VirtualBox will not boot off CD/DVD

[supmethods]

After installing a guest OS, I cannot make VirtualBox boot off the CD/DVD.

I have checked the boot order and the optical drive is set to take precedence over the hard disk. However, it keeps booting the guest OS regardless of what I do.

How do you boot off the CD/DVD after you've already installed an OS?

[supmethods]

On the GRUB menu there is an option "System setup". I managed to boot the CD/DVD through this option.

Doesn't EFI boot in the order you set (device order)? Why is it going to the /boot/efi partition first?

[fth0]

Doesn't EFI boot in the order you set (device order)?

Yes, because that device boot order is a BIOS only concept.

Why is it going to the /boot/efi partition first?

Because the (U)EFI standard defines that.

Immediately after starting the VM, hammer on the ESC key to enter the (U)EFI boot menu.

[GG1-2332]

After installing a guest OS, I cannot make VirtualBox boot off the CD/DVD.

I have checked the boot order and the optical drive is set to take precedence over the hard disk. However, it keeps booting the guest OS regardless of what I do.

How do you boot off the CD/DVD after you've already installed an OS?

I have a similar issue, I will post a detailed description of my problem!!! Glad I'm not the only one experiencing this!!!

[mpack]

There's probably no need to post again about your issue, as the reason is given already in this topic: configurable boot order only applies to legacy BIOS, not EFI.

The standard for EFI mandates a boot manager, and it's the boot manager that decides what to boot.

[supmethods]

CentOS 7 does not have the option to boot off the DVD.

I can't press 'esc' in time, the system boots way to fast. How to I slow the boot process?

[fth0]

I can't press 'esc' in time, the system boots way to fast.

Three different ideas:

1. I tried it again with success, and my method is as follows: I position my left index finger on the ESC key, start the VM with a mouse click using my right hand, wait for the VM window to appear, and immediately start pressing the ESC key repeatedly with a rate of 5 to 10 key presses per second. I'll have to admit that this works only half the time for me, but key is to press the ESC key at the right time, hitting an invisible short time interval (it's not the first key press that hits).

2. You can slow down the VM setting System > Processors > Execution Cap to 50 %. Note that this will slow down the whole VM execution, and that the guest OS might crash because of seemingly unreliable virtual hardware.

3. Most modern OSes have tools to change the UEFI boot order, and using such a tool inside your guest OS would be the comfortable way to go.

[supmethods]

Thanks. Managed to get it to boot through method one.

There used to be a way to get the virtual machine to stay on the boot menu for the set number of seconds.

Do you know how I would do that?

[fth0]

Depends on which boot menu you're talking about. In the case of VirtualBox (U)EFI BIOS, I don't know. In the case of the VirtualBox legacy BIOS, search the VirtualBox User Manual for "--bioslogodisplaytime". In the case of other boot menus (e.g. GRUB), see the Linux distribution-specific documentation.