virtualbox.org

I decided to try a slightly older version of Virtual Box, so that I can follow some tutorials outside of Virtual Box forums, but after I downloaded Virtual Box version 3.2.10, I got the following error message when I tried to execute the installation:

Your download was most likely corrupted. Have you checked the checksum with the one given on the website?

You may want to try 3.2.22 while you are at it. It would essentially look and work the same as 3.2.10 but with all the latest bug fixes.

available here: 3.2.22

F-Zero_Sam wrote:I decided to try a slightly older version of Virtual Box, so that I can follow some tutorials outside of Virtual Box forums

Why on earth would you want to do that? I know from experience that most of the outside tutorials are garbage, hastily written by guys who had less VirtualBox experience than you do. OTOH the tutorials on the VirtualBox forums are written by experts and for the most part are updated regularly.

Personally I would never go back to a version that didn't support cloning of VMs, and whose file structure made it impossible to back up a VM - even the current VBox user manual admits that that old folder structure was a mistake.

I have to agree with everything mpack said. I just didn't want to question your motives. I would never install a version of VirtualBox that old on my own machines.

I guess I got lucky. I successfully downloaded Virtual Box 3.2.10 Setup just now, but I still want to be careful. I couldn't skip this in the Installation Wizard process:

What does it mean by network connection?

That just means while installing the network add-ins, your network card will disconnect from the network temporarily. Any downloads, network-based backups, internet connections, etc., you have running will fail and need to be restarted. If you're remoting in to the host, you'll lose the remote connection, and have to reconnect. But the loss of connection is temporary and quick. Besides that, you'll not have any problems.

BTW, I can totally understand wanting to install an older version, for testing purposes or even to use on a production machine that you really want to have run stable. I was not really put off by version 3's folder structure, either, for backups. It's nowhere as easy as version 4's folder structure, but good notes on the guest settings, the copied vdi, and Mpack's CloneVDI (if needed) were enough for a successful restore. That said, if you can use at least version 4.2 for production environments, cloning guests and the all-in-one-place guest folder arrangement are much easier to handle, move, and back up.

VirtualBox v4.0.0 was first released in 2010, so it certainly isn't necessary or wise to go back to v3.x in order to find a stable release.

We are just now getting over the hump whereby long term users of VBox 3.x have mostly finished converting their VMs to the v4 folder structure. All advice on these forums will assume the v4 folder structure. IMHO deliberately creating VMs in the obsolete format today is totally insane, so I intend to wash my hands of this.

Another reason to install version 3 on a host: One does IT for a person who operates on the "If it ain't broke don't fix it" paradigm and who still runs version 3 successfully on their hosts and doesn't want to roll up. One would need to make sure that maintenance for one's older-version client would work before implementing something, so one might want to experiment in the same version that the client uses.

Such complex rationalisations remind of the saying

When you assume, you make a**** of you and . . .