Installing to MS Virtual PC - Mint can't find disk

[mgrusin]

Hello, I'm trying to install the latest Linux Mint to microsoft Virtual PC as ships with Windows 7 64 Pro. I know I have other install and VM options; I'd like to try it this way for now.

I gave the VM 2GB RAM and a 20GB fixed-size virtual disk. The VM boots into Linux Mint fine, and I can run the installer until it gets to the second screen which says that you need this much disk space and *must* have internet access (more on this below). I do have internet access in the VM, but the disk space has an X and the installer won't let me continue.

Quitting the installer and opening "computer" in the liveCD doesn't show the 20GB virtual disk. Neither does gparted or "df" or "fdisk -l".

Can anyone offer any advice towards getting the virtual hard drive to show up so I can install to it?

ALSO, I'd like to express my frustration with the decision to block installation without internet access. Luckily it was no problem in the VM this time, but this has been problematic for me in the past, either on machines that don't need internet access, or when the installer has hung in the middle of downloading all the updates when it couldn't find a required repository. IMO, blocking on internet access is unnecessary as the installation DVD should have recent enough versions of everything to produce a reasonably current install, and the user can easily update everything after the nominal install. At the very least, the installer should WARN the user about internet access being desirable, but PLEASE don't completely block the install. I have the same opinion about the disk space block - even though it's not working yet, I felt I "had" to use a fixed-size virtual disk instead of a dynamically-sized disk because the installer would have blocked me on a smaller disk; even though that disk would have grown as required.

Thanks for any advice and consideration of the above issue! -Mike.

[catweazel]

Hello, I'm trying to install the latest Linux Mint to microsoft Virtual PC as ships with Windows 7 64 Pro.

I have the same opinion about the disk space block - even though it's not working yet, I felt I "had" to use a fixed-size virtual disk instead of a dynamically-sized disk because the installer would have blocked me on a smaller disk; even though that disk would have grown as required.

Both of those issues have everything to do with Virtual PC and nothing to do with Mint. It is the job of the VM to tell the installer about the hdd you have setup, and it should not matter that the disk is created as dynamic because expansion of the underlying space is completely independent of any application.

The microsoft forums are a more appropriate place to obtain a quick resolution.

fwiw, I have been a Windwoes developer for more decades than I care to remember. MS made a total mess of Virtual PC post win7 release. The only way I could get my development environment setup corectly was to fall back to Virtual PC 2007. In order to get Virtual PC 2007 to work you will have to uninstall Windows Vitual PC and ignore the compatibility warnings that Windwoes 7 will issue at install time.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=28C97D22-6EB8-4A09-A7F7-F6C7A1F000B5