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Author Topic: VirtualBox and ext4  (Read 4296 times)

Offline gezza

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VirtualBox and ext4
« on: March 08, 2011, 04:03:46 AM »
Hi To all,
VirtualBox 4+ keeps reminding me that it does not like living on ext4.!!
Can I change the ext4 partition to an ext3 one without loosing all the data?
Since ext4 has been around for some time, what is it about causing problems.
I have VirtualBox running in pclos 2010.12 running pclos2010.12 picking up email.
Then when I am away from home I can move the *.vdi file to my laptop and continue picking up mail!!
But I am getting problems with BLACK screens with nothing on them, both user and root.
Your thoughts are, as usual, greatfully received.
Gezza
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Offline muungwana

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #1 on: March 08, 2011, 04:19:15 AM »

what exactly does it say when it says that?

pclinuxos defaults to ext4 and it can safely be assumed that most people who use Vbox 4.x are using it on ext4, how come nobody else is getting these complains? I dont.
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Offline AS

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #2 on: March 08, 2011, 04:30:24 AM »
Hi,

the warning is probably related to the following fix from this page: http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog-3.2
GUI: perform the checks for exceeding the size limit of the host file system and for broken asynchronous I/O on older Linux kernels with ext4 / xfs file systems not only when starting the VM from scratch but also when starting from a saved state

notice that the wording "older Linux kernels" refers to kernels < 2.6.36-rc4: http://www.virtualbox.org/changeset/32593

The whole problem should disappear by using the new kernel 2.6.37, if I'm not wrong it will be available very early.

AS
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Offline Xenaflux

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #3 on: March 08, 2011, 04:32:53 AM »
I have been using Version 3.xxx and 4.xx on ext4 without problems and/or warnings
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Offline GermanTux

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2011, 10:24:41 AM »
Are you referring to a VDI file being on an EXT4 partition inside a host PC, or having a virtual hard disk formatted as EXT4 for a guest? 
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Offline pags

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2011, 10:44:33 AM »
Quote from: GermanTux on March 09, 2011, 10:24:41 AM
Are you referring to a VDI file being on an EXT4 partition inside a host PC, or having a virtual hard disk formatted as EXT4 for a guest? 

Just did a test install...
The message does occur, when the VDI is on an ext4 partition (I had all my VDIs on an old data partition that was ext3).  I got it while booting the Live (OpenBox) CD...
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Offline gezza

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2011, 07:32:23 PM »
Yes!!!
If the *.vdi is on the ext4 partition.
That is why I asked about changing the ext4 to ext3 withou loosing data!!
Gezza
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Offline GermanTux

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #7 on: March 10, 2011, 03:17:35 PM »
You're best bet is to move the VDI files off of that drive, reformat it with ext3, then move them back on.  you cannot change a file system without losing the data there.  It's like trying to keep a house in order while destroying the foundation - it just doesn't work. 
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Offline muungwana

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #8 on: March 10, 2011, 03:27:39 PM »

.37.2 kernel is in testing, you can work around the warning by using this kernel.
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.. tell me something i don't know, something i can use as i struggle to reason with the world around me ..

Offline GermanTux

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Re: VirtualBox and ext4
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2011, 06:11:31 AM »
I ignored the warning, and have been running fine with 4.04 on an ext4 partition.  My virtual hard disk sizes are all < 12GB however. 
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