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140 lines
4.8 KiB
140 lines
4.8 KiB
4 years ago
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author = "Blagovest Petrov"
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title = "Quick way to setup VirtualBox VM in multi user environment"
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date = "2015-01-14"
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tags = [
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"VirtualBox",
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]
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categories = [
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"System Administration",
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"Virtualization"
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]
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Let's assume that we need to setup VirtualBox VM with Windows XP and an old version of Microsoft Office. The machine must be used from everyone on a given number of Linux workstations. The workstations may work with LDAP and NFS/Cifs. The standard installation of the VM would be extremely space consuming and it would cost a lot of the personal life of the administrator.
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I made an easy hack to solve this ( this is real setup in university labs).
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Let's install a standard local Windows XP virtual machine and permanently mount the local directories `/home/trendafil` and `/media` .
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In this example, the home directory of the user will be mounted on `X:\\` on Windows and media will be `Z:\\` .
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The important directories are out of the VM. So, the virtual machine will be runned from snapshot on every boot.
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The next useful step is to move the default user profile outside the VM. I don't need something different than `My Documents` but in other cases, everything from the profile can be exported to `/home`, outside the VM. So, open `regedit` in Windows and go to the
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```
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HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Shell User Folders
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```
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and change the key `My Documents` to `X:\\`
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Turn off the VM and create an empty snapshot:
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Next, move the VM from `~/VirtualBox VMs` to `~/.config/VirtualBox` if it's the official VirtualBox edition or `~/.VirtualBox` for the open source edition from the Ubuntu repositories.
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Open the file `~/.config/VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml` and clean it from the unnecessary stuff:
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```xml
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<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentFolderHD"......;
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<ExtraDataItem name="GUI/RecentListHD" ....... and etc..
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```
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Change the location of the VM and replace your username with `_CURRENTUSR_` everywhere inside the file, like this:
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```xml
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<MachineRegistry>
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<MachineEntry uuid="{64245cfc-36c6-4112-9869-d5b9da817fca}" src="/home/_CURRENTUSR_/.VirtualBox/WinXP/WinXP.vbox"/>
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</MachineRegistry>
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...
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<SystemProperties defaultMachineFolder="/home/_CURRENTUSR_/VirtualBox VMs" defaultHardDiskFormat="VDI" VRDEAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" webServiceAuthLibrary="VBoxAuth" LogHistoryCount="3" exclusiveHwVirt="true"/>
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```
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Also, replace the username the same way in `~/.VirtualBox/WinXP/WinXP.xml`
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Change the location of the harddisk image to `/var/vbox/` like this:
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```xml
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<HardDisk uuid="{c052dc96-569b-4873-a799-2a75497404db}" location="/var/vbox/winxp.vmdk" format="VMDK" type="Normal">
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```
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Create the directory `/var/vbox/` and then move the harddisk image from `~/.VirtualBox/WinXp/winxp.vmdk` to `/var/vbox` .
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Then, move the whole `~/.VirtualBox` or `~/.config/VirtualBox` to `/var/vbox`
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Install Zenity if it's not installed:
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```bash
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$ sudo apt-get install zenity
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```
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Put the following script to `/usr/local/bin/startwin`:
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```bash
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#!/bin/bash
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# "THE BEER-WARE LICENSE" (Revision 42):
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# <blagovest ;at; petrovs d0t info> wrote this file.
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# As long as you retain this notice youcan do whatever you want with
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# this stuff. If we meet some day, and you thinkthis stuff is worth it,
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# you can buy me a beer in return. Blagovest Petrov
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# "~/.VirtualBox" is for the open source edition.
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# Change it to "~/.config/VirtualBox for the Oracle edition.
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(
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echo "30" ; sleep 1
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echo "# Preparing the Virtual Machine to start"; sleep 1
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rm -rf ~/.VirtualBox
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cp -r /var/vbox/WinXp/.VirtualBox ~/.VirtualBox
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echo "50" ; sleep 1
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echo "# Configuring the Virtual Machine"; sleep 1
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sed -i "s/_CURRENTUSR_/$USER/g" ~/.VirtualBox/WinXP/WinXP.vbox
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sed -i "s/_CURRENTUSR_/$USER/g" ~/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml
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echo "99" ; sleep 1
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echo "# Starting Windows..."; sleep 1
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VBoxManage startvm WinXP
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echo "100" ; sleep 1
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echo "# Starting Windows..."; sleep 1
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) |
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zenity --progress \
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--title="Starting Windows..." \
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--text="Preparing the Virtual Machine to start" \
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--percentage=0 \
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--auto-kill \
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--auto-close
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if [ "$?" = -1 ] ; then
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zenity --error --text "Starting canceled."
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fi
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```
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and make it executable:
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```bash
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$ sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/startwin
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```
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It should work now. Every user of the system can start the VM from the script.
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Additionaly, you can create a desktop enry.
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First, find an ugly Window$ logo with an open license and put it on `/usr/share/icons/win.png`. Then, create the file `/usr/share/applications/startwin.desktop` with this content:
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```ini
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[Desktop Entry]
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Encoding=UTF-8
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Version=1.0
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Name=Windows XP
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GenericName=Windows XP
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Type=Application
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Exec=/usr/lcal/bin/startwin
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TryExec=/usr/local/bin/startwin
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Icon=/usr/share/icons/win.png
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Categories=Emulator;System;Application;
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Comment=WindowsXP VirtualBox WM
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```
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