A short note on Virtualbox and formating

I have had some problems when installing Linux on new virtual machines in Virtualbox. The installation always seems to fail when it is preparing the partitions on the virtual hard drive.

When installing Ubuntu, I eventually solved this by using Gparted from the LiveCD and preparing the partitions before I ran the install.

I have recently installed Debian on another virtual machine, and encountered the same problem there. Since Debian does not come with a LiveCD, I first prepared the partitions with the Ubuntu LiveCD, and then installed Debian on the now formated virtual hard drive.

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Beta

OK,

So I started with Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Beta.

I loaded it in VirtualBox. I put up a virtual harddrive of about 6GB and another of about 1GB. The plan was to use the first to install Ubuntu and also make a swap-partition, and the second to practice mounting.

I booted up the ISO-image (which I downloaded from Ubuntu.com) of the LiveCD. It worked smoothly.

In VirtualBox, I noted, that my wireless connection on my laptop, was detected as a wired network seen from the virtual machine side (that makes sense, and also saved me any potential trouble with the wireless config).

During install, I formated the virtual harddrive, even though I made the drive as a "ext3" when setting up the virtual machine (in fact, I think the install didn't work if I didn't format it again during install).

When the install was finished, I dismounted the ISO-image (in VirtualBox), and rebooted the system.

I updated the system clicking on the "update-icon".

That was it.

Virtualbox.org

I am currently not at home, so I have to run Linux on a virtual machine.

I found Virtualbox.org. It is such a great program and it is really easy to use.

It gives me the opportunity to try different things, and if it fails, well, I can return to a backed-up system.

It is also great to for trying different distros.