Portable VirtualBox [VB launcher utility]

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Master of Dice · #61 Post by **Master of Dice** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:14 am

Ok. I thought you have a tray icon like the original launcher. So forget it. Everything is perfect.

garbanzo · #62 Post by **garbanzo** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:45 am

just want to say it's working great for me so far. what a fantastic program, and a fantastic portable launcher as well!

i managed to get DOS installed but it's been far too long since i worked with it, i couldn't get drivers loaded to install Windows 3.1. anyway i can't find my license for that so i scrapped the plan and went straight for Windows 95. installed it with my old key and it's working fine! might 'upgrade' to 98 later, we'll see how it goes.

now i have just one more question - how do i get files into virtualbox? the only way i have thought of is to make an iso and mount it - will that work? is there a better method? i have some old freeware games i want to play, but they're just in folders on my hard drive...

m^(2) · #63 Post by **m^(2)** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 1:57 am

garbanzo wrote:just want to say it's working great for me so far. what a fantastic program, and a fantastic portable launcher as well!

i managed to get DOS installed but it's been far too long since i worked with it, i couldn't get drivers loaded to install Windows 3.1. anyway i can't find my license for that so i scrapped the plan and went straight for Windows 95. installed it with my old key and it's working fine! might 'upgrade' to 98 later, we'll see how it goes.

now i have just one more question - how do i get files into virtualbox? the only way i have thought of is to make an iso and mount it - will that work? is there a better method? i have some old freeware games i want to play, but they're just in folders on my hard drive...

There are several methods, not sure whether all will work with Win95.
The first are shared folders. You need to install VBox guest additions (Menu Devices) to make it work. This installation is recommended anyway, it improves performance and let's you move cursor in/out of the VM window w/out pressing the host button. It also offers clipboard sharing.
You found a second one.
A third would be use of USB device - VBox lets you share them.
And finally, you can set a FTP server on one machine and connect from the other.

garbanzo · #64 Post by **garbanzo** » Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:05 am

thanks again for the help. it seems no guest additions are available for 95/98: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Guest_OSes

but i'll make do by building an ISO of the games i want to run, that's simple enough.

640x480, 16 colors... ah, the memories!

~edit~

i've given up on this. all i wanted was support for win16 games, and i just learned that Windows 3.1 works great in dosbox, so i've taken that route. i even have it running 1024x768 in 256 colors with 2 megs video ram, and emulating a sound blaster 16. perfect! plus with dosbox you have full access to the file system which is nice for my needs.

still, thanks for the help, i'm keeping virtualbox in storage, i'm sure i'll use it later

m^(2) · #65 Post by **m^(2)** » Wed Jul 02, 2008 12:44 pm

Updated once again.

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[!] On some machines local VBox detection didn't work
[!] Typo caused uninstallation issues
[+] Additional error checks
[+] Installer
[~] Lower memory usage

Download

castman · #66 Post by **castman** » Thu Jul 03, 2008 9:10 am

Sorry for saiying bullshit about VirtualPC 2007, it hasn't any 64 bit support. The only that has whole support is VMware!!

So I deleted VirtualPC 2007 after discovering it!
In addition of I deleted VBox 1.6.2 w/ the last Germany launcher.
Now I am using only VBox 1.6.0 w/ your last launcher (adam's launcher)

I said bullshit about VirtualBox 1.6.2. The same thing occurs when you abort VirtuaBox 1.6.0, so PortableVBox from the Germany isn't safe!!

I didn't have any problems with your version of VirtualBox except if aborted. It creates the same bugs that I previously described.

VBox 1.6 has some 64 bit support.

Edit1: But I'm not able to prove it because I still don't get the right configuration. Unfortunately, VirtualBox team even hasn't explained that.

Edit2: I'm going to ask for VirtualBox's forums help because now I see VirtualBox isn't installing as multiprocessor (64 bit mode - guest machine) due to not detecting PAE in the VM.

Edit3: The bugs occurred again by accident when I chose "Shutdown the Machine" after choosing "Shutdown by ACPI". The Window quickly closed but it caused the bugs again. Finishing the launcher didn't work.

