VirtualBox/Preparing a disk image
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Instructions for preparing a VirtualBox disk image from a SoaS iso image file.
- (Taken from Dave Bauer's posting at http://schools.sugarlabs.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=27.)
- Updated 09 June 2010 with VirtualBox 3.2.4 and 32-bit Fedora.
Installing SoaS .iso image
- Create a new VM, choose a name, such as Mirabelle
- Choose Linux for the Operating System and Version Fedora (use 64 bit, if available)
- Choose Base Memory Size: 256 MB to match an XO-1, 512 or 1024 MB to match an XO-1.5
- Create a new virtual hard disk image with dynamically expanding storage of 2 GB
- Finish.
- Download the lastest SoaS, http://spins.fedoraproject.org/soas/#downloads, for Fedora 13.
- Mount the SoaS .iso image file as a CD-ROM in the newly created VM.
- Change the Network Attached to: Bridged Adapter (This allows for networking with the host computer.)
- Start the VM
- Enter an account name and startup Sugar.
- Open Terminal.
- su -
- parted
- mklabel msdos
- This makes a partition table.
- mkpart primary ext2 0 2048
- You will receive this message:
Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
Ignore/Cancel? - Enter (I)gnore
- You will receive this message:
- toggle 1 boot
- quit
- mke2fs /dev/sda1
- /LiveOS/livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb 200 --home-size-mb 200 --delete-home --unencrypted-home /dev/live /dev/sda1
(for earlier versions of SoaS- Blueberry - use /media/soas-2-blueberry/LiveOS/livecd-iso-to-disk
Strawberry - use /mnt/live/LiveOS/livecd-iso-to-disk)
- Blueberry - use /media/soas-2-blueberry/LiveOS/livecd-iso-to-disk
- the --overlay-size-mb NNN and --home-size-mb NNN options creates space for persistence of changes on the disk; otherwise, a liveOS disk is read-only. See LiveOS image.
The following optional parameters seem to be incompatible with soas-1-strawberry and soas-2-blueberry released versions. (The script completes successfully, but the virtual machine startup process has trouble finding the home directory and fails to complete.)- the --home-size-mb NNN option creates space for file storage in the /home/liveuser folder. (In the case where you you want to update the LiveOS image while keeping the user files, skip the new disk creation and parted steps, leave out the --home-size-mb NNN option at this step, and continue on.)
- the --unencrypted-home option prevents password protection and encryption on the /home/liveuser folder. This releaves the overhead on the compressed SquashFS, and should be more robust to file system failures (outside of security).
- the --delete-home option is used to avoid an error message while requesting both a new home (with --home-size-mb) and a persistent home (with --unencrypted-home). (You wouldn't use this option for the LiveOS upgrade case.)
<Terminal log>
[root@localhost ~]# parted
GNU Parted 2.1
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) mklabel msdos
(parted) mkpart primary ext2 0 2048
Warning: The resulting partition is not properly aligned for best performance.
Ignore/Cancel? I
(parted) toggle 1 boot
(parted) quit
Information: You may need to update /etc/fstab.
[root@localhost ~]# mke2fs /dev/sda1
mke2fs 1.41.10 (10-Feb-2009)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=4096 (log=2)
Fragment size=4096 (log=2)
Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
125184 inodes, 500000 blocks
25000 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=0
Maximum filesystem blocks=515899392
16 block groups
32768 blocks per group, 32768 fragments per group
7824 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
32768, 98304, 163840, 229376, 294912
Writing inode tables: done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 36 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
[root@localhost ~]# /LiveOS/livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb 200 --home-size-mb 200 --delete-home --unencrypted-home /dev/live /dev/sda1
Verifying image...
/dev/sr0: 0ce28e3947106fd37bab9317abf09938
Fragment sums: a3c6e5fd5fba11d2b4da71771e8732b63bcb62b841971f7f39ab5c187f64
Fragment count: 20
Checking: 100.0%
The media check is complete, the result is: PASS.
