virtualbox.org

Hi there, people.
After multiple attempts literally over years previously to install Linuxes in VBox, none ever worked for me. I Invariably experienced difficulty in getting the ability to work between the two systems to share files.
AND it was abysmally slow.
I hoped it might have been resolved by now - but have exactly the same problems.

I downloaded an ISO, nominated it in VBox and everything seemingly went on ok.
Apart from a "scary" "this will erase the Drive" message I setup a dedicated 8 Gig Drive.
I have it sort of working but like a dog.
40 secs plus to respond INSIDE the program itself from a mouse click..

I need to install GUest Additions - and info said it was supposed to be on the ISO Disk and so I assumed auto-installed.
(Always believed it was a necessity to have cross-platform transfer capability. But previously it was an annoying separate install, apparently it is still)
I cannot see how to incorporate them to be able to exchange files etc..

I am forced to use Windows as the Host as my work requires me to use the Nuance Dragon Voice-2-Text program which only works in Windows, but strangely, will activate inside a Linux VBox !

ANY help greatly appreciated as I've just finished my second trojan/virus infection this year, thanks to the miracle of the Internet and Microsoft's ever-growing vulnerability.

Cheers from Downunder

Hi people,
Forgot to include this error message re trying to install the EXtension pack :

Failed to install the Extension Pack C:/Users/xxxxxxxxxxxx/AppData/Local/Temp/Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.2.16-86992-1.vbox-extpack.

The installer failed with exit code 1: VBoxExtPackHelperApp.exe: error: Membership in the Administrators group is required to perform this action.

Result Code: E_FAIL (0x80004005)
Component: ExtPackManager
Interface: IExtPackManager {3295e6ce-b051-47b2-9514-2c588bfe7554}

8GB is a very small drive by modern standards. You could be losing a lot of performance to disk congestion alone.

Anyway, you don't give a lot of details to go on. Start by posting a VM log file. For how, see Minimum information needed for assistance.

mpack wrote:8GB is a very small drive by modern standards. You could be losing a lot of performance to disk congestion alone.

Anyway, you don't give a lot of details to go on. Start by posting a VM log file. For how, see Minimum information needed for assistance.

Hi there,
But 8G is the officially recommended default in the install and other advice I've read.
But it certainly could not be a contributor to this precise problem from a logical point of view.

I went to the internal URL you gave and it might as well be in Chinese for a non-geek
Seems like the instructions there are for a Linux Host??
(An initial search didn't find them on my system so far)
I'm amazed that in 2013 there still isn't a simple GUI or util to collect and forward this information (like it is in Windows and other forums).

But, as I was told many times in my other attempts - my wanting to use Windoze as Host makes it too difficult and so people just went away.....

So I'm still stuck with what I know is a VERY common install fault problem which has happened by following the actual recommended install procedure
BTW: I'm not committed to any Linux version. I'm fully open to suggestions. Ubuntu was only selected as it is the most popular for the peasantry of whom millions have got it to work - but don't know about it on VBox..

I'm really hoping that out there is someone who has actually installed it and can simply give me the right answers to filling in the options for a basic system with the vital (and mysterious) standalone Guest Options.

Apparently it is much more difficult to install Linux on the system compared to running it off a disk as my current research suggests!!!
But I would like to have a VBox setup that can swap data/files across to Windoze and back

Oh, BTW: here is a simple example of a nice util from another Site re the Box in question. I didn't include it as it wasn't really pertinent to the problem at hand, which is specifically a VBox install problem.

Thanks in advance for any help,
Himagain

Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium, Service Pack 1, 32 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 430 @ 2.27GHz, x64 Family 6 Model 37 Stepping 2
Processor Count: 4
RAM: 3565 Mb
Graphics Card: NVIDIA GeForce 310M, 512 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 230737 MB, Free - 182720 MB; D: Total - 230739 MB, Free - 178882 MB; F: Total - 953868 MB, Free - 821374 MB;
Motherboard: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., R780/R778
Antivirus: Microsoft Security Essentials, Updated and Enabled

Post the VM log file as a zip attachment. The VM log file is called "VBox.log", and can be found in the "Logs" subfolder of your VM folder. Alternatively you can right click the VM in the GUI and select "Show Log", in which case I only need the first log file. I'll respond again when a zipped log has been posted.

Hi Mpak,
I THOUGHT there had to be an easy way...... but I missed the "logs" option in the VM menu itself
BUT its Directory has a period in the Dir list before its name...

SO here it is:

Thanks!

VBox.log wrote: 00:00:00.820400 Installed Extension Packs:
00:00:00.820482 None installed!

As you noted, you do not have the extension pack installed. If it says you need to be in admin mode then I would run VirtualBox.exe using "Run as administrator". See here for general instructions on installing the extension pack.

VBox.log wrote: 00:00:00.813985 Host RAM: 3565MB total, 2530MB available
...
00:00:01.446607 RamSize <integer> = 0x0000000020000000 (536 870 912, 512 MB)

Your host has 2500MB free, but you only allocated 512MB to the guest. You should be able to afford twice that. Slow startup can a sign of low memory, though it can also be a sign of network problems, e.g. if you overrode any of the networking defaults. This is a 32bit guest, right?

Text editor wrote:"Additions" - not found!

The GAs have not been installed. Please section 4.2.2.1 of the user manual, which describes how to install Linux GAs. In particular do not assume that anything autoinstalls. The only thing that happens when you select "Devices|Install Guest Additions" is that a virtual CD is connected to the VM. What happens next depends on the VM. I.e. if autorun doesn't kick in then you have to run the executable manually, after taking care of the prerequisites described in the manual.

VBox.log wrote: 00:00:00.871143 File system of 'C:\Users\Himagain\VirtualBox VMs\UBUNTU\Snapshots/{26947f7b-3b4e-400e-9b1d-7dae4e0f7e18}.vdi' is ntfs

I see you have created at least once snapshot. You also earlier mentioned the 8GB disk. Both can lead to more poor performance. The disk should have been dynamic, probably with a logical size around 32GB, and snapshots should be avoided until the OS is fully installed and established. In fact snapshots should really be avoided altogether if you value your data.