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VirtualBoxSubmitted by Patrick Patience on July 25, 2007 - 12:54am
This is a request for VirtualBox, a virtualizer for x86 hardware. So if it was made portable, you could run your favourite operating system anywhere. Now, seeing as John is so amazing at writing launchers, and he says he can't release the portable QEMU package or whatever he says he's created. What about the open-source version of VirtualBox, i haven't tried it, mind you, but it's all the same, just doesn't support the additions. I don't think making it portable would be too hard, well probally still pretty hard, you would just have to adjust the VirtualBox settings to have the .VirtualBox folder somewhere else, then it may be possible for John to write a launcher that xml files to direct to the drive letter VirtualBox is being run from, so it would correcly find all of your virtual hard disks, vdi, etc. There's more to it, but have you ever been considered? I know it's been 'kinda' suggested, but I've seen John do so much with drive letters, i don't think it would be too hard, I don't know how NSIS handles xml files though. So...possible? Or some major downsides, catches, etc? ( categories: )
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Alternative?
Look for moka5. Maybe it better...
Use it to launch, create,
Use it to launch, create, and share LivePCs™ on Windows XP machines.
It seems it's not really portable :(
Close enough
You need admin privileges to use it (it installs, then removes, vmware), but it is designed to run off a USB drive (there's an option of local or portable install during installation), and your LivePCs and other info is all stored on the drive, not the local machine. I can't tell you that it leaves *nothing* behind (I don't know enough about the registry to even try), but it should be relatively clean, and it certainly won't leave behind private data.
The only reason they specified "on Windows XP machines" is that it won't run on Mac or Linux, and only became Vista-compatible recently.
Do you know something about
Do you know something about it's backward compatibility?
Will it work under win 9x or NT4?
I've read.
VirtualBox is trying to get it to work for Limited, and maybe Guest accounts, so that's an up.
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It's kinda scary when my desktop is messier than my room...
It's kinda sad when my desktop is messier than my room.
Oops.
I forgot moka5 added non-Admin capability into the latest beta release (Beta 17). "You asked for it, you got it! In certain situations you can now run moka5 Engine from a limited-access guest account."
it says that it works on vista and 2000...
and i am using it on 2000 and xp. i was playing around with it and this would be sweet!!
(TM)sergentsilerlogo:<(TM(sergentsiler) http://www.sergentsiler.freespaces.com/
What Now!! ©Silerx / ©sergentsiler - I AM THE COMPUTER LORD! - Voodo PC aint got Nothin' on me!
More Info on moka5
Currently, the beta software is free of charge. The LivePC hosting service is also free for registered users. We want you to try it out and give us feedback. However, it may not always be free software. moka5 LivePC is not open source software.
What operating systems are supported?
* Host operating system: Windows XP (Home, Pro, or Media Center) with service pack 2 only
* LivePC operating system: Microsoft Windows, Linux, Novell Netware, Sun Solaris, Apple Darwin
Link to info page: http://www.moka5.com/docs/faq.html
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Obviously out of date
The info on the latest Beta version says it has "better support for Windows Vista". Plus I've actually tested it, and Vista works as a host OS.
I used to use Virtualbox on Ubuntu Linux
It works great! The only downside of the GPL version is that there is no USB support.
--
As all of ya should know Microsoft is the Evil Empire, and Windows (a.k.a. Winblows or Windoze) is their greatest general, so please make a difference and install Linux or FreeBSD on yer Windows comp.
*In a high singing voice* All the little creatures of the forest!
and stuff...
Portable VirtualBox 1.4.0
Well when Innotek released 1.4.0 I thought about making it portable. I had some problems and gave up. I now have got it fully working with USB support. ... Now it’s flawless. So without further adieu: Download Now - 8.3Mb zip
As in the last version, make sure you edit VBStart.bat and change the 4 variables, then run VBStart.bat when you are ready. Everything is stored in \Documents\.VirtualBox of the drive you ran it from. So if you run it from your desktop, it’s probably going to be in C:\Documents\.VirtualBox, atleast by default.
Do note that this is for Windows only, and is made to run from a USB drive (although it doesn’t throttle the number of writes). As always: Enjoy.
http://z0rz.com/blog/archives/84
can any one verify that his
can any one verify that his works this would be great if i could load an os off my external hdd while still using my normal os
Permission
Did you get permission from Innotek? If not, it's illegal.
VirtualBox makes some sources available under an open source license. But not for the complete product. And their released binaries are licensed under a commercial freeware license.
Live with purpose.
Permission
I'm checking now. I've had the CEO of the company test it and I've worked with him on creating this. He gave me binaries for the driver installations and I've also gave him that link. I've sent him a personal email and I'll post when I get a response. If I don't get a response today though, I may forget.
