virtual box setup

[savage3306]

just lookin for some info on a basic vb setup, such as how much mem and how much disk size i should have to run xp, vista or 7 havent decided which yet.... ive got 8 gigs of ram, 8 gigs of swap, and a 640 gb hdd - 80 gb for / and 495 gb /home. reall y only setting this up for zune software, maybe a game if need be but i got the only game i really play runnin on mint already

[rbanavara]

Regarding the RAM, you can select almost half of your physical RAM (thats 4gb) to VM. Regarding the virtual HDD, you can allocate the maximum you can think you ever will use. Since the virtual HDD will occupy space only as and when needed, you can be sure that the space will not be un necessarily wasted.

[Pilosopong Tasyo]

Since the virtual HDD will occupy space only as and when needed, you can be sure that the space will not be un necessarily wasted

(Note: The following post contain extraneous info that might be considered beyond the scope of this thread, but included anyway as additional FYI.)

If the VHD is a dynamically-expanding type, then this is only true at the beginning. Over a period of time, dynamic VHDs will unnecessarily grow in size to a point where the actual filesize becomes bigger than the alloted maximum size set in the wizard. This is normal, due to the disk I/O while the VM is being used. Files that are created, deleted, shrunk, grown; temporary files created and used by the guest O/S; temporary files created and used by applications running inside the guest O/S; all these contribute to the space being added (and subsequently wasted) in the .VDI file. Even if you delete files inside a VHD, the reclaimed space won't reflect the actual space taken up by the .VDI file. Result? The .VDI file will just keep growing.

So, every now and then maintenance will have to be carried out to reduce the size of the .VDI file. In the case of Windows guests, maintenance involves running a utility like ccleaner to delete temporary/cached files and remove dead registry entries. Defragging the VHD, then running another utility like sdelete to zero-out the free space. Then run VBoxManage's compact command that does the actual shrinking of the .VDI file.

The alternative is to mark the .VDI file as immutable using VBoxManage. This makes the .VDI file 'read-only' as far as VirtualBox is concerned. Any changes done during the course of using the VM gets saved to a differencing disk instead of the .VDI file itself. After the session, the changes gets purged. So, the .VDI file maintains it's size.

Another alternative is use a fixed-sized VHD. No maintenance required since space is already allocated when the VHD is created. Obviously, the immediate disadvantage of this is that space gets allocated whether you use it or not.

Yet another alternative is the use of snapshots. I don't use snapshots, so you'll have to refer to the VBox User's Manual for more information about this one.

HTH clarify things.

[markcynt]

You'll also want to install Guest Additions for 3d acceleration.

This needs to be done while the Windows guest is in Safe Mode.

Just click Devices>Install Guest Additions while in Safe Mode

http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch04.html#guestadd-3d