Edit4: I misunderstood what PAE was designed for, VirtualBox still only can see one processor.

m^(2) · #67 Post by **m^(2)** » Wed Jul 09, 2008 11:43 am

Another update:

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[+] You can overwrite .ini settings with command line switches
[~] Simplified installation process
[!] Minor bug fixes

Download

m^(2) · #68 Post by **m^(2)** » Fri Jul 18, 2008 12:28 pm

Version 2.0 is out.
A lot of changes this time. The biggest one is use of VirtualBox API, not this launcher is not just an automatic installer/uninstaller, but something smarter.
I have had very ambitious plans about it, but the API sucks badly and the only thing I have running (and I will probably leave it this way, but I'm open to suggestions) is equivalent of

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VBoxManage.exe modifyvm machine command

that affects all running machines, so i.e. you can make a script that saves their states (anc closes them) to be executed when you end work.

The next thing is manipulation of windows. It's done via command line. I'm not sure if it's the best way, but couldn't find anything better.

Finally, it works on read-only media.

Full changelog:

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[+] Automatically recreates deleted config file
[+] Supports hiding VBox widows
[+] Works on read-only devices (like DVD ROMs)
[+] Tray icon also during startup (which takes long on read only devices)
[+] Additional machine management options
[!] Build tools bug fixes
[~] Moved sources to doc direcory

akademie · #69 Post by **akademie** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:34 am

Wow, I am interested in this functionality:

" Finally, it works on read-only media. "
" [+] Works on read-only devices (like DVD ROMs) "

Can anyone give me a hint how to prepare it for burning virtual box including virtual machines onto CD/DVD, please?

Thanks
akademie

m^(2) · #70 Post by **m^(2)** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 5:56 am

No special preparation is needed, you just have to remember that you can't change anything with the machines after you burn it, so before you do, ensure that the config is final.

akademie · #71 Post by **akademie** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:09 am

hmm, already tried, but it didn't work...

when I double click VirtualBoxPortable.exe (located on CD) it starts, I can see vbox icon in tray, but suddenly error window pops up - is labeled "Installation" and it says "Uživatel opraci zrušil" which I could translate as something like "Operation aborted by user" and only OK button is available to accept, then it vanish, that's all..

What am I doing wrong?
(Seems like something goes wrong when Vbox is installing on startup?)

akademie

m^(2) · #72 Post by **m^(2)** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 6:28 am

Thank you for the report, I'll investigate.

akademie · #73 Post by **akademie** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:12 am

quick info:

tried the CD on another PC and it works (at least start Vbox and start virtual machine - not much time to test more)

so maybe I tried sometime to install vbox on that first PC and that's why it happen to fail run from CD.. ? (BUT I use vbox portable successfuly on that PC...).

So just to let you know that it is not generaly wrong

I would try the CD on another PCs tonight and will report (but if it is collision with locally installed (or partialy installed) Vbox, that would be fine if it could be fixed.

CU
akademie

akademie · #74 Post by **akademie** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 7:46 am

I think I got it.

I found out that when starting from CD, it actually copies all data to system's temporary folder ...

well I have 580MB disk file and my C disk on that problematic PC has 220MB of free space.....

So I am pretty sure that's why...
I will try to remove some stuff and check if it will be OK.

have a nice day
akademie

P.S.: BTW, is it necessary to copy all that stuff to HDD on start of manager? it would take ages if I will have few machines on DVD and even if I want start only one of them - maybe the smallest one - it would first copy 4GB onto HDD just to later then start Linux Vmachine with 80MB HDD file ???

Not complaing, just thinking aloud ...

! nice work m^2 !

m^(2) · #75 Post by **m^(2)** » Wed Jul 23, 2008 8:08 am

Nice, I'll add a size check to prevent confusing messages..
Sadly, I have to copy it to a place with write rights, there's other way.
I have an idea though. How about letting user compress data directory and decompressing instead of copying? Would save space and possibly start up faster.