Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Virtualize a Windows7 Partiton from Linux, No Reprocutions.

I recently purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge 14. While wanting to take full advantage of the VT extensions using Linux and a Windows 7 virtual machine with VirtualBox, as well as booting natively into Windows transparently. I started a study of the latest VT technologies as well what those have done in the distant past. What I found was a solution that worked well yet required constant repair. As a sysadmin, this wouldn't do and there had to be a better solution. This post outlines just this. My setup requires no repairing in Windows7.

What you'll need is a dual boot system. Windows7 + Linux of your choice. Anything kernel 32 or later should do as you'll be using grub2. For myself I use CrunchbangLinux Statler. Anything Debian based, Ubuntu or Debian Squeeze should suffice. The new Fedora/Arch/ or Centos based releases should suffice too as they'll be using grub2.

1.)First

Once inside the 3rd partiton of your Linux

$ sudo fdisk -l

or

# fdisk -l

should produce something similar:



(note, my partitioning scheme is very complex, as long as it is NTFS in the first 2 you are ready to roll)

2.) Second

Lets install VirtualBoxOSE on a debian based system or other.

Debian based
$ sudo apt-get install virtualbox-ose

Fedora based
$ su -c yum install virtualbox (or virtualbox-ose, it's been a while)

Arch based
$ sudo pacman -Sy virtualbox or # pacman -Sy virtualbox

once VirtualBox is installed you need to load it by typing the following command in a terminal, clicking an icon, or launcher
$ virtualbox

3.) Third

Now we are ready to setup our VM.

You need to add yourself to the disk group to allow VBox access to the Windows Partition.

$ usermod -a -G disk (username)

logout and log back into your desktop or session

This will allow you to do the creation of your rawdisk partition based VM withought editing the permissions on a dev filesystem node, which I would strongly discourage.

Now you are ready to create your VM. Lets first make the harddrive for the VM.

$ VBoxManage internalcommands createrawvmdk -filename ~/.VirtualBox/HardDisks/win7.vmdk -rawdisk /dev/sda -partitions 1,2 -relative -register

now that part is what you need to pay attention too, according to my fdisk -l my win7/NTFS partitions were on sda1 and 2 where you'll need to substitute yours. As this is the most common on sda1 and 2 we'll just go with it.

4.) Finalize your VM and use it!!

now you'll need to fireup virtualbox for real and create the VM properties for the first boot.

$ virtualbox or click on the icon

you'll need to do the new vm wizard

The only thing important to note in this process is not to mmake a new Virtualharddisk, use the existing win7.vmdk one we just made :P

I give it 1024 ram and 1 proc as well as bridged networking. But that is all accordin to your discression. Everything should work fine now except for the boot sector. You'll need a grub disk to get it to fire off correctly.

For this go over to supergrubdisk.org and get the "super grub2 disk" set this for the iso on your ide drive in the win7 VM properties.

Now boot your vm and make sure you autolist os's from the first grub entry. You'll see windows7. Hit enter and be patient. You should now be set!!

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Webmin on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

Lately, I've done a little work for Rejoice Christian Schools in Owasso, Oklahoma. They just installed some new Ubuntu servers and needed a handy way to admin them besides SSH. Webmin came to the rescue.


It's real easy to get started using Webmin on 10.04 LTS with RCS's PPA.

(from the console or terminal)

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rejoicechristianschools/ppa \
&& sudo apt-get update \
&& sudo apt-get install webmin-keyring webmin-repository \
&& sudo apt-get update \
&& sudo apt-get install webmin

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Tie Guan Yin (铁观音)

(Iron Goddess of Mercy)
A delicate, new-green like, specialty Oolong with a hint of flora



Infusion Essentials
(based on 177 ml water)
Temp 90 °C
Time 2.5 min
Amt 4 g
Re-Infusablity 2X

With spring exploding all around, fate found me in the form of a fourteen gram sampler from SpecialTeas. Tie Guan Yin’s leaf is very spring like in it’s new tea body, followed by a honeysuckle after taste. It’s nose contains this wonderful flora, bringing about springtime memories as a boy with honeysuckle all around.
Do not let it fool you. There are no flowers added like Jasmine. Yes, this is an Oolong, not a Green! Try Tie Guan Yin if you are in the mood for something different, or even new to Chinese teas. This tea is a great starting place, also an oasis for the well traveled of connoisseurs.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Adam and Eve skin color.

Well, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and have come to the conclusion that Adam and Eve were either dark(negro) in skin tone, or possibly an interracial couple.

Reasons...

01.) Scientifically man originated from Africa.

02.) Biblically Garden of Eden was in Africa.

03.) Other skin tones genetically seem to derive from dark skin easier.