so why not just copy it onto a slackware repository yourself.
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