[SOLVED]run bootable disc with pc already booted?

[sgull]

I don't think I've ever attempted inserting/running a bootable disc in the CDROM drive while the pc is already booted up. For example, I have the UBCD (Ultimate Bootable CD) disc with all those diagnostic-type programs. I've had occasion to try it out a little, exploring it etc. but only after inserting it into unbooted machine and having it boot into its own "environment". But what I'm wondering is whether if I already have the machine booted up into it's already installed and running OS, is it fine to still just go ahead and insert the UBCD into the CDROM drive and expect to be able to run and utilize the programs on the disc. Or are bootable discs and/or the programs within them usually only expected to be run by themselves, and not while the pc is concurrently booted up otherwise?

[xenopeek]

Probably that wont work, but give it a try! See what is on the bootable CD if you open it in your file browser

(Clue: usually the filesystem on a bootable CD is squashed, so you can't actually directly run the binaries without extracting files. And, if it is for a different Linux version, there would be probably problems with library versions...)

However, in VirtualBox you can of course boot from a CD while your pc is already booted up.

[sgull]

Probably that wont work, but give it a try!

If it probably won't work, maybe I shouldn't even bother trying. I want to avoid some unusual/complicated outcome, something going wacky I'd have to deal with because of trying to do something not typically done.

I was hoping of being able to run at least one of the programs on the UBCD, and then take some screen captures screen shots) from the program output that I can save and have available after closing the program and removing the disc. But the screen capture application runs with the OS (Linux Mint 12) loaded, so I'm figuring in order to get a screen capture from a program off the bootable disc I'd somehow have to have the bootable disc running while the OS is loaded too.

[xenopeek]

Nothing untoward will happen; but having a look around the disc contents would have perhaps given you some more understanding of how it works

As for taking screenshots, you can use VirtualBox for that.

[sgull]

in VirtualBox you can of course boot from a CD while your pc is already booted up.

When starting VirtualBox the wizard asks me to select the type of guest OS I plan to install into the virtual machine. But in my immediate case for this situation, because I'm not necessarily wanting to install a guest OS but instead (as described in topic discussion here) am just wanting to be able to utilize VirtualBox so I can run the stuff installed on the bootable cd even though the pc has already been booted up in the normal manner, how would I go about setting up the VirtualBox to allow me to do so? Bypass the wizard or through some round-about method with the VirtualBox?

[xenopeek]

You have to create a virtual machine to host the guest OS that you will boot from the DVD.

I'd suggest as OS select Linux or Other, and as Version select Linux 2.6 or again Other. Next step assign it some memory; should be less than the RAM in your computer, but I'd suggest giving it at least 512 MB if you can spare that. In the next step, remove the check mark on Boot Hard Disk (so it won't create a hard disk), accept the warning and continue. Done! Now click Settings, go to Storage, click the "Empty" underneath the IDE Controller, and then click on the CD icon on the right. Select "Host Drive ...". Done! Insert UBCD in the drive, and click Start to boot the virtual machine.

As for the OS selection, the VirtualBox manual has this to say about it:

Depending on your selection, VirtualBox will enable or disable certain VM settings that your guest operating system may require.

That is more applicable to when you actually install the guest OS, or when you need to run 64 bits software. As UBCD is 32 bits, doesn't really matter I think.

[sgull]

[quote="xenopeek"Next step assign it some memory; should be less than the RAM in your computer, but I'd suggest giving it at least 512 MB if you can spare that. [/quote]

While setting up the virtual machine as you suggested, while attempting to assigning 512 MBmemory for the machine, VirtualBox program presented the following message:

"On the System page, you have assigned more than 50% of your computer's memory (992.00 MB) to the virtual machine. There might not be enough memory left for your host operating system. Continue at your own risk"

That sounds a little scary to me. It seems obvious that I should probably attempt assigning it less memory. But before such attempt some further comment/suggestion/advice you may offer in this regard would probably be helpful to me and most appreciated. Thanks again.

[doktornotor]

I do not really get what you are after here. Running diagnostics on a virtual machine will diagnose the virtual machine (unless you want to run some network tests or whatnot). Sounds kinda useless, don't you think?

[sgull]

I do not really get what you are after here.

All I'm really trying to achieve right now is to be able to get some screen shots saved of some of the detailed partition information etc of my laptop hard disk which can be obtained from the Gparted program which happens to be included within the Parted Magic utilities which are on the UBCD disc. I realize a more sensible approach would probably be to just install Gparted itself onto my hard disk, but it I was of the notion that maybe since I already had the program on the disc why not use it from there, if I could, instead of installing the program onto my hard disk. Maybe though, it can't work that way because if I run the UBCD as a virtual machine it can only look at itself and not my hard disk at all. Is that the case? If so, or if this is too unusual altogether I'll just abandon the idea and download and install Gparted onto the hard disk directly, for now.

[doktornotor]

Well yes, you will only make the screenshot of the virtual HDD layout.

[sgull]

Sounds kinda useless, don't you think?

Yeah

[xenopeek]

GParted is installed by default on Linux Mint, at least on mine And yes, running the diagnostics from inside a vritual machine will diagnose the virtual machine, and not your actual hardware. I hadn't actually focussed on your specific application, just considered how to run any bootable CD while already booted into your system.

With regards to VirtualBox and memory, sure you can give it less memory (256 MiB). That won't let you run something like Linux Mint 12 though, you need more for that.

[Bob E]

All I'm really trying to achieve right now is to be able to get some screen shots saved of some of the detailed partition information etc of my laptop hard disk

You could download gparted (by itself, not part of Parted Magic) and run it on your system. Gparted has a screenshot tool on its desktop. All you have to do is have a flash drive or memory card to save the file to.

Here is the current stable version. http://sourceforge.net/projects/gparted ... ve-stable/
I've used it a few times over the past few days.

[sgull]

Gparted did not come installed with Mint 12, at least on mine. Recently, I did download Gparted program and burned it to CD (bootable!), but when I first ran that CD in my machine (booted from that CD), I got a lot of initial loading text data or whatever you might call it (white shell-type text scrolling on black screen) appearing as the program was seemingly starting up. I then encountered an unexpected issue where instead of the program starting the screen remained black and nothing further occurred, whereupon I could only to hard shutdown and reboot the pc. It was suggested to me that such as just described is a known issue that Gparted by itself off its bootable CD is not compatible in some respect with some pc hardware (I can't recall what, I believe it was graphics driver related), and that I should instead acquire the UBCD to utlilize Gparted from, which I did, and of which I have no such issue.

As Bob E suggests I should just download Gparted onto my system and run it from there, especially if it already has screenshot tool. However I don't have a flash drive or, as far as I know, a "memory card" to save screenshot files to.