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VirtualBox, mounting the virtual HDs

Posted: Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:29 pm
by gabrielilardi
Hi all,

Usually I use RosTE to test ROS, QEMU is good, but VirtualBox is faster. There's a problem though, it's very difficult to transfer files between the host and the guest (without using CD images). So I'll explain how to do it in a very easy way, making the passage from qemu to VirtualBox a painless experience.

- Don't use the VDI images, they're hard to mount. Use the VMDK format.
Create a template image file with RosTE or use QEmu: i.e. qemu-img.exe create -f vmdk template.vmdk 4G

- For some strange reason, once used in VirtualBox, VDK (the program used to mount VMDK images as units) will complain about some incongruence with the virtual hd before mounting it, for this reason trying to mount it via RosTE will fail, and doing so manually will require a lot of 'i' answers *(1):

So to fix this problem, I've modified VDK to ignore those problems, this way you can actually mount the HD without any request. Be warned, you won't get any error message about it.
- Download the modified VDK program from here. Just overwrite your VDK.exe (it's in Program Files\RosTE\vdk or where you've installed it if done manually) with this one.

That's it.

Now you can mount your virtual disks used in VirtualBox to exchange your files.

Thanks a lot to KJK::Hyperion for re-compiling the program!!! :wink:

EDIT: Added links for the utilities:
Modifed VDK: here.
Original VDK driver for mounting vmdk images: link (needed if you don't have RosTE)
(VDK.EXE and VDK.SYS Copyright (c) 2003 Ken Kato (chitchat-lj at infoseek dot jp))
VDK GUI front-end: link (in case you don't have or don't won't RosTE)
RosTE (ReactOS test environment with qemu): here.
Improved RosTE GUI (install roste and overwrite with this file): here.

Some screenshots:

VDK GUI Front-end. Here you specify where the VDK driver is:
[ external image ]

VDK GUI Front-end. Choose your virtual disk, and what unit you want it mounted to:
[ external image ]

RosTE, here you can mount your vmdk images or create new templates:
[ external image ]
By gabriel_it

*(1)
C:\Programmi\RosTE\VDK>vdk open 1 e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk
Virtual Disk Driver for Windows version 3.1
http://chitchat.at.infoseek.co.jp/vmware/

Started the Virtual Disk Driver.
'e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk' Invalid description entry.
> ddb.uuid.image = "c06e5513-077f-4c91-94cb-6a65a56f662f"
A) abort / I) ignore ? i
'e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk' Invalid description entry.
> ddb.uuid.modification = "086c3034-0320-404e-9fd3-686326a5b481"
A) abort / I) ignore ? i
'e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk' Invalid description entry.
> ddb.uuid.parent = "00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
A) abort / I) ignore ? i
'e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk' Invalid description entry.
> ddb.uuid.parentmodification = "c1607505-f5ff-46ce-bb57-87be6cc4dc81"
A) abort / I) ignore ? i
'e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk' Invalid description entry.
> ddb.geometry.biosCylinders = "522"
A) abort / I) ignore ? i
'e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk' Invalid description entry.
> ddb.geometry.biosHeads = "255"
A) abort / I) ignore ? i
'e:\ReactOS\vboxhd.vmdk' Invalid description entry.
> ddb.geometry.biosSectors = "63"
A) abort / I) ignore ? i

Re: VirtualBox, mounting the virtual HDs

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 2:46 am
by Nintendo Maniac 64
It would appear that at least one of the VDK programs do not support unicode. I normally have my "non-unicode programs setting" set to Japanese, but I had to change that to english for VDK GUI to work. Does this seem normal?

EDIT: Not only that, but you need to set "Standards and Formats" to english as well. Otherwise the program only "half-works".

Re: VirtualBox, mounting the virtual HDs

Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 10:18 am
by gabrielilardi
Nintendo Maniac 64 wrote:It would appear that at least one of the VDK programs do not support unicode. I normally have my "non-unicode programs setting" set to Japanese, but I had to change that to english for VDK GUI to work. Does this seem normal?
I can't tell, usually I use RosTE, but I've also used VDK GUI a couple of times all in an italian XP...

Re: VirtualBox, mounting the virtual HDs

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 12:09 pm
by Reakt0r
hello gabrielilardi
While I experienced problems with vdk.exe you mentioned,
will require a lot of 'i' answers
I noticed You were posting
I've modified VDK to ignore those problems
but then ...
... the modified file was not available.
Could You please post a valid downloadlink?

Re: VirtualBox, mounting the virtual HDs

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:30 pm
by gabrielilardi
Reakt0r wrote:... the modified file was not available.
Could You please post a valid downloadlink?
I'm not very active lately, I can't even log in anymore to 4shared, probably they have deleted/disabled my account.
I've managed to upload it to another site though, have fun.

Re: VirtualBox, mounting the virtual HDs

Posted: Mon Feb 07, 2011 5:14 pm
by Reakt0r
hello gabrielilardi
thank you for your fast response.
this file works very good :D , so thank you very much for modifying the vdk driver.

Re: VirtualBox, mounting the virtual HDs

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 6:35 pm
by atariZen
FYI, there is a simple one-line command to import a VM from the ROS vbox distro. I've detailed the command in bug report 6623. The command is simply:

Code: Select all

VBoxManage createvm -register -name my_chosen_vm_name -settingsfile ReactOS.ovf
Make sure the ReactOS-disk1.vmdk file is in the same folder. That command is non-interactive, and simply grabs all the settings from the ovf file.