several inquiries/ issues regarding VB

[PC guy]

Hi,

I'm a brand new user to VirtualBox. I am using an XP host and VirtualBox to tryout Win 7 as a guest. Installation was fairly simple and it's working, but there are some inquires/ minor issues I was hoping to discuss.

First of all, I'm wondering how to configure my system so that when my guest (Win 7) is running and online, there is no online connection to the XP host. In other words, I just want Win 7 through VB to be able to access the DSL network and not XP or vice versa, but not both at once.

Another question has to do with memory. Since I'm using XP as host, my normal RAM has a 2 GB limit. My motherboard is capable of supporting up to 8 GB, but I have never upgraded due to the limitations of XP. If I upgraded the memory, even though my host couldn't use any more, would the guest? How would I configure the guest?

Is it possible to make a copy of the virtual guest and then run this as the main host at some point (I plan on doing away with Xp entirely at some point and just running Win 7 as may main single OS and I wonder if this virtual host could serve as the main, bootable partition loaded onto a blank hard drive)?

I tried to run VB inside Sandboxie, but as the guest (win 7) started booting, it demanded more hard drive space and kept stalling. I would try to increase hd space in VB, but it didn't remedy the situation. Suggestions would be appreciated.

As I am typing, I am noticing a lag where I am getting double, triple or more letters in words.... sort of a lag (I am usiiiing (example) the Win 7 guest now as I type in VB). Cause and rrrrrrremedy?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Jon I

[BillG]

1. That is very difficult (and it depends on what networking scheme you are running). The only way for the guest to access the network is to share the host's connection or have a connection of its own (ie a physical NIC dedicated to the vm). If you want to go down that path (and have two NICs) the settings are in the properties of each NIC (from the host OS), not in VirtualBox.

2. The memory for a vm must be allocated before it starts. If there is not enough memory it cannot start. A vm can use more memory than the host (otherwise, it would never run) but only up to the addressing capability of the OS. For 32-bit XP that is less than 4G (because of devices which have to be addressed which lock up some addresses).

3. It is possible to convert a vm to a physical machine (and vice versa) but there are plenty of problems. The main one is the difference in "hardware". It is most unlikely that a physical machine will have the same NIC, video card etc as the vm so it is unlikely that the OS would boot.

[PC guy]

Thanks, Bill. I thought maybe it would be difficult because I don't understand how to set up from the documentation i.e. host and guest not sharing same DSL network. Unless there was a simple way, I guess I'll leave it as is. I still wonder, however, if there's a way to work out placing Virtualbox into Sandboxie and running the guest (Win 7) that way. So far, I keep getting messages about more hard drive space needed, but when I add the space, it doesn't help.

Yes, I allocated the memory when I started. Having only 2 GB total to work with, I was only able to allocate 1 GB to Win 7 as a guest. Not very much, I know. So, if I upgraded the RAM to 4 GB, then maybe I could use 3 GB of that for the guest(?). Probably wishful thinking, but I still may consider the upgrade. BTW, are there any versions that you know of of XP that allow more than 3-4 GB RAM?

My idea behind the virtual image was to use it on a blank hard drive for this pc. All the drivers and installation would remain as they are. I just wondered if I could somehow make the image "real" when the time came to use for this pc (in other words, not use VB as a container, just the OS by itself based on the virtual machine image).

BTW, I solved the sluggish mouse/ keyboard by installing guest additions, although the problem is not completely solved. There is still a small delay about every 10 seconds, but at least I can type and move the mouse without much difficulty.

Thanks,
Jon

[BillG]

The only version of XP which addresses more that about 3.5G is the 64-bit version.

There are no safe shortcuts to doing a p2v (or v2p). Even if you re-install on the same hardware the OS will not have drivers for the "new" hardware. A vm uses its own virtualized devices, not the physical devices in the host machine. You may need to do a repair install to fix the driver problems and get it to boot.