~/: Creating VirtualBox machine based on a physical partition using VBoxManage

0. Preface

In this article I am going to show you how to install and setup FreeBSD and start use it as a home OS.

I will use

FreeBSD 10.2
ZFS (I believe 2GiB of RAM is o.k. for it)
LXDE 1.0
VBoxManage 4.3
SeaMonkey 2.39
MPlayer 1.2

1. Virtual Hard Drive using raw partition support

Let me start from creating the virtual hard drive for the machine. I am going to use raw partition support. This feature is a part of the VMDK format.

It allows a guest operating system to access its virtual hard disk without going through the host OS file system

1.1. Create a partition

First of all I create a partition for a virtual hard drive.

1.1.1. Example 1 (physical partition)

# gpart add -t freebsd -s 40G -a 4k ada0
ada0s4 created

1.1.2. Example 2 (logical slice)

# gpart add -t freebsd -s 40G -a 4k ada0s4
ada0s4s1 created

This approach was not applicable for me because of several reasons: 1) too complex partitioning (bsdinstall will divide the partition of partitions into at least three partitions).

The advice: use GPT partitioning scheme and don't forget about aligning.

1.2. Choose the partition for virtual disk and set the correct permissions to it

Secondly, I list partitions for using as a hard drive for the future virtual machine

% VBoxManage internalcommands listpartitions\
-rawdisk /dev/ada0

It outputs table like these (below).

1.2.1. Example 1 (root scheme)

Number Type   StartCHS       EndCHS      Size (MiB) Start (Sect)
1       0xa5 0   /2 /1   1023/255/63        212991          126
2       0xa5 1023/255/63 1023/255/63       1048575    436207716
3       0xa5 1023/255/63 1023/255/63         16383   2583691362
4       0xa5 1023/255/63 1023/255/63         40959   2617245792

The 4th partition was created by the first command (gpart) and I use it as the base for the virtual machine disk. To avoid permissions problem with virtual HD made using raw partition support, issue the next command (as root) before creating a virtual disk with raw partition support:

# chmod g+w /dev/ada0s4

where ada0s4 is the geom for virtual hard drive.

To make this permanent I added the one line to devfs configuration:

# cp /etc/devfs.conf /etc/devfs.conf.old
# echo 'perm ad6s4 0660' >> /etc/devfs.conf

1.2.2. Example 2 (logical slice)

Number Type StartCHS EndCHS Size (MiB) Start (Sect)
1 0xa5 0 /2 /1 1023/255/63 40959 126

# chmod g+w /dev/ada0s4s1
# cp /etc/devfs.conf /etc/devfs.conf.old
# echo 'perm ad6s4s1 0660' >> /etc/devfs.conf

Remember: this is just example and if you use MBR, your sub-partitions may be erased after reboot (I don't know why). For example /me confronted this problem. But the first example work for me well.

1.3. Create the virtual disk

If you already have got a virtual disk attached to a virtual machine you can detach it using the next command.

% VBoxManage storageattach fbsd\
   --storagectl sata1\
   --port 1\
   --type hdd\
   --medium none

There is an easy way to delete the unusable virtual hard drive: just delete the according VMDK file:

% rm /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/dsk/ada0s4*.vmdk

After that I can create a VMDK for the VM.

% VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk\
   -filename /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/dsk/ad6s4.vmdk\
   -rawdisk /dev/ada0\
   -partitions 4\
   -relative

The -relative key prevents access to entire disk. It released me from the access problem and I got the next result

RAW host disk access VMDK file /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/dsk/ad6s4.vmdk created successfully.

1.3.1. The note about -relative

Actually, you should use the next command

% VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk\
   -filename /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/dsk/ad6s4.vmdk\
   -rawdisk /dev/ada0\
   -partitions 4

(without the -relative option) as it is more correct. But I faced up with the next useless error:

VBoxManage: error: VMDK: could not open raw partition file '/dev/ad6'
VBoxManage: error: Error code VERR_ACCESS_DENIED at /wrkdirs/usr/ports/emulators/virtualbox-ose/work/VirtualBox-4.3.36/src/VBox/Storage/VMDK.cpp(3533) in function int vmdkCreateRawImage(PVMDKIMAGE, const PVBOXHDDRAW, uint64_t)
VBoxManage: error: Cannot create the raw disk VMDK: VERR_ACCESS_DENIED
VBoxManage: error: The raw disk vmdk file was not created

If you know how to create a VMDK made of a raw partition without the -relative key, please, let me know by e-mail or in comments block below the text.

1.3.2. The additional note concerning permissions

If you still having problems with creating the VMDK, try to issue the next commands:

# chmod a+wr /dev/ada0*
# chown vblinkov /dev/ada0*

2. Create the VM

I usually create virtual machines (VMs) using the next command.

