RAW partition grub install fails..
Posted: 14. Aug 2009, 23:36
Hi,
First off thanks to Sun for providing us with an excellent Virtual box
, for personal use.. Used it for quite a while but only with hard disk image files. Since that will always slow things down I thought RAW access is a lot better, and I been using it before with other virtualization software with good results. So I followed the guide.. and ran first into the mbr problem (file not found) first thought it was a file that would be created when createrawvmdk was executed. Then I used the install-mbr program to make a a mbr file. Tried to install Kubuntu 9.04 but it failed on the grub install. Then I tried with a dd of /dev/sda that I currently run from so to say. Same problem.. grub fails to install .... This is a std install of 9.04 i.e. default values except for the install partition where I do a manual choice of partition 7 which is my RAW partition. Then I tried with the raw disk but without the mbr and choose to install grub on sda7 instead under the advanced tab in the kubuntu install probram but the same story grub and thereby the mbr fails to install..
The basic command I use is
the dd mbr was created like this
the other mbr was created like this
When I had the mbr I used the -mbr /path/to/mymbr.mbr when I issued the createrawvmdk command. And yes I deleted the vmdk file with help of the virtual box gui each time before I recreated it..
Ah I'm running Kubuntu 9.04 as my host OS, but with the Ubuntu 9.04 server kernel so I can use all my 6GB of ram but still be in 32bit mode..
Update:
Downgraded to the 3.0.2 release of Virtualbox -- since there was some post indicating that people been using raw disks and installed at least XP without problem.... But alas no luck
still the same grub install problem
Update2:
So my disk has 10 partitions (both logical and primary) partition 7 is a logical -- I tried to install XP and XP can't even see the partitions.... Hmm lets try with another disk and just primary partitions..
So here I am asking how should it be done?
Big thanks for all tip, solutions and pointers..
Dyna
PS: Yes I'm in the disk user group so I have rw access to the /dev/sda (yes I know not really good but will fix with it later)..
First off thanks to Sun for providing us with an excellent Virtual box
, for personal use.. Used it for quite a while but only with hard disk image files. Since that will always slow things down I thought RAW access is a lot better, and I been using it before with other virtualization software with good results. So I followed the guide.. and ran first into the mbr problem (file not found) first thought it was a file that would be created when createrawvmdk was executed. Then I used the install-mbr program to make a a mbr file. Tried to install Kubuntu 9.04 but it failed on the grub install. Then I tried with a dd of /dev/sda that I currently run from so to say. Same problem.. grub fails to install .... This is a std install of 9.04 i.e. default values except for the install partition where I do a manual choice of partition 7 which is my RAW partition. Then I tried with the raw disk but without the mbr and choose to install grub on sda7 instead under the advanced tab in the kubuntu install probram but the same story grub and thereby the mbr fails to install.. The basic command I use is
Code: Select all
VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename /home/dyna/app/virtual/disks/linux/linux_1.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions 7 -register -relative
Code: Select all
dd if=/dev/sda of=lin.mbr bs=512 count=1
Code: Select all
install-mbr --force lin.mbr
Ah I'm running Kubuntu 9.04 as my host OS, but with the Ubuntu 9.04 server kernel so I can use all my 6GB of ram but still be in 32bit mode..
Update:
Downgraded to the 3.0.2 release of Virtualbox -- since there was some post indicating that people been using raw disks and installed at least XP without problem.... But alas no luck
still the same grub install problemUpdate2:
So my disk has 10 partitions (both logical and primary) partition 7 is a logical -- I tried to install XP and XP can't even see the partitions..
.. Hmm lets try with another disk and just primary partitions.. So here I am asking how should it be done?
Big thanks for all tip, solutions and pointers..
Dyna
PS: Yes I'm in the disk user group so I have rw access to the /dev/sda (yes I know not really good but will fix with it later)..