[GRLUG] VirtualBox question

[John-Thomas Richards]

On Thu, Mar 05, 2009 at 12:51:40PM -0500, John-Thomas Richards wrote:
> On Thu, Mar 05, 2009 at 11:05:37AM -0500, Bill Littlejohn wrote:
[snip]
> > I haven't used the shared folders feature, but certainly you would have to
> > install the V.B. tools into the running livecd environment for it to work. I
> > used an external USB drive instead.
> > You can't access your system /dev/sda1 partition directly from the VM,
> > because your running your system off that disk - thus the need to make a
> > copy of the partition.
> > Assuming you have an external drive with enough free space attached as
> > /dev/sdb, you could do
> > "dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/dev/sdb1/restore.img"
> > If you wanted to write the image to your home folder and then get folder
> > sharing working, then you could do
> > "dd if=/dev/sda1 of=/home/me/restore.img"
> > After you have the image file, and can access it from the VM, then just do
> > the reverse _in the VM_ to write it to the virtual disk partition. i.e. "dd
> > if=/dev/sdb1/restore.img of=/dev/sda1"
> > Be sure you understand where dd is reading and writing before executing the
> > commands - it can hose your system quickly if you reverse the commands. "man
> > dd"
> > Bill
> 
> VirtualBox OSE does not appear to have USB support.  I am running the
> latest in Debian Squeeze (2.1.4_OSE).  I have the restore partition on a
> USB drive, ready to copy to the virtual drive, but I cannot access them.
> I am trying to figure out shared folders.  Once I have the files copied
> to the virtual drive, I am sure I won't have a problem.
> 
> Thanks for the help!
> -- 
> john-thomas

I was able to get the shared folders working.  I had to actually install
an operating system into one partition since I needed to load an .iso
with the necessary files (a LiveCD is a mounted CD; you get one or the
other).  I was able to copy the files to the new recovery partition
(within the VM).  I added the partition to GRUB and was able to boot the
recovery installation.  I believe I am now at a complete standstill as
the installer is unable to find my disk so the install fails.  Bleh.

It was a good idea, I suppose.  Bill, thanks for all your work in trying
to figure this out.
-- 
john-thomas
------
I place economy among the first and most important republican virtues, and
public debt as the greatest of the dangers to be feared. To preserve our
independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt.
Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author (1743-1826)