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VirtualBox Configuration that Can be Up & Running Instantly

Posted: 2. Apr 2011, 13:20
by vbqwejst
How to create a virtualbox with a pre-installed OS and applications up and running instantly in any PC?

I'm using shared PCs in the library which have special hardware that will regenerate the harddisk image after a reboot. Although I can use their hard disk freely but any applications installed will be lost after reboot. I want to be able to run my applications instantly without having to reinstall everything after every reboot.

VirtualBox is a good solution. Installing VirtualBox is the only overhead I need to bear with. But the problem is that I have quite a large volume of preinstalled applications which cannot be fitted into a single DVD/USB drive. The PCs have 1 DVD drive and many USB ports, so I can combine them for my need. But, that would means my VDI file must be split into many physical files (1 in DVD, the rest in as many USB drives as needed) in order to be up and running INSTANTLY (ok I can zip a large VDI into multiple DVDs but that requires a lengthy unzip process).

How to split VDI into multiple files? And what other configurations best suit my needs. Instant up and running is the key requirement - apart from installing VirtualBox itself.

Re: VirtualBox Configuration that Can be Up & Running Instantly

Posted: 2. Apr 2011, 13:28
by vbox4me2
iScsi is your answer here, can be done for free with freenas or openfiler.

Re: VirtualBox Configuration that Can be Up & Running Instantly

Posted: 2. Apr 2011, 13:38
by vbqwejst
vbox4me2 wrote:iScsi is your answer here, can be done for free with freenas or openfiler.
Does it mean I need to setup some file server in my home first?

Re: VirtualBox Configuration that Can be Up & Running Instantly

Posted: 2. Apr 2011, 14:03
by vbox4me2
Ah I got it the wrong way, see portable VBox, a different product but not supported here. A 16gb usb stick can be as little as 25 euro's. Or 128gb if you got the cash.