VirtualBox running CentOS 6 Notes
Other Tips for VBox Guest Additions on Fedora 22/21, CentOS/RHEL 7.1/6.7/5.11
Follow the provided installation instructions in the manual.
Note: Just because the host machine is 64-bit does not mean the VirtualBox will run a guest 64-bit machine. Processor limits of the host machine seem to be the culprit or certain manufacturer's chips seem to be the limit.
Guest Additions in Run Level 3 - see VirtualBox General Notes
December 2015:
Machine took power hit and UPS failed. VirtualBox application would start, but no virtual machines would start. Kernel error. Had to remove VirtualBox and reinstall the same version (VirtualBox-5.0-5.0.10_104061_el6-1.x86_64.rpm)
November 2015:
1) Building the OpenGL support module [ FAILED ]
- cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS_5.0.10_104061
- export MAKE=’/usr/bin/gmake -i’ (See online info)
- sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
July 2015:
1) VirtualBox 5.0 mini toolbar does not work correctly in full screen
- Source RPM is VirtualBox-5.0-5.0.0_101573_el6-1.x86_64.rpm
February 2014:
1) Boot error message: (modprobe vboxdrv failed. Please use 'dmesg' to find out why)
Install the dkms rpm package. It can slow the time to perform updates but it will stop this error message and also allow VirtualBox to work with new kernels seamlessly.
December 2013:
1) Upgrading to VirtualBox-4.3-4.3.4_91027_el6-1.x86_64.rpm causes failures when trying to start the VMs
Need to go into BIOS and under security options allow VirtualMachines to run.
2) Error message:
Building the OpenGL support module [FAILED]
Follow workaround on https://forums.oracle.com/message/11282251 or https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=58855
# cd /usr/src/kernels/2.6.32-431.el6.i686/include/drm/ # ln -s /usr/include/drm/drm.h drm.h # ln -s /usr/include/drm/drm_sarea.h drm_sarea.h # ln -s /usr/include/drm/drm_mode.h drm_mode.h # ln -s /usr/include/drm/drm_fourcc.h drm_fourcc.h
April 2013:
OpenGL support fails when installing Guest Additions on VirtualBox 4.2.10 r84104
Mount the Guest Additions CD .iso (Devices> Install Guest Additions…)
Open terminal as root:
# export MAKE='/usr/bin/gmake -i' # cd /media/VBOXADDITIONS_4.2.10_84104 # sh VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=42424
March 2013:
No X Display CENTOS 6.4
Need to investigate. Problem exists with VirtualBox 4.2.8 r83876
http://wiki.centos.org/Manuals/ReleaseNotes/CentOS6.4#head-a39645d5503daf52829401f298c60712af070009
https://www.centos.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=41693&forum=55
Appears that removing /etc/X11/xorg.conf (save to a backup file) and letting the system rebuild xorg.conf allows VirtualBox to come again into graphical X Windows.
August 2012:
Crashes and won't boot
Crashes immediately upon boot on Dell E510 hardware. Add "edd=off" to kernel boot parameter.
July 2012:
Crashes and won't boot
Chipset problems cropped up for later kernels in Centos6.2…kernel panic upon booting. Fix is:
Change chipset settings in the VirtualBox Manager from PIIX3 to ICH9. Turn on IO APIC. Reboot guest CentOS.
https://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=49007
The default settings under System > Motherboard was Chipset PIIX3, unchecked enable IO APIC
Other notes:
To migrate a VM install from other piece of hardware, just rsync ~/.VirtualBox and the location of the Virtual Box machine (default is ~/VirtualBox VMs)
When updating kernel on VM, you need to re-install guest additions and restart guest OS to get the seamless view/auto resize mode again.
Network:
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/virtualbox-network-sharing.html
Screen resolution:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=691495
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5145028#post5145028
Install the "VirtualBox Guest Additions" add-on to the Virtual Box Manager. Then login to the guest system and double-click the desktop icon for Additions. This package will enable proper screen resolution, mouse behavior, etc.
