Virtualization

Item Version License Notes

VirtualBox

5.2.30

GPL

Main environment to run Ubuntu and other OSs in.

Docker

various

Apache 2

Containers for testing and continuous integration processes.

Working with VirtualBox

I usually have a Ubuntu running in VirtualBox. My system then gets the following configuration:

  • General/Advanced with Shared Clipboard and Drag’n Drop both set to bi-directional

  • System with 8GB RAM, PIIX3 chipset, clock on UTC, 2 CPUs (no PAE/NX), full acceleration

  • Display with 16MB RAM, 100% scaling, no remote display, no video capture

  • Audio enabled for output, not input (I am not doing conferencing on these systems)

  • Network NAT, sometimes I change that to a bridge when I need direct access, but for most work NAT is good enough

  • Serial ports: none (

  • USB set to USB1, don’t use it

  • Shared folder: my windows work folder mounted as V_DRIVE

  • User Interface: full screen and seamless, show on top of screen

I don’t mount my Windows drive(s) automatically. I am just running it manually:

sudo mount.vboxsf -w V_DRIVE /usr/local/v-drive

My bash settings are coming from the mounted drive, since I am using them also in WSL and Cygwin and other systems. bashrc then sources them in:

_VDM_HOME=/usr/local/v-drive/home
DOT_BASH=${_VDM_HOME}/dotfiles/dotbash
source ${DOT_BASH}/bash.rc

Important is to have the VBoxGuest tools installed, to allow graphic handling (seamless desktop integration) and proper clipboard translation. The tools are actually kernel modules, so they require the build essentials.

sudo apt install gcc build-essential

Then download the ISO image required (for the VirtualBox version you are running) from the download site. Then mount the ISO and install the tools.

sudo -i
mkdir /media/ga
mount /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso /media/ga
cd /media/ga
./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

Sometimes I have problems with the vboxfs, which mounts Windows images into Ubuntu. Usually, the link for mount.vboxsf`in `/sbin is wrong. I had it pointing to /usr/lib/…​ a few times, which does not exist. Setting it to /opt/VBoxGuestAdditions-4.3.10/lib/VBoxGuestAdditions/mount.vboxsf should do the trick (change the version to the VBox version you are using).