Mouse problems with Windows XP as guest(unsolved closed)

[hedgeclippers]

Hi I am new to linux and new to VirtualBox anyway I just installed the very latest VirtualBox but still have problems with the mouse. It has an error message something like the guest os(Windows Xp) doesn't accept the virtual mouse and hangs up with the mouse not working at all in either the virtual box or pclinuxos. In those occasions I just have to press the power button as I have no other choice. Also noticed one other thing when I started to put in the license number for Windows XP the license number became blurred and unreadable along with the mouse not working. I have a full install of pclinuxos installed and I am not working off of the live cd. Thanks for your help!

[7272andy]

Hi hedgeclippers,
have you installed the guest additions into your XP VM?

[menotu]

In addition to 7272andy's  question/advice, did you install Virtualbox via the getvirtualbox app/script (available in Synaptic) as that auto installs the required Extension Pack as well.

Also, have you rebooted PCLinuxOS  as VB needs to "build" itself into the system.

[hedgeclippers]

Hi yes I did install the guest additions from the repository and I did reboot the computer but still have problems. I unchecked a box for the mouse and let the Virtual box be in a full screen as I had heard that helps but no luck there either. I can only go but so far too in putting in the license number and have problems with the mouse freezing and the picture distorting. I am using an old Compaq 5900t with a Pentium III processor. Other specifications I don't have right now as the other desktop is off right now.

[7272andy]

From your explanation, I believe you have incorrectly installed the guest additions to the PCLinuxOS host machine rather than the WinXP guest.

You should start your guest machine and once you have logged in go to the menu bar at the top of the screen and select Devices -> Install Guest Additions.

You should now see a Guest Additions install window in the WinXP machine, just click Next and accept the defaults. As you go through the installation you will get an information box which tells you the VirtualBox Graphics Adapter has not passed Windows Logo testing click on Continue Anyway. The same information box will come up for Mice and other pointing devices, again click on Continue Anyway.

Once the install is complete you will need to reboot the Windows guest.

I'm a little unclear on which box you unchecked for the mouse, as it shouldn't have needed doing.

Regards

[djohnston]

I'm a little unclear on which box you unchecked for the mouse, as it shouldn't have needed doing.

He may be talking about the "absolute pointing device", but I'm not sure, either. I've always had problems if that one is checked. Depending on the OS settings selected in VirtualBox, that option is sometimes checked by default.




@hedgeclippers,

Need to know some information about your system's memory. Please open a terminal and enter the command free and post the output.

To determine the amount of video RAM you have, you'll need to enter a couple of commands. The second command will depend on the output provided by the first command. First, enter:

lspci | grep VGA

You will see something similar to this:
02:07.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1)

Use the device number shown for your video controller for the second command. On my computer, the video device number is 02:07.0. So, I would enter:

lspci -vs 02:07.0

And I would get the following results:
02:07.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV34 [GeForce FX 5200] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
   Subsystem: Device 196e:01ad
   Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 248, IRQ 22
   Memory at fd000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
   Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
   [virtual] Expansion ROM at febe0000 [disabled] [size=128K]
   Capabilities: <access denied>
   Kernel driver in use: nvidia
   Kernel modules: nouveau, nvidia173, nvidia-current, nvidiafb

So, the amount of RAM my video card has is 256MB.

In addition, please post the amount of RAM you are using in VirtualBox for system memory and video memory.

[7272andy]

I'd never noticed that option djohnston, I just checked all my VMs and the option is checked on

Either way I've included my video output to give the op an indication of how things look for a different card

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Madison [AMD Radeon HD 5000M Series] (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: COMPAL Electronics Inc Device 0043
        Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 42
        Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
        Memory at d8000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=128K]
        I/O ports at 6000 [size=256]
        Expansion ROM at d8040000 [disabled] [size=128K]
        Capabilities: <access denied>
        Kernel driver in use: fglrx_pci
        Kernel modules: fglrx

[hedgeclippers]

In answer to your questions at least as best as I can the video card has 32 megabytes of memory. I have unchecked enable absolute pointing device as that was causing problems and I had read on this forum while researching VirtualBox that you should do that if you have mouse problems. My video card is an nVidia Corporation Riva TNT Model 64/Model 64 Pro this from me recreating my computer as I tried to put those commands in but it would say command not found or incorrect syntax. So I am afraid I am not good at all in using commands. My total memory that my computer has is 374 mb. The Virtual box says it is using 192 mb of base memory for video memory it says it is using 16mb.

