What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB download?

Discussions related to using VirtualBox on Mac OS X hosts.
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tonyt3
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Joined: 19. Nov 2011, 19:14
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What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB download?

Post by tonyt3 »

When I installed VB 4.1.6 on my iMac (10.7.2), a Windows XP guest os came with it. Installed automatically, and seemed to get itself some updates. Is this really a full version of XP? I can't hack into it w/o knowing an appropriate p/w obviously. I don't know if this is just a demo? or a real version of XP. I've read the How To manual fairly carefully and don't see anything related to this. Thanks very much,
tony
Perryg
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Re: What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB downloa

Post by Perryg »

Operating systems do not come with the VirtualBox program.
tonyt3
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Re: What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB downloa

Post by tonyt3 »

@PerryG ...
Thanks for answering ... however ...
well, maybe no Guest OS is _supposed_ to come with Virtualbox, but when I tell you it really did, I am not making this up. Either it is a demo to show me what it is supposed to look like, or somehow it got screwed up and an XP pro SP 1 came with it. I have played with these things since the early days, really, and I am not a nut cake (or at least that's my story and I'm sticking with it). Apparently you are not aware of why this odd thing happened?
thanks
tony

PS I recently have given away two Windoze machines with Linux but still have several Macs
Perryg
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Re: What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB downloa

Post by Perryg »

Where did you get the copy of VirtualBox?
tonyt3
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Re: What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB downloa

Post by tonyt3 »

Perryg wrote:Where did you get the copy of VirtualBox?
I downloaded it from the virtual box web page. just a few days ago. strictly legit.

it is 4.1.6, 74713-OSX.dmg; the download file is only 90.0 megs, so I did not see how it could contain a full copy of XP;
so I thought _ maybe _ this was simply a demo built-in to show the user how it is supposed to look. but nothing about that in
the intro manual. Easy enough to delete that guest, but .... a genuine puzzlement.

( and if you wonder ... :-) I really am cold sober )

thanks,
tony
Sharpie
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Re: What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB downloa

Post by Sharpie »

tonyt3 wrote:
Perryg wrote:Where did you get the copy of VirtualBox?
I downloaded it from the virtual box web page. just a few days ago. strictly legit.

it is 4.1.6, 74713-OSX.dmg; the download file is only 90.0 megs, so I did not see how it could contain a full copy of XP;
so I thought _ maybe _ this was simply a demo built-in to show the user how it is supposed to look. but nothing about that in
the intro manual. Easy enough to delete that guest, but .... a genuine puzzlement.

( and if you wonder ... :-) I really am cold sober )

thanks,
tony
VirtualBox does not bundle an XP VM. As you noted, 90 MB is way too small for something like that.

Most likely explanation is that there was an XP VM lurking on your machine, leftover from some unknown source, and VirtualBox noticed it and automatically added it to your list of virtual machines.
stefan.becker
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Re: What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB downloa

Post by stefan.becker »

+1

As you see, vbox for Mac has around 90 MB.

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.1.6/

And that is only VBOX. An XP needs as a Minimum 1 GB packed.
tonyt3
Posts: 4
Joined: 19. Nov 2011, 19:14
Primary OS: Mac OS X other
VBox Version: OSE Debian
Guest OSses: Windows XP

Re: What's with the XP Guest OS that came with my VB downloa

Post by tonyt3 »

OK, guys, thanks. I still do not understand how this happened, but at least I can conclude that it is not part of any standard installation. I've used Parallels before, but never VB. strange.

tony

======
Hardware is the part you can kick.
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