Sun Microsystems 3.0.0 user manual VBoxManage createhd Filename WinXP.vdi --size Remember

7Alternative front-ends; remote virtual machines

3.Create a virtual hard disk for the VM (in this case, 10GB in size) and register it with VirtualBox:

VBoxManage createhd -- filename "WinXP.vdi" --size 10000 -- remember

4. Set this newly created VDI file as the first virtual hard disk of the new VM:

VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --hda "WinXP.vdi"

5.Register the ISO file that contains the operating system installation that you want to install later:

VBoxManage openmedium dvd /full/path/to/iso.iso

6. Attach this ISO to the virtual machine, so it can boot from it:

VBoxManage modifyvm "Windows XP" --dvd /full/path/to/iso.iso

(Alternatively, you can use VBoxManage controlvm dvdattach directly, without having to register the image first; see chapter 8.9, VBoxManage con- trolvm, page 115 for details.)

7. Start the virtual machine using VBoxHeadless:

VBoxHeadless --startvm "Windows XP"

If everything worked, you should see a copyright notice. If, instead, you are returned to the command line, then something went wrong.

8.On the client machine, fire up the RDP viewer and try to connect to the server. Assuming a Linux client, try the following:

rdesktop -a 16 -N my.host.address

(With rdesktop, the -a 16 option requests a color depth of 16 bits per pixel, which we recommend. Also, after installation, you should set the color depth of your guest operating system to the same value. The -N option requests the Num- Lock state synchronization, which is required for a correct handling of NumPad keys.)

You should now be seeing the installation routine of your guest operating system.

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