(Solved:Wahoo!) VB+PCLinux+Mac+Coffee+Pain Pills+Deep Breath

[konaexpress]

I think I am giving myself a stinking coronary.

Fist let me say thank you to anyone who takes the time to help me.

I installed VB on my Mac because not all versions of PCLOS will run on my system from dual boot. I have read allot of threads that tell people to down load guest additions and I have read the VB site, where do I get this guest addition? I looked all over the VB control panel but did not find it.  I was also told that PCLOS comes with two VB files that need to be deleted. Umm...............nube here.........what VB files? Is there a sticky or a how to thread somewhere that I can read? I looked at the PCLOS magazine but did not see anything, maybe I ran past it? Why do I feel like I am a Tard? I am far from stupid but It feels like everyone is talking in a foreign language or that I just joined the Masons and everything is still cryptic to me.

Sorry for the frustration.  I am really trying to embrace Linux and to be a part of it.

-John

[menotu]

Hi konaexpress

I am really trying to embrace Linux and to be a part of it.

And more credit to you for doing so, and also for wanting (and asking) to learn new things.

You should be able to load Guest Additions from the VBox Devices menu.

You can also load the Guest Additions iso as a CD.

I normally install GA from a terminal.

If you want to download the iso separately you can download it from:

http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/4.1.2/

It should be very close to the top of the page.

Note - if you aren't using version 4.1.2 move up a directory by using the Parent Directory link at the very top of the page.

If you need a bit more advice just post back.

[konaexpress]

Things did not go as planed, I will just deal with the small screen. Thanks for all the help BTW. 

[konaexpress]

Ones again thanks for all the help. I did what I should have done in the first place, I hard installed it to my drive.

[Old-Polack]

konaexpress:

You never specified which version of VB you installed, and never mentioned whether you installed the Extension Pack, if it was one of the more recent versions. I have the latest version of VB installed, along with the appropriate Extension Pack, and everything is working fine.

[konaexpress]

Sorry about this, I keep thinking like an OS X'er. If you ask about something, everyone knows what you are doing. Linux is so vast in ways to mod it that I keep forgetting to tell what the heck I'm doing.

I was trying to run Zen-mini in VB but hated the small window. I asked someone how to run it at full screen and they told me to run the guest additions so I did. I tried to install it into OS X. Later after I partitioned my drive and installed Zen, I realized that maybe I was supposed to run Zen in VB and then run it? I don't know. Maybe I will try this with KDE or Xfce that I know will not run native on my Macbook.  I just have to keep testing the boundary of what I can and can't do with a Mac.

[Old-Polack]

Sorry about this, I keep thinking like an OS X'er. If you ask about something, everyone knows what you are doing. Linux is so vast in ways to mod it that I keep forgetting to tell what the heck I'm doing.

I was trying to run Zen-mini in VB but hated the small window. I asked someone how to run it at full screen and they told me to run the guest additions so I did. I tried to install it into OS X. Later after I partitioned my drive and installed Zen, I realized that maybe I was supposed to run Zen in VB and then run it? I don't know. Maybe I will try this with KDE or Xfce that I know will not run native on my Macbook.  I just have to keep testing the boundary of what I can and can't do with a Mac.

Again, you've now told us what OS you want as the guest in VB, but not the version of VB you installed, or whether you have installed the Extension Pack for that version. 

[konaexpress]

Umm.....The newest Virtualbox 4.1.2 for OS X host, I downloaded the guest additions for Linux and put it into the virtual CD drive. I tried to click on the drive while the VB window was open but it didn't do anything. So I tried to make a new virtual drive and install it first before PCLinuxOS, then after the install. There is something I am not getting I think. I must have the wrong sequence. 

[Old-Polack]

Umm.....The newest Virtualbox 4.1.2 for OS X host, I downloaded the guest additions for Linux and put it into the virtual CD drive. I tried to click on the drive while the VB window was open but it didn't do anything. So I tried to make a new virtual drive and install it first before PCLinuxOS, then after the install. There is something I am not getting I think. I must have the wrong sequence. 

You evidently didn't d/l and install;

Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-4.1.2-73507.vbox-extpack

That's what needs to be installed, along with VB itself, and within it, are the proper guest additions for the various guest OS types. It seems to be what you are not getting, and what is missing. Follow this link, second bullet item from the top ...  VirtualBox 4.1.2 Oracle VM VirtualBox Extension Pack All platforms

http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

[konaexpress]

Thanks for all the help on this, that made more sense. I still can't run at full window but it is running allot better.

[Old-Polack]

Thanks for all the help on this, that made more sense. I still can't run at full window but it is running allot better.

Having downloaded the Extension Pack, did you go through the installation procedure, outlined in Help --> Contents --> First steps --> Installing VirtualBox and extension packs, from within VB, without having any running VM?

If you click File --> Preferences --> Extensions do you see this?

[konaexpress]

Yep, my window does not look like that but it is installed. Thanks!

[Old-Polack]

Yep, my window does not look like that but it is installed. Thanks!

After the installation of the extension pack, did you again run the guest additions installation from within each running VM?



As this VM was made with an earlier version of VB, here I'm installing the guest additions for the current version. You can see where the installer is first removing the older version.



The problem with VB is that each of these steps has to be run in the proper order, then the VM needs to be shut down, VB turned off, then reboot the host OS. After the reboot, if everything else went well, you should be able to set the Auto-resize function, and have it work.

[konaexpress]

Then I must have done something wrong. I will try it again. I tried to install the guest pack in the F.M. I will try to do it from a terminal if I can figure out the commands. From the F.M. the term runs so fast that I can not read it so I assumed that it installed correctly. This is my error.

EDIT: The guest pack I am installing is in the VB CD/DVD drive, will this make a difference? Thank you for your patients with me.

EDIT AGAIN: Holly cr@p! it worked! I'm at full screen. That was the final piece that I needed. I am surprised that the install instructions are not a sticky here. This worked so beautiful.  As soon as I told VB to load/look at the ISO it loaded in PCLOS and ran a term for me, wahoo! TTFN

[Old-Polack]

Then I must have done something wrong. I will try it again. I tried to install the guest pack in the F.M. I will try to do it from a terminal if I can figure out the commands. From the F.M. the term runs so fast that I can not read it so I assumed that it installed correctly. This is my error.

EDIT: The guest pack I am installing is in the VB CD/DVD drive, will this make a difference? Thank you for your patients with me.

Before starting the VM, I set the CD/DVD drive to pass through mode... so it shows as Empty, and attached to IDE Secondary.



Then with the VM running, I click on Devices --> Install Guest Additions...



An icon for the CD/DVD appears on the desktop along with a message box;



I choose Allow Auto-Run and the terminal shown in the last reply appears, and runs the installation script. I do nothing and wait as the script does the removal of the old Guest Additions and installs the new version, then press the Enter/Return key when it's indicated to do so. The rest is as spelled out previously, shut down the VM, reboot, then choose the Auto-resize option.

The last item of business is to click on Devices --> CD/DVD Devices --> Remove disk from virtual drive.



To return the CD/DVD device to a normal usable state, check the Host Drive <whatever> box in Devices --> CD/DVD Devices.