How-To Geek

I want to see if I can put W7 RC on my VM . . . Sun xVM VirtualBox version 2.1.4.

I know whs wrote a tutorial on putting the beta on the VM (and I downloaded and have it), but would it be any different for the RC?

The catch here might be the RAM. While I have 1GB on my machine, VirtualBox will only allow me to set aside 460MB of RAM and still be "optimal"

I don't know that I would want to load any apps (even if I could) . . . just want to see and play with the OS.

Is it possible to even do with only 460MB of RAM? The technical specifications that MS show for it list 1GB of RAM.

It worked just fine.

Coupla' things though.

With only 460+MB of RAM, as you might expect, I could almost hear my machine groaning under the burden of the RAM requirements (and I'm maxed out at 1GB of RAM for my vintage 2004 machine, so I can't really add more).

The whole install from start to finish took about 45 mins. As I recall, whs's install of the beta took about 35 minutes, but then whs had a whole lot more RAM dedicated to it. But once it installed, it seemed very nimble.

Since I'm still using XP, the W7 GUI was VERY different. I haven't had the benefit of working with the VISTA GUI, which as I understand is somewhat similar. So, my learning curve is steep, and while I spent an hour or so playing around with the thing, I think I'm going to have to take the "tour", which I've not done with any other version.

One thing has really perplexed me. There is an ominous message that I have to "activate" the thing within three days (or is that just something the RC has in it for the final, and I can ignore it as a "tester"?) So I tried to get on line with it, but the thing would not recognize my ethernet card. Then I tried to "update" the driver but it gave me a message that it coudn't find a driver (my ethernet card is a "National Semiconductor DP83815-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter").

So then I went to the National Semiconductor site, but they seem to be pretty much out of the PC business. Then I went to the HP site (my machine is an HPze4700) and did in fact find a driver for the ethernet card, but it was only an XP driver (dated 2003). I would have downloaded and tried that driver but I couldn't figure out a way to get it on to the VM partition.

Bottom line, I'm at a dead end trying to figure out how to get on line with W7, but then if this "activation" thing is not something I need to worry about, I really don't need to . . . besides, it's going to take me quite a while just to figure out how to get around in the thing before I even start worrying about getting on line with it.

Can't really evaluate much of it right now, except to say that the VM installation went fine and the thing looks pretty slick.

@Bob,
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Does your CPU support VT (Virtual Technology) ????
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Am trying to figure out the "hoopla" between MS and Intel concerning the Non-Win7 Ready XP VM Mode which is being discussed in other hardware forums.
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Have yet to get a good handle on the subject other than by Researching Intel CPU White Papers.
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This post is NOT meant to cause controversy between the (3) of us on this topic thread.
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Best Regards,
Rick P.

Hey Rick,

Huh? I mean, what does my CPU support for VT have to do with my question about connecting to the Internet? Not arguing . . . just wondering what you mean by the question. And . . . how would I find that out? BTW, my CPU is an AMD Athlon Mobile 2500+. Does that help?

ScottW,

I would have done what you suggested . . . run the XP driver in compatibility mode . . . but, as I said, I coudn't figure out how to get the VM to "see" my downloaded file. It thinks the VM partition, as I'm sure you know, is the only one on the machine. Consequently, I can't navigate or point to the download from W7's explorer or the "update driver" button in the W7 device manager. My sense is that there's an easy solution to this, but I can't think of it right now.

And yes, I did get a product key when I downloaded W7 . . . used it just fine at the end of the install process. Product Activation to verify a license seems kind of silly when distributing a free RC for evaluation.

Bob, Rick and I are kind of having an orthogonal conversation about XP Mode and virtualization. You can safely ignore us. :)

I have not used VirtualBox, but in VMWare there is a way to mount a Windows folder in the guest OS so that files can be exchanged directly between Windows and the guest OS. There may be a way to do this in VB. There may also be a file transfer tool that does one file at a time.