[doody]

Here's another of my guides on installing VirtualBox on the Eee PC.

I could give you the link for Virtualbox's homepage, but I think most of you won't know what it's talking about. Neither did I, I had to search around for quite a while before I finally understood what it does.

In brief, VirtualBox allows you to run a virtual machine on your computer, which can be configured to boot up any OS you desire (Well actually, there's only 2 common ones, Windows and Linux).

Without further ado, here are the steps I took. Note that I did the XP setup on my desktop, then transfered the VDI file over to my Eee PC. Initially I tried running it off the Eee PC, until I realised it was taking forever to complete the setup.

You can skip to step 2 if you are planning to do the entire process on the Eee PC. Instructions for installing VirtualBox on the Eee PC can be found here.

Step 1
Download the VirtualBox binary for Windows XP here. Install VirtualBox to your computer.

Step 2
Start VirtualBox. Ignore the dialog about entering a name and email. You can try, but you'll just get an IP address error.

Step 3
Now we're ready to create a Virtual Machine (VM). Click New.

Step 4
First, we need to enter a name for the VM, as well as select the type of OS that we plan to install. Click Next when done.



Step 5
Now we are prompted to select the amount of RAM to be allocated to the VM. Note that the RAM, once allocated, will no longer be available to the rest of the system.

Example:
You have 2GB RAM installed on your Eee PC.
You allocate 1024MB = 1GB to the VM.
Xandros will now only have 1GB to use until the VM is closed.

Since I have 2GB of RAM in my Eee PC, I decided to allocate 1024MB to my VM.



Step 6
Now you have to create a Virtual Hard Disk. This is a file that acts as the hard disk for XP to be installed in. Since we don't have one yet, click New to make a new Virtual Hard Disk.



Step 7
You are given two options for the virtual hard disk file.A dynamically expanding image will expand as the number of files stored in the virtual hard disk increase. A fixed-sized image has a fixed size, regardless of whether there are files inside the virtual hard disk or not. We'll go with dynamically expanding image, as that saves space on your SDHC. For reference, my virtual hard disk file with Windows XP installed is only 484MB.



Step 8
Select a location for your VDI file, and set the size of the virtual hard disk. This will be the maximum size that your virtual hard disk is allowed to grow until (if you have selected Dynamically expanding image in the previous step).

If you have selected fixed-size image, this will be the actual size of your VDI file.



Step 9
You're done! You should now see your new VM listed in VirtualBox.



Now we need to install XP to this virtual hard disk. Select your VM and click Start to "boot" it.

Step 10
You're going to get an error as no OS has been installed yet. We can mount an ISO in VirtualBox by clicking on Devices > Mount CD/DVD ROM > CD/DVD ROM Image.



If you have a CD/DVD drive, you can select the drive letter and VirtualBox will load it as well.

For those that have an ISO, click Add and select your ISO image.



Step 11
Click Machine > Reset. This time VirtualBox will boot from the CD/DVD/ISO, and start your Windows XP installation.

Step 12
Once you're done, remember to unmount the CD/DVD/ISO in order to boot into your Windows XP installation.

At this point, your virtual hard disk image is ready. With that VDI file, you can setup VirtualBox on your Eee PC to boot to Windows XP. Simply follow Steps 3 to 6, except this time you'll click Existing and select the VDI image that you've copied over to your Eee PC.

Finally, I know this guide is quite hard to follow if you don't know what's going on. I've already tried my best to explain the process step by step, but if there's anything else you can always post here or PM me .

Whee.

[vrzone24hrs]

This is a good recommendation... in case readers are wondering what's the main difference between Wubi and VirtualBox.. If you want to be running Ubuntu while Windows is running (so Ubuntu appears within a window on your Windows desktop), you should look at Virtualbox...otherwise, Wubi-Ubuntu or a traditional Ubuntu install will be the ticket for you.

I've tried this before..(actually it's very similar to Virtual PC for Macs way before Boot Camp or Parrallels came out...) but it was taxing on my XPe mean ing the more apps i opened the slower my Eee got...but with Wubi,when I saw that you could transfer files between Wubi-ubunti & WinXP/Vista interchangeably, it served my purposes so I decided to stick with it..

Also with Virtualbox, every time you want to use Ubuntu, you have to wait for two boot times (the time it takes to boot Windows, and then the time it takes to boot Ubuntu within Windows)...kinda of reminds me of the easy mode/advanced desktop routine in Xandros.. unlike Wubi which gives you a dual boot option upon bootup of your Eee..

[doody]

Boot up time is actually pretty good. I've got Windows XP on the VM and the file is on my SDHC, and I'm able to "boot up" in under a minute. Only problem now is that I can't seem to install the Asus XP drivers under VirtualBox.

[biffzinker]

Originally Posted by doody

Only problem now is that I can't seem to install the Asus XP drivers under VirtualBox.

You have to install the provided drivers that came with VirtualBox, not the drivers ASUS provides if you were to install Windows XP on the eee's flash drive.

Virtualbox is emulating another layer of hardware except for the cpu.

Virtualbox should have installed an .iso that you can mount under the vm when in Windows XP, and there should be a menu option for it in Virtualbox. (Devices|Install Guest Additions)

[doody]

Originally Posted by biffzinker

You have to install the provided drivers that came with VirtualBox, not the drivers ASUS provides if you were to install Windows XP on the eee's flash drive.

Virtualbox is emulating another layer of hardware except for the cpu.

Virtualbox should have installed an .iso that you can mount under the vm when in Windows XP, and there should be a menu option for it in Virtualbox. (Devices|Install Guest Additions)

Hmm interesting... I will try this again later. Thanks for the tip .

[biffzinker]

Seventh screenshot in you first post shows the menu option (Install Guest Additions on the bottom), could of just told you what to look for there. doh', ah well

[doody]

Ah, I can't stop myself from trying it out before I go to bed. Get back in a while

[doody]

VirtualBox with Guest Additions & Windows XP = nice .

So do I still need to install the Asus drivers, biffzinker?

[shokkuweibu]

A good option but doesnt sound too good of an idea. I think its gonna overwork the EEE. Nice in-depth guide though.

[biffzinker]

Originally Posted by doody

VirtualBox with Guest Additions & Windows XP = nice .

So do I still need to install the Asus drivers, biffzinker?

Don't need the drivers unless you plan on using Windows XP as the primary operating system for your eee in place of the default linux os. What Virtualbox is doing is emulating a different chipsets(north bridge south bridge)soundcard/network. Look under device manager and it'll show differing chipsets like in vmware workstation it shows a Pentium II/440BX for the northbridge although the cpu gets left exposed to the os in VM.

[doody]

Ah yes... I think I understand what you're driving at. Oh well, this was just proof-of-concept only .

With regards to overworking the Eee PC, I don't think it is, unless you're going to be running an application in the emulated XP and running other applications on Xandros. Other than that, you also need enough RAM to allocate to the VM. I gave it 1GB, leaving the other 1GB for Xandros, which is quite a comfortable amount for both OSes. XP is a bit slow to respond but I believe it's because I have the virtual disk image stored on my SDHC instead of the SSD.