[7272andy]

When the virtual machine is running, is there a Guest Additions Icon (a blue cube with a star on it), in the windows system tray?

[hedgeclippers]

I didn't see anything like that and just removed Windows XP from the virtualbox and re-installed it as it didn't seem to be working right. I understand that you need to install the guest additions into Windows and know where to do that but when do I start the install when Windows starts to put in its programs from the install disk at the very beginning or later? If I try it later that is when things start to freeze up and I can't use the mouse at all and can barely use the keyboard for anything. When I had last checked virtualbox gave a warning about using too much memory for Windows XP and I lowered it a bit but still had problems and Windows kind of halted. So that is where I am now. Thanks for your help!

[djohnston]

As far as the mouse and video, open Synaptic and be sure you have the packages x11-driver-input-vboxmouse and x11-driver-video-vboxvideo installed.

As far as the rest, I am afraid you are pushing the limits of your computer memory. With 192MB of RAM alloted to the Windows VM, that leaves only 182MB for the host. To comfortably run XP, you need at least 256MB of RAM. You need the same amount on the PCLinuxOS host side with a "minimal" desktop, like Openbox, LXDE or e17. For that scenario, your computer would need 512MB of RAM.

I have a Dell PentiumIII machine with 512MB and a 128MB video card, using Openbox. I won't even run VirtualBox on that machine because it's just too slow and painful to use.

Have you considered dual booting? I don't use Windows any more and have no need to dual boot, but you might.

EDIT: You probably have 384MB of system RAM. (256 + 128)

[AS]

Because of the limited RAM, I would suggest to evaluate a dual boot solution in this specific case ...

AS

[hedgeclippers]

I had actually considered dual booting and tried it once but I am not sure if it was with pclinuxos or not. Things though didn't work out too well but I might give it another try though. Is there a way to use a windows printer driver through to the other operating system? In other words Linux communicating with Windows? I have a Lexmark printer and had been able to use it through my router the isp provided on any computer. Of course all computers were Windows based. I kind of like Linux too it has some advantages Windows doesn't but I might have to switch back it just depends. I think I might try VirtualBox one more time and then quit it.
Also as to dual booting now I have linux on the computer so do I wipe the disk again or can I just install Windows right along the side of Linux? I don't think I mentioned this I have a 40gb hard drive on this computer. Thanks for your help!

[djohnston]

I have a Lexmark printer and had been able to use it through my router the isp provided on any computer.

Have you tried to set it up and use it from PCLinuxOS yet? What model is the printer?

I don't think I mentioned this I have a 40gb hard drive on this computer.

40GB is just not going to be enough, unless you run a bare minimal WindowsXP and PCLinuxOS. I don't think you'd be happy with either one, and you'd have no space to store data files. It's just asking too much of the hardware.

[hedgeclippers]

True in a dual boot I really wouldn't have a great deal of space on a 40gb hard drive. I am wondering though if say 10gb would be enough to just run the printer driver and then if possible be able to fetch the driver from Windows and into linux or is that possible? The printer I have is a Lexmark Z1420 and you don't need to look for a driver for it from Lexmark it doesn't exist at least not for linux. Hp has drivers for almost all of their printers but not Lexmark,Lexmark has only a few drivers for their very oldest printers that you might or might not be able to find. Too bad too because a great deal of people would like to use Linux and its cousins but even they have problems too. It works through wireless which is supposed to work independently of any computer on its own but doesn't want to do that. I don't know why either but it never has worked that way through my router instead I slave it to my office computer. I tried a program called Qemu but that was worse than VirtualBox as I never even got out of the starting gate with that. So any suggestions would be most welcome but I really think this horse has been beat to death and not much else can be done except go back to windows XP.