Virtualbox Test Run

COMMUNISTCHINA · 2008-06-20 17:27:12

How the heck do you install Arch in Virtualbox?
After reading how-tos for a week straight, I know how to do it every which way... except in Virtualbox, which is what I'm trying now.

There is no harddrive for it to use to partition into parts. I am probably doing something wrong, but I have been able to do everything except prepare harddrive and install GRUB.

On prepare harddrive, I enter the following values:
1) Auto-prepare
/boot: 100mb
/swap: 64mb
remaining space: 7500mb
/ and /home are ext3.

Then this error appears:
Device '/boot:100:ext2:+ swap:64:swap /:7500:ext3 /home:*ext3 is not valid

It doesn't seem to matter what values I enter...

jbromley · 2008-06-20 18:13:01

Actually, there should be a virtual hard drive (VDI file.) When you create the Arch profile in VirtualBox be sure to create a VDI image of the necessary size. I don't recall how the Arch auto-setup works, but here's how you can prepare your disk from the command line.

1. Mount the Arch install ISO to your virtual machine CD-ROM and boot the virtual machine.
2. At the command prompt do fdisk /dev/hda. Partition your (virtual) hard drive as desired. If you're not familiar with fdisk, all you really need to know is that 'm' gives you help, 'p' shows the current partition map, 'n' creates a new partition, and 'w' writes the partition map. With four partitions you can make all the partitions primary.
3. If fdisk tells you to reboot when you write the partition table, do it and proceed to 4.
4. Run mke2fs (-j)/mkswap on your partitions to create the file systems.

Once you've done this, all you need to do is assign the mount points in Arch setup and you should be good. If that doesn't seem too daunting, try it out. I'm downloading an Arch core install right now to test the auto-prepare. I'll post about that later.

Regards.

COMMUNISTCHINA · 2008-06-21 05:59:25

I got the partitions to work, got Arch installed, etc.
Now I have to figure out how to make the internet work with it.
Back to the wiki...

COMMUNISTCHINA · 2008-06-21 16:08:01

* NETWORKING section
o HOSTNAME=:Set your HOSTNAME to your liking.
o eth0=: 'Ethernet, card 0'. Adjust the interface IP address, netmask and broadcast address if you are using static IP. Set eth0="dhcp" if you want to use DHCP
o INTERFACES=: Specify any/all interfaces here. If you do not use DHCP to configure a device, just keep in mind that the value of the variable (whose name must be equal to the name of the device which is supposed to be configured) equals the line which would be appended to the ifconfig command if you were to configure the device manually in the shell.
o gateway=: If you are using static IP, set the gateway address. Ignore this entry if using DHCP
o ROUTES=: If you are using static IP, remove the ! in front of 'gateway'. Leave the ! if using DHCP

Can someone explain this to me? I don't understand anything except HOSTNAME.

JeremyTheWicked · 2008-06-21 16:42:12

It should be enough to have this in the NETWORKING section of rc.conf:

eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)

Worked for me when I was testing Arch in virtualbox.
Of course you have to enable the 'network' daemon as well. If this is not enough, add the 'dhcbdb' daemon as well.

COMMUNISTCHINA · 2008-06-21 17:17:40

JeremyTheWicked wrote:

It should be enough to have this in the NETWORKING section of rc.conf:
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)
Worked for me when I was testing Arch in virtualbox.
Of course you have to enable the 'network' daemon as well. If this is not enough, add the 'dhcbdb' daemon as well.

Thanks. Would I need to do the other settings ever?

---

Now I have one more problem.

Errors
If you receive the following error not found in sync db this likely due to the package not being located because the repository has not been set correctly.

That's it. I can't even pacman -S xorg. I have looked at /etc/pacman.conf, and /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist, and I don't know why nothing works. pacman.conf says add the servers you want to use first, but it says
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist, which contains all the servers... so that should essentially be the same thing, right?

JeremyTheWicked · 2008-06-21 17:38:53

You'd need to do the other settings if you were connecting to the internet with a static IP (which doesn't normally happen in a virtualbox machine).

With regards to the other problem: I'm not sure but I suppose that you've used a not so new ISO for installation. If I'm correct you need to update pacman first. Try this (as root):

pacman -Syy
pacman -S pacman

If this doesn't work you have to wait for more experienced Archers to help you.

Edit: and if this doesn't work post your mirrorlist and pacman.conf here.

Last edited by JeremyTheWicked (2008-06-21 17:39:42)

COMMUNISTCHINA · 2008-06-21 18:45:02

JeremyTheWicked wrote:

You'd need to do the other settings if you were connecting to the internet with a static IP (which doesn't normally happen in a virtualbox machine).
With regards to the other problem: I'm not sure but I suppose that you've used a not so new ISO for installation. If I'm correct you need to update pacman first. Try this (as root):
pacman -Syy
pacman -S pacman
If this doesn't work you have to wait for more experienced Archers to help you.
Edit: and if this doesn't work post your mirrorlist and pacman.conf here.

pacman -Syy did the trick. pacman -S pacman said it was already up to date, so after -Syy, it all works.

You'd need to do the other settings if you were connecting to the internet with a static IP (which doesn't normally happen in a virtualbox machine).

So, if I install Arch on my laptop (not in a virtualbox) I will have to do the other way?
At school, on any computer I get on, whatismyip.com gives the same IP, but when I connect to computers with VNC, I have to use a different IP than the one given on whatismyip.com The network configuration (and wireless) is the only thing that is scaring me.

JeremyTheWicked · 2008-06-21 23:09:30

You need to do "pacman -Syy" everytime you change the default mirror.

If you install Arch on the laptop you better read this:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Network

Arch Linux

#1 2008-06-20 17:27:12

Virtualbox Test Run

#2 2008-06-20 18:13:01

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

#3 2008-06-21 05:59:25

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

#4 2008-06-21 16:08:01

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

#5 2008-06-21 16:42:12

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

#6 2008-06-21 17:17:40

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

#7 2008-06-21 17:38:53

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

#8 2008-06-21 18:45:02

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

#9 2008-06-21 23:09:30

Re: Virtualbox Test Run

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