Ah, nice
Wanna work on it with the site here? We can do an NSIS launcher instead that handles everything automatically.
Live with purpose.
Oh!!
That would be so COOL!!!
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"Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms, the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river." -- Cyril Connolly
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
I agree. It would be
I agree. It would be awesome to have VBox Portable.
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
So do I. I prefer batches to
So do I. I prefer batches to NSIS (smaller+faster when not too much to do), but this solution is not just copy+run...
Me too - would love to see a
Me too - would love to see a NSIS-version...
I would also like to see an
I would also like to see an NSIS version.
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"Pray as if everything depended upon God and work as if everything depended upon man."
Francis Cardinal Spell
-Please search before posting.
Live. Laugh. Learn.
Any news on this, VirtualBox
Any news on this, VirtualBox is an amazing app. I'd love to see it officially portable.
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I don't believe in signatures
The developer formerly known as ZGitRDun8705
Windows 2000
Hi, thanks for developing this great Portable VirtualBox-System. On Xp System it works quiet fine. Saddly on Windows 2000 based Hosts this Version doesnt work...
Is there an possibility to get it working on Windows 2000 Systems?
Would be verry interesting for meget this working on W2K.
NSIS
I would like to see an NSIS version of this application too!
Although...
You may have already caught my drift from the post, but...
I would like to see an NSIS version of this as well. :P
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Signature...What Signature?
It's kinda sad when my desktop is messier than my room.
Ditto
My god, I love this program. :)
Portable: even better.
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Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
Warum, warum, ist die Bananae krumm?
So...
how 'bout it? Is there anybody out there who can make it portable (Ryan)? Anybody at all (Ryan)? Or at least make an nsi script that we can compile ourselves (that way we are not making an app that has the VirtualBox name on it).
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"Truth is a river that is always splitting up into arms that reunite. Islanded between the arms, the inhabitants argue for a lifetime as to which is the main river." -- Cyril Connolly
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
.
----
Ryan McCue.
Blog.
So all that Airbus-delay trouble over here in Europe is because of YOU!
Simeon.
Warum, warum, ist die Bananae krumm?
VirtualBox
I have it running off my 8GB USB flash drive currently. The only real issue (besides speed) is that I cannot format it NTFS so I am limited to 4GB file sizes. A virtual XP machine gets to 4GB fairly fast, after you start installing programs etc. This is not a problem on my 1.8" external HDD. It would still be worth having an NSIS version for sure!
I would also love to see
I would also love to see this portable.
Will it be possible to exchange data with the host system or this function will get lost due portable?
No Luck Yet
I have been unable to get the virtual NIC card driver to install on the host machine using the portable version, yet. I am still working on this one. So far the only way to install apps on the virtual machine is to mount an ISO as the CD drive. I have a portable app called Folder2ISO that works great for this! It makes any folder an ISO and is easy to mount on the virtual PC.
FAT32 to NTFS
For some reason, when I tried to format my USB flash drive as NTFS through Windows, it would not let me, it was not an available option. I used the command prompt and it converted it with no problems.
convert f: /fs:ntfs
Now I can run my virtual PC from my flash drive without worrying about the 4gb limit for the image file.
Portable VBox 1.5.0 is
Portable VBox 1.5.0 is out!!!
http://z0rz.com/blog/archives/87
Formatting with NTFS
To format a removable drive as NTFS, you must change the "Policies" of the drive's hardware properties from "Optimize for Quick Removal" to "Optimize for Performance." Once this is done, you can format NTFS, and even NTFS-compressed. Be aware that this turns on write-behind caching. You will not be able to just yank out the drive when you're done, but will need to wait a minute for the filesystem to "settle." I strongly recommend using the "Eject" function for NTFS-formatted portable media to close all open filehandles before removing the drive. You can severely corrupt the data if you yank the drive out too fast.
Another option that works with already-formatted drives
Windows 2000, XP, etc. all have a command-line utility called "convert" that converts FAT/FAT32 volumes to NTFS, whether or not the "Optimize for Performance" option is set.
Simply insert the drive, and run
convert x: /FS:NTFS /NoSecurityfrom a command prompt.Now, the
NoSecurityswitch may seem kinda suspicious, it allows the files to be accessed by everyone. But, the reason for this is so that it can be used on any PC, under any user name. I've had code I created on one computer, with an admin user account, inaccessible to me on another computer, since it was a "limited" account.Security can still cause troubles
The /nosecurity flag to convert only controls the default security that the drive is created with - it is still possible that data added later will have security set, and will be inaccessible on other machines.
