VirtualBox on an external hard disk

Shakipu · Post by **Shakipu** » 29. Sep 2008, 17:26

Hello everyone,
I installed VirtualBox on an external hard disk so now I can start a Linux where I want but, there is a problem : VirtualBox need the .VirtualBox files located in C:\Documents and Settings\ORDINATEUR ( or COMPUTER for english's people ) if I want VB to recognize my vdi Linux... Sorry if I don't speak very well : I'm french... I think that the .VirtualBox files wich contains .xml files is absolutely needed for the recognition of the vdi but it's needed on the PC, and not in the external hard disk so when I wire my hard disk on another PC, I need to copy these files in the PC and I don't want this... So... How can I do if I want VB to read ( and to write on ) the file .VirtualBox in my external Hard disk and not in the PC ?
Please Help me, thank you

P.S : I hope you understand me... :s

Shakipu · Post by **Shakipu** » 29. Sep 2008, 21:07

A little new : I modify VirtualBox.xml in .VirtualBox and now, he load the machine wich is in the external hard disk but I need to copy VirtualBox.xml in C:\Documents and Settings\user's_name\.VirtualBox but I want VB to read the VirtualBox.xml situated in F:\VirtualBox\.VirtualBox ( my external hard disk )... How can I do this ?

Post by **Sasquatch** » 29. Sep 2008, 21:38

You can change the VB Preferences to use a different machine folder. With that, there will be only one file left in your user profile, which is essential. That file lists the registered VMs for your user account. You can't move this file to a different location. All the VM settings and drives however (the <vmname>.xml and .VDI files) will be on the other drive you specified in the preferences.

Shakipu · Post by **Shakipu** » 29. Sep 2008, 21:42

Yes, I know this but I absolutely want to move VirtualBox.xml on my external hard disk and then my external hard disk will be independent to the PC ( except for the Host system )

Post by **Sasquatch** » 29. Sep 2008, 21:49

You could try to mount your external drive to an empty NTFS folder. Move the file to the root of the external drive and use the Windows Disk manager to attach it to the empty NTFS folder in your user profile folder .virtualbox. Too bad Windows can't handle symlinks.

The location of the VirtualBox.xml file is hard coded, you can't change it that easily (unless you compile your own version from the source code, but you won't have some functions as USB and RAW Disk Access. And you need a lot of additional tools for it to compile on Windows. See the main page for the build instructions

.

Post by **sandervl** » 29. Sep 2008, 21:55

You can override the directory where VBox stores its config files with the VBOX_USER_HOME environment variable.

Post by **Sasquatch** » 29. Sep 2008, 22:31

Oh, right, forgot about that one.

Shakipu · Post by **Shakipu** » 1. Dec 2008, 18:49

Sorry but i didn't read all you say and i found how to do what i want :
http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/tutoriel/insta ... ur_externe
It's in French because i'm french ^^ so good luck !
Now I'm searching how to install VirtualBox for LINUX on my external hard disk... But I think it's impossible...

Post by **Sasquatch** » 3. Dec 2008, 20:46

Shakipu wrote:Sorry but i didn't read all you say and i found how to do what i want :
http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/tutoriel/insta ... ur_externe
It's in French because i'm french ^^ so good luck !
Now I'm searching how to install VirtualBox for LINUX on my external hard disk... But I think it's impossible...

That is only possible if you compile the OSE version. You can change it's location by supplying a parameter to the configure script to change it's location (called prefix). With the binary, you can't. And even if you did manage, there are several symlinks, files in /etc and so on. On top of all that, there is also the kernel module which you have to take into account. Not an easy solution if you look at it that way.

Shakipu · Post by **Shakipu** » 9. Dec 2008, 16:02

Yes, I think i can do that with symlinks and a compilation of the module each time i use VB but it will be reaaaally hard for me... Someone wanna try ?
Ok i will try... Some help ?