newbie problems

[noobieocer]

hi, my first time using virtual box. basically on ubuntu 8.10 i installed virtual box and started a machine with windows xp. then i installed guest additions and started seemless mode. i found it works perfectly when i have a windows xp applications opened or if the task menu is opened, so basically when ever there is something but the windows task bar is on display. but when i close all these apps i get this:



note the start menu isn't really opened just the image stuck there.

this is normal or did i do something wrong? note i;m also a linux noobie

also i looked at this guide:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=433359

and for step 4 i typed this into terminal:
VBoxManage startvm "Windows XP" -type vrdp

is there anything wrong with that?
i opened up sun xVM and it says my windows XP machine is running but i dont see a window anywhere with it running.

thanks for ur help

[Sasquatch]

That Ubuntu Forum post is no longer needed. What you did, was run the XP machine without a GUI. You have to use the VRDP feature of VB to access your VM. Start rdesktop and point it to your localhost. It should show you your VM. Now close it from there. Start the GUI normally with the Start Button in the main window. Now after the VM is booted and you're logged on, make sure that the GA are installed. If they are, you can go to seamless mode with the Machine menu option, or hit Hostkey + L (the Hostkey is by default the right ctrl key). To go out of seamless mode, hit the same key combination.

[noobieocer]

That Ubuntu Forum post is no longer needed. What you did, was run the XP machine without a GUI. You have to use the VRDP feature of VB to access your VM. Start rdesktop and point it to your localhost. It should show you your VM. Now close it from there. Start the GUI normally with the Start Button in the main window. Now after the VM is booted and you're logged on, make sure that the GA are installed. If they are, you can go to seamless mode with the Machine menu option, or hit Hostkey + L (the Hostkey is by default the right ctrl key). To go out of seamless mode, hit the same key combination.

okay,

You have to use the VRDP feature of VB to access your VM. Start rdesktop and point it to your localhost.

how do i do this? how do i start rdesktop? sorry linux noobie

[Sasquatch]

You don't need rdesktop or any other (V)RDP connectivity. You can start the VM using the default GUI, then when the GA are installed, you can hit Host+L, or select Seamless from the Machine menu.