The only way to clear this is to periodically 'freshen' the security settings on the properties page for the root of the drive, and force a copy down to all subdirectories, preferably both of owner and ACLs.
I'll have to remember that...
I've not had it happen since I "converted" with the /nosecurity option, but, if it DOES happen, we'll all know what to do :)
4gb+
Some of you are saying that your FAT32 drives are having problems... doesnt VBox have an option to have spanable files for its VDisks? I know VMWare does this automatically... i've not had VBox with an install over this size yet anyway.
Um....
I don't know how to vote, but this is DEFINITELY one of my favorite FOSS apps that is not yet on Portable Apps......
Thanks for all the work you've already done! Consider Virtualbox for the future! It is awesome and very useful!
rhY
Put all violators of the Constitution in jail.
I have been using VirtualBox
I have been using VirtualBox 1.5 and it works well. I see 1.6 is out now but is the Sun version. Sure wish VirtualBox was in PAF format!
You mean Virtualbox OSE,
You mean Virtualbox OSE, which I have been working on compiling.
The open source edition of V.box is distributed in a source code package, and it lacks USB support.
However, I am going to try to make a portable (PAF) version of it when I get it up and running. So technically, I guess you could say it's a work in progress. :)
Don't expect it to be released anytime soon though. :p
The developer formerly known as b23.
"Denial ain't just a river in Egypt."
-Mark Twain
A new, updated and much
A new, updated and much improved portable version (1.6 - 32 or 64 or 32/64-bit!) can be found here:
http://www.german-nlite.de/index.php?showtopic=14306&st=0
Admin Privileges
Thanks zikarus for the link, it is a nice package that works without too many flaws.
The only issue I found was that the launcher wanted some dll files in the root folder to start, which were already in another folder, but it started anyway, and only gave a few error messages after becoming convinced :D.
The only other issue I have is the admin privileges that VirtualBox requires to start. Is there a solution to this? I've tried to Thinstall it but it gives me a VBox Kernel Driver error when I run the Virtual Machine. Everything else works, including the settings. Thinstall even gets rid of the admin privileges. So there are two options.
- Get rid of the admin privilages using the AutoIt scripts
- Find a way to thinstall the driver
- Ask Sun to get rid of it in VirtualBox
I know there's QEMU, which is great, but VirtualBox has more options, works better, and it's faster than vmware workstation 6...
I tried to make a blank virtual machine and boot Ubuntu 8.04 Live CD:
QEMU with accelerator - 5:30 min
VirtualBox 1.6.2 - 1:30 min
I hope we can find a solution to this, because it will enable us to run portable applications and programs anywhere on our portable media devices at near native speeds.
Thanks.
AK
http://akarm.awardspace.biz/
There's no way. Drivers can't
There's no way. Drivers can't be thinstalled and require admin rights to install.
If Sun made it work w/out drivers, it would become about as slow as QEMU is now.
You can only run it w/out admin rights only it it's installed on the host machine.
PortableApps.com Version
Hello Gentlemen,
I noticed earlier in the forum someone mentioned that they had spoken with the Virtual Box owners and had gotten permission to develop the portable version, and John had offered to help out...are we getting closer to a release of Virtual Box on PortableApps.com?
Not until....
Not until John is finished with all the legal issues for distributing freeware apps using his launcher. Hopefully that will happen soon, as there are quite a few other programs that I've "heard" will be released as well.
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on." -- Robert Frost
"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: baby ain't mine." -- Adam Holguin
Appears to be OpenSource
According to this, Virtual Box appears to be free and open source.
From the VirtualBox.org website:
"VirtualBox is a family of powerful x86 virtualization products for enterprise as well as home use. Not only is VirtualBox an extremely feature rich, high performance product for enterprise customers, it is also the only professional solution that is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL). See "About VirtualBox" for an introduction.
Yep
It is open source. However, there's a EULA version (the PUEL one) that has some propiatary code currently. They do offer the source, it just needs to be compiled. I talked to some of the developers (I think they were), and they say there's no issues with logos and names.
It's kinda sad when my desktop is messier than my room.
A 3rd launcher
I didn't like the existing launchers, I made my own. It's core logic based on the AutoIt one, but 100% rewritten and modified a bit. No splash screens, no tray icon, no global hotkeys, C++.
You can find more info in this thread.
The latest version can be downloaded from here.
I will post updates in the thread linked above.
Awesome! Any chance you can
Awesome!
Any chance you can keep this thread updated as well, at least with a bump when you release a new version on PFC?
Sorry, no. I want to maintain
Sorry, no. I want to maintain only one topic.
I just write to add that the
I just write to add that the thread was split and posts regarding my launcher version can be found here.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Tru
This would be awesome. I could use this at school.