% VBoxManage createvm\
   --name fbsd\
   --basefolder /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/machine/\
   --register

The result of the command is listed below

Virtual machine 'fbsd' is created and registered.
UUID: 7f0add90-fbe6-4dba-83b1-b2782290c16a
Settings file: '/mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/machine/fbsd/fbsd.vbox'

To list registered machines use the next command

% VBoxManage list vms
"fbsd" {7f0add90-fbe6-4dba-83b1-b2782290c16a}

Then I look at the memory size:

% VBoxManage showvminfo fbsd | grep Memory
Memory size: 128MB

I usually consume up to 2 GiB of RAM, so I increase memory size using

% VBoxManage modifyvm fbsd --memory 2048
% VBoxManage showvminfo fbsd | grep Memory
Memory size: 2048MB

I enable PAE/NX (required (but does not help to run) for Windows 8+, requires the same option to be enabled on your physical motherboard (look for it in BIOS))

% VBoxManage modifyvm fbsd --pae on

Install sound card:

% VBoxManage modifyvm fbsd\
--audio oss\
--audiocontroller hda

Now I create a SATA master controller

% VBoxManage storagectl fbsd\
   --name sata1\
   --add sata\
   --bootable on

After that I attach the created earlier virtual hard disk based on the physical partition.

% VBoxManage storageattach fbsd\
   --storagectl sata1\
   --port 1\
   --type hdd\
   --medium /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/dsk/ada0s4.vmdk

Look!

% VBoxManage list hdds
UUID:           42db7f73-392e-4af7-9a8a-bc8c461dad29
Parent UUID:    base
State:          created
Type:           normal (base)
Location:       /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/dsk/ada0s4.vmdk
Storage format: VMDK
Capacity:       1430799 MBytes

My virtual hard drive (HD) is registered in VirtualBox now.

To start the VM I use this command

% VBoxManage startvm fbsd --type sdl

If you do not want to install operating system right now you can halt the machine using the command shown below.

% VBoxManage controlvm fbsd poweroff

I insert a DVD with FreeBSD 10.2 distro typing the next command (from a terminal [emulator])

% VBoxManage storageattach fbsd\
   --storagectl sata1\
   --port 2\
   --type dvddrive\
   --medium\
   /mnt/barracuda/os/freebsd/10.2/FreeBSD-10.2-RELEASE-i386-dvd1.iso

and restart the machine

% VBoxManage controlvm fbsd reset

I issue the next command to make screenshots:

% VBoxManage controlvm fbsd screenshotpng /tmp/02.png

This is the FreeBSD 10 boot menu.

3. FreeBSD 10 installation process

Please follow the next link to read my another article concerning FreeBSD 10.2 installation process:
http://freebsdathome.blogspot.ru/2016/03/installing-freebsd-102.html

After installation is complete you might want to eject the distro DVD.

% VBoxManage storageattach fbsd\
   --storagectl sata1\
   --port 2\
   --type dvddrive\
   --medium emptydrive

4. After installation

You may want to do next things.

4.1. Rename/move a VM

% VBoxManage modifyvm fbsd --name win
% VBoxManage unregistervm win
% cd /mnt/barracuda/vm # location of the VM directory
% mv fbsd.vbox win.vbox # rename (can move) the directory
% # heads up: use the ABSOLUTE path in the next command
% VBoxManage registervm\
   /mnt/barracuda/vm/win.vbox/machine/win/win.vbox
% # detach hard drive (it's old location) from machine:
% VBoxManage closemedium disk\
   /mnt/barracuda/vm/fbsd.vbox/dsk/ad6s4.vmdk
% # attach the disk at its new location
% VBoxManage storageattach win\
   --storagectl sata1\
   --port 1\
   --medium /mnt/barracuda/vm/win.vbox/dsk/ad6s4.vmdk\
   --type hdd

4.2. Install guest additions

Guest additions is a program to add something like cooperation between the guest OS of VM and the host operating system. You can find all about the additions at the official VirtualBox documentation.

Next I will show you how I usually install additions.

% wget http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/\
   4.3.36/VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.36.iso
% VBoxManage storageattach win\
   --storagectl sata1\
   --port 2\
   --type dvddrive\
   --medium VBoxGuestAdditions_4.3.36.iso

4.3. Setup networking

4.3.1. Connect the VM to the Internet

% VBoxManage controlvm win poweroff
% VBoxManage modifyvm win\
--nic1 nat\
--nictype1 82540EM

4.3.2. Wire host and guest

% VBoxManage modifyvm win\
   --nic2 hostonly\
   --nictype2 82540EM\
   --hostonlyadapter2 vboxnet0

4.4. Setup share between host and guest

Install additions (see paragraph 4.2) before proceed!

% VBoxManage sharedfolder add win\
   --name share\
   --hostpath /mnt/barracuda/vm/win.vbox/share/
   --automount

4.5. Start VM instead on desktop manager

~/.xinitrc

#!/bin/sh

# login to VM
VirtualBox --fullscreen --startvm fbsd

P.S. Sorry for formatting: Blogger editor sucks :)

Bibliography

Access to individual physical hard disk partitions / VirtualBox manual, /chapter 9.9.1.2 / https://www.virtualbox.org/manual/ch09.html#rawdisk.

~/

четверг, 18 февраля 2016 г.