It is OK to use this media.
Copying live image to USB stick
Updating boot config file
Initializing persistent overlay file
0+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes (0 B) copied, 0.000150187 s, 0.0 kB/s
Initializing persistent /home
0+0 records in
0+0 records out
0 bytes (0 B) copied, 0.0039562 s, 0.0 kB/s
Formatting unencrypted /home
mke2fs 1.41.10 (10-Feb-2009)
Filesystem label=
OS type: Linux
Block size=1024 (log=0)
Fragment size=1024 (log=0)
Stride=0 blocks, Stripe width=0 blocks
51200 inodes, 204800 blocks
10240 blocks (5.00%) reserved for the super user
First data block=1
Maximum filesystem blocks=67371008
25 block groups
8192 blocks per group, 8192 fragments per group
2048 inodes per group
Superblock backups stored on blocks:
8193, 24577, 40961, 57345, 73729
Writing inode tables: done
Creating journal (4096 blocks): done
Writing superblocks and filesystem accounting information: done
This filesystem will be automatically checked every 26 mounts or
180 days, whichever comes first. Use tune2fs -c or -i to override.
tune2fs 1.41.10 (10-Feb-2009)
Setting maximal mount count to -1
Setting interval between checks to 0 seconds
Installing boot loader
/media/usbdev.XB8shz/syslinux is device /dev/sda1
USB stick set up as live image!
- shutdown -h now
Installing VirtualBox Guest Additions
- Unmount CD/DVD in VirtualBox settings, select 'Empty' for the CD/DVD device under 'Attributes'
- Start the virtual machine
- Open Terminal
- su -
- yum install dkms gcc
- (Other dependencies will be called into the installation.)
Note: The installation fails as of 27 June 2010 testing with 32-bit Fedora-14 while updating to glibc-common-2.12.90-3.i686
error: unpacking of archive failed on file /usr/lib/locale/locale-archive.tmpl: cpio: rename
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/yum/rpmtrans.py", line 387, in callback File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/yum/rpmtrans.py", line 457, in _instCloseFile File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/yum/rpmtrans.py", line 246, in _scriptout File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/yum/rpmtrans.py", line 367, in log_scriptlet_output File "/usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages/yum/rpmtrans.py", line 223, in _commit sqlite3.OperationalError: disk I/O error error: python callback <bound method RPMTransaction.callback of <yum.rpmtrans.RPMTransaction instance at 0xa088b8c>> failed, aborting!
(With 512 MB of memory allocated, the update seemed to hang on the glibc update. Boosting the memory to 1024 revealed the above failure.)
- The installation fails as of 27 June 2010 testing with 32-bit Fedora-14 while updating to glibc-common-2.12.90-3.i686
- Using
dmsetup statusthe overlay consumption measured (after rebooting from a hang with 512 MB of memory) moved from 23376/409600 to 406568/409600 sectors.
- Using
- Installed Fedora-14 soas-i386-20100613.15.iso with this command line,
/LiveOS/livecd-iso-to-disk --overlay-size-mb 1000 --home-size-mb 200 --delete-home --unencrypted-home /dev/live /dev/sda1dmsetup statusbefore and afteryum install dkms gcc- yielded these results: 21376/2048000 and 868152/2048000 (512-byte segments)
- So it looks like at least 425 MiBytes of overlay is required for that installation.
- After
./VboxLinuxAdditions-x86.rundmsetup statusshowed 928872/204800 or 454 MiBytes of the overlay consumed.