Change the guest OS to a higher display resolution and maximize the guest VM display window
Change theme if desired (under System > Preferences > Appearance > Themes)
Change mouse pointer to white (under System > Preferences > Appearance > Themes > Customize)
Change the system fonts to 8 point (System > Preferences > Appearance > Themes) and under the Advanced tab change the DPI resolution from the default (98) to 96.
Set up .bashrc
Set up gnome-terminal to monospace 9pt, unlimited text scrollback, blinking cursor if available
If desired, install webcore-fonts-1.3-1 (and see if Monospace 9pt fonts looks any different)
Adobe Reader is not installed in default channel - see CentOS Additional resource page at http://wiki.centos.org/AdditionalResources/Repositories and look for the Adobe Repository
- I just got Adobe Acrobat Reader 64 bit for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6 working, and it wasn't too easy. First, I downloaded a binary from http://get.adobe.com/reader/. I made it executable and ran it, but the program wouldn't launch. Using 'strace -e open acroread', I could see it was trying to open a libxml2.so.2, but it wasn't seeing the one on my system under /usr/lib64. Doing a 'yum list libxml2\*', I could see there was also a libxml2.i686 that wasn't installed yet. After doing 'yum install libxml2.i686', the program started up a little further, but then complained about an missing library. More searching led me to do 'yum install gtk2-2.18.9-4.el6.i686'. At last, the Adobe Acrobat Reader 9.4 ran successfully. (from http://wrightrocket.blogspot.com/2011/01/adobe-acrobat-reader-x-64-bit-for-red.html#!/2011/01/adobe-acrobat-reader-x-64-bit-for-red.html Wrightrocket blog
Install Adobe flash (download rpm from Adobe website)
Install work's VPN software. Likely need to do a 'yum install libxml2.i686' first, though.
KRDC on CentOS6 guest OS: the width needs to be about 6 pixels less than current screen resolution to avoid the end scrollbars. Be sure to use FQDN.
KRDC on CentOS5 host OS: works fine; appears to make rdp:/hostname.domain.com by default a VNC connection which doesn't have odd black cursor/mouse.
Issues with CentOS6 installed under VirtualBox:
- kernel updates require Virtual Box's Guest Additions to be re-installed
- Inside the guest OS, go to the hovering menu bar and select Devices > Install Guest Additions
- Click on the icon that appears on the desktop (CD-ROM)
- After the additions are installed, reboot the Guest OS, login
- The guest additions behavior and fullscreen mode should work normally again
- mouse cursor odd - 'hand' is black and not white
- change mouse theme on guest OS as stated above
- mouse cursor when connecting via krdc is ugly black
- use rdesktop instead; see wiki entry on remote desktop connections
- network connection is not initially established upon boot
- right-click network icon to disable/enable
- right-click and select System eth0 to start the networking
- network connection is not part of the LAN (need to establish a route?)
- Firefox is v3.x by default, follow this page to update to v9.x
- Note that v9.x has funny behavior with icons at top of page; perhaps remove .mozilla from user home directory to reset
- libstdc++.so.6 error: check rpmfind.net for open64-5.0-0.x86_64.rpm (didn't seem to work; backed out of it)
- yum install libstdc++.i686
- yum install xulrunner
- may need to install the i686 package versions because Firefox is likely still 32bit
- also did a yum install *
- How to install Firefox 10 (not tested)
- How to install adobe flash 11 (not tested)
- How to install Java 7 (not tested)
- How to install Thunderbird (not tested)
- Screen keeps blanking, try this: http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=72051
- xset -dpms in your ~/.xsession or ~/.xinitrc file
- xset -dpms s off
Old note for after new kernel install…..do this as root:
/etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
Possible tests:
- A clean install of CentOS6 on a separate hard disk in a desktop PC
- A guest install of CentOS5 with VirtualBox
- Performance is marginally adequate on a modern 64-bit Windows host OS with 4GB DDR3 RAM