is there a way to empty the hd completely,

[Devra]

here's that info.

[root@localhost ~]# free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3031       1117       1914          0         35        626
-/+ buffers/cache:        455       2576
Swap:         3992          0       3992
[root@localhost ~]#

whats this tell us?

[Just17]

here's that info.

[root@localhost ~]# free -m
                 total      used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3031       1117       1914          0         35        626
-/+ buffers/cache:        455       2576
Swap:         3992          0       3992
[root@localhost ~]#

whats this tell us?

That you have 3GBs of RAM and 4GBs of Swap space (unused)

You can safely allocate up to 1GB ram to the Virtual Box guest.

[Devra]

so 10gb below is too much?


File type:
VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)
Details:
Dynamically allocated storage
Location:
/root/VirtualBox VMs/windows xp/windows xp.vdi
Size:
10.00 GB (10737418240 B)

[Just17]

so 10gb below is too much?


File type:
VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)
Details:
Dynamically allocated storage
Location:
/root/VirtualBox VMs/windows xp/windows xp.vdi
Size:
10.00 GB (10737418240 B)

No.
The 10GB is the HDD space (storage) allocated.
The other is RAM (memory) allocated to the guest from your total of 3GB.

[Devra]

so i 'm good and can proceed?

(sorry to be so uncertain)

[Just17]

so i 'm good and can proceed?

(sorry to be so uncertain)

Go ahead ..... you have plenty storage space on the HDD and plenty RAM (memory) to make use of VBox.

If it does not work out exactly as you wish the first time it is easy to do it again, with slightly different settings.

FYI .....  you can have many VBox VDi files (guest operating systems).
They only take up storage space (on HDD) until you launch one through VBox.
Then it uses the memory (RAM) you allocated.

For most of us, the amount of RAM we have determines how many guest operating systems we can run at one time.
There is nothing to worry about 

[Devra]

COOL!  thanks!

[Just17]

I have to ask others if this is normal .....  I don't think so, but don't know as I specify my own storage location .....

Location:
/root/VirtualBox VMs/windows xp/windows xp.vdi

Devra ......  are you perchance running as user 'root'?

If so I suggest you stop and log in as a normal user.

[Devra]

sigh....i have no idea...but something on vb made me stop...see below

Please note that when you close the virtual machine, the specified media will be automatically unmounted and the boot device will be set back to the first hard disk.

does this mean i'll have to redo / reinstall xp, that i'll lose my info in turbolister everytime i leave vb?

not so sure anymore.....

[agmg]

here's that info.

[root@localhost ~]# free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          3031       1117       1914          0         35        626
-/+ buffers/cache:        455       2576
Swap:         3992          0       3992
[root@localhost ~]#

whats this tell us?

Yes, Just17, she is logged in as root.
Oh God...

[Devra]

ummm didn't really like that *oh god* comment...

kinda scary, i haven't done anything past summary

If the above is correct, press the Finish button. Once you press it, the selected media will be temporarily mounted on the virtual machine and the machine will start execution.
Please note that when you close the virtual machine, the specified media will be automatically unmounted and the boot device will be set back to the first hard disk.
Depending on the type of the setup program, you may need to manually unmount (eject) the media after the setup program reboots the virtual machine, to prevent the installation process from starting again. You can do this by selecting the corresponding Unmount... action in the Devices menu.

how do i get back to guest or whatever...

[Just17]

ummm didn't really like that *oh god* comment...

kinda scary, i haven't done anything past summary

If the above is correct, press the Finish button. Once you press it, the selected media will be temporarily mounted on the virtual machine and the machine will start execution.
Please note that when you close the virtual machine, the specified media will be automatically unmounted and the boot device will be set back to the first hard disk.
Depending on the type of the setup program, you may need to manually unmount (eject) the media after the setup program reboots the virtual machine, to prevent the installation process from starting again. You can do this by selecting the corresponding Unmount... action in the Devices menu.

how do i get back to guest or whatever...

I would try to Cancel the procedure.

Reason ......  you do not want the (up to 10GB) space for the VDi taking up all the available storage space on your root partition.

So if you can, back out of creating the VBox image.

[Devra]

ok, i'm out.....................you guys are making me gray!

the last thing i saw before it asked if i wanted to shutdown the vb, was the terminal that said, fatal error..

that's never good..

what now guys?

[agmg]

Where to start...
 
Using a system as root gives you full rights over it and can be dangerous if you don't know exactly what you are doing.
First of all log out and log back in as normal user. You did create a user during installation right?

[Just17]

Open a terminal and typ in the following command, followed by hitting the Enter key

whoami

This will confirm for us which account you are using.

You should never log into the desktop using the root account, but always use a standard 'user' account.

So, if it returns   root   you should log out of the desktop and log in using a standard user account.