<Successful Terminal log from 21 May 2010 with Fedora 64 bit>
[root@localhost ~]# yum install dkms gcc Loaded plugins: presto, refresh-packagekit fedora/metalink | 13 kB 00:00 fedora | 4.3 kB 00:00 fedora/primary_db | 13 MB 00:18 updates/metalink | 15 kB 00:00 updates | 4.5 kB 00:00 updates/primary_db | 867 kB 00:00 Setting up Install Process Resolving Dependencies --> Running transaction check ---> Package dkms.noarch 0:2.1.0.1-1.fc12 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: kernel-devel for package: dkms-2.1.0.1-1.fc12.noarch ---> Package gcc.x86_64 0:4.4.4-2.fc13 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: cpp = 4.4.4-2.fc13 for package: gcc-4.4.4-2.fc13.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: cloog-ppl >= 0.15 for package: gcc-4.4.4-2.fc13.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: glibc-devel >= 2.2.90-12 for package: gcc-4.4.4-2.fc13.x86_64 --> Running transaction check ---> Package cloog-ppl.x86_64 0:0.15.7-1.fc12 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: libppl.so.7()(64bit) for package: cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.fc12.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: libppl_c.so.2()(64bit) for package: cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.fc12.x86_64 ---> Package cpp.x86_64 0:4.4.4-2.fc13 set to be updated ---> Package glibc-devel.x86_64 0:2.12-1 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: glibc-headers = 2.12-1 for package: glibc-devel-2.12-1.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: glibc-headers for package: glibc-devel-2.12-1.x86_64 ---> Package kernel-devel.x86_64 0:2.6.33.4-95.fc13 set to be installed --> Running transaction check ---> Package glibc-headers.x86_64 0:2.12-1 set to be updated --> Processing Dependency: kernel-headers >= 2.2.1 for package: glibc-headers-2.12-1.x86_64 --> Processing Dependency: kernel-headers for package: glibc-headers-2.12-1.x86_64 ---> Package ppl.x86_64 0:0.10.2-10.fc12 set to be updated --> Running transaction check ---> Package kernel-headers.x86_64 0:2.6.33.4-95.fc13 set to be updated --> Finished Dependency Resolution Dependencies Resolved ================================================================================================= Package Arch Version Repository Size ================================================================================================= Installing: dkms noarch 2.1.0.1-1.fc12 fedora 95 k gcc x86_64 4.4.4-2.fc13 fedora 10 M Installing for dependencies: cloog-ppl x86_64 0.15.7-1.fc12 fedora 82 k cpp x86_64 4.4.4-2.fc13 fedora 3.7 M glibc-devel x86_64 2.12-1 fedora 959 k glibc-headers x86_64 2.12-1 fedora 588 k kernel-devel x86_64 2.6.33.4-95.fc13 updates 6.3 M kernel-headers x86_64 2.6.33.4-95.fc13 updates 761 k ppl x86_64 0.10.2-10.fc12 fedora 1.1 M Transaction Summary ================================================================================================= Install 9 Package(s) Upgrade 0 Package(s) Total download size: 24 M Installed size: 60 M Is this ok [y/N]: y Downloading Packages: Setting up and reading Presto delta metadata fedora/prestodelta | 419 B 00:00 updates/prestodelta | 4.6 kB 00:00 Processing delta metadata Package(s) data still to download: 24 M (1/9): cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 82 kB 00:00 (2/9): cpp-4.4.4-2.fc13.x86_64.rpm | 3.7 MB 00:06 (3/9): dkms-2.1.0.1-1.fc12.noarch.rpm | 95 kB 00:00 (4/9): gcc-4.4.4-2.fc13.x86_64.rpm | 10 MB 00:17 (5/9): glibc-devel-2.12-1.x86_64.rpm | 959 kB 00:01 (6/9): glibc-headers-2.12-1.x86_64.rpm | 588 kB 00:00 (7/9): kernel-devel-2.6.33.4-95.fc13.x86_64.rpm | 6.3 MB 00:02 (8/9): kernel-headers-2.6.33.4-95.fc13.x86_64.rpm | 761 kB 00:00 (9/9): ppl-0.10.2-10.fc12.x86_64.rpm | 1.1 MB 00:02 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 718 kB/s | 24 MB 00:33 Running rpm_check_debug Running Transaction Test Transaction Test Succeeded Running Transaction Installing : cpp-4.4.4-2.fc13.x86_64 1/9 Installing : ppl-0.10.2-10.fc12.x86_64 2/9 Installing : cloog-ppl-0.15.7-1.fc12.x86_64 3/9 Installing : kernel-devel-2.6.33.4-95.fc13.x86_64 4/9 Installing : kernel-headers-2.6.33.4-95.fc13.x86_64 5/9 Installing : glibc-headers-2.12-1.x86_64 6/9 Installing : glibc-devel-2.12-1.x86_64 7/9 Installing : gcc-4.4.4-2.fc13.x86_64 8/9 Installing : dkms-2.1.0.1-1.fc12.noarch 9/9 Installed: dkms.noarch 0:2.1.0.1-1.fc12 gcc.x86_64 0:4.4.4-2.fc13 Dependency Installed: cloog-ppl.x86_64 0:0.15.7-1.fc12 cpp.x86_64 0:4.4.4-2.fc13 glibc-devel.x86_64 0:2.12-1 glibc-headers.x86_64 0:2.12-1 kernel-devel.x86_64 0:2.6.33.4-95.fc13 kernel-headers.x86_64 0:2.6.33.4-95.fc13 ppl.x86_64 0:0.10.2-10.fc12 Complete!
- cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS_3.2.0_61806/
- ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-amd64.run
- (This fails currently. More testing and debugging needed.)
- If upgrading from one VirtualBox version to another, start with fresh virtual disks and machines built with the new versions to avoid breakage.
- reboot
<Terminal log:>
[root@localhost ~]# cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS_3.2.0_61806/ [root@localhost VBOXADDITIONS_3.2.0_61806]# ./VBoxLinuxAdditions-amd64.run Verifying archive integrity... All good. Uncompressing VirtualBox 3.2.0 Guest Additions for Linux........ VirtualBox Guest Additions installer Building the VirtualBox Guest Additions kernel modules [FAILED] (Your system does not seem to be set up to build kernel modules. Look at /var/log/vboxadd-install.log to find out what went wrong) Installing the Window System drivers Installing X.Org Server 1.8 modules [ OK ] Setting up the Window System to use the Guest Additions [ OK ] You may need to restart the hal service and the Window System (or just restart the guest system) to enable the Guest Additions. Installing graphics libraries and desktop services componen[ OK ]
Configure Screen
- Edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to match the following section: (This is for 1200x900 (XO) and other resolutions.)
# VirtualBox generated configuration file
# based on /etc/X11/xorg.conf.
Section "Monitor"
Identifier "Monitor[0]"
ModelName "VirtualBox Virtual Output"
VendorName "Sun Microsystems Inc"
EndSection
Section "Device"
BoardName "VirtualBox Graphics"
Driver "vboxvideo"
Identifier "Device[0]"
VendorName "Sun Microsystems Inc"
EndSection
Section "Screen"
Identifier "Screen[0]"
Device "Device[0]"
Monitor "Monitor[0]"
DefaultDepth 16
SubSection "Display"
Depth 16
Modes "1200x900" "1024x768" "800x600"
EndSubSection
EndSection
Clear user data
Finally,
- Open Terminal
- Terminal
- rm -rf ~/.sugar (if distributing image)
- su -
- shutdown -h now
- Now you can share the VDI file.
Backup discs
It would be wise to maintain a clone of your virtual disk image to restart if the working copy is damaged:
- From host command line (Windows cmd, or Linux terminal) See VirtualBox Help section 8.14.
- VBoxManage clonehd <uuid>|<filename> <outputfile> [-format VDI|VMDK|VHD|RAW|<other>] [-remember]
- Reclone any virtual hard disks you would like to archive.
SSH connections
To enable SSH communications, we need to permit no passwords in the ssh daemon configuration:
- in Terminal,
- su -
- vi /etc/ssh/sshd_config
- [add] PermitEmptyPasswords yes
- :wq <Enter>
- service sshd restart