How to duplicate / clone virtual machine on VirtualBox

To get around the limitations of VirtualBox's linear snapshots, what I decided to do was just clone the machine itself. Here's how to do it.



VirtualBox doesn't really allow you to clone a machine. However, it does have a feature to clone a disk, which is pretty much the same thing. You can then easily use the disk to build the same machine.

1) You need to merge the snapshots into the parent vdi file. To do this, turn off the machine. Open the Snapshot page of VirtualBox. If you want to include the current state, make a sapshot for it. Then, for each snapshot, select "Discard" snapshot. This will merge the changes into the parent disk.

2) Use VBoxManage.exe's clonevdi feature on the disk you want to duplicate

C:\Program Files\Sun\xVM VirtualBox>VBoxManage.exe clonevdi "C:\Users\Marky\.VirtualBox\HardDisks\XP.vdi" "C:\Users\Marky\.VirtualBox\HardDisks\XPvideo.vdi"
VirtualBox Command Line Management Interface Version 2.2.2
(C) 2005-2009 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
All rights reserved.

0%...10%...20%...30%...40%...50%...60%...70%...80%...90%...100%
Clone hard disk created in format 'VDI'. UUID: 8d143541-123e-4de0-ba2f-8f72b197a8f2

3) In VirtualBox, create a new Virtual machine and point to the cloned hard disk.


3) Start it up.
That's it. You're done!

References:
Source
Enjoy!

Looking for VMware on Vista x64? Use VirtualBox!

Well, I had my mind set on installing VMware and configuring a few virtual machines. So, I went ahead and downloaded the latest version of VMware server. After a long wait, to my disappointment, it wouldn't install! It doesn't look like VMWare supports Vista x64 as the host. Oh well, forget it!



After seeing a demo of VirtualBox during the Java Developer Day conference a few days ago, I decided to try it out. If it's as good as they claim, then maybe this could be my answer? And true enough, it supports Vista x64 as a host and it pretty much supports all operating systems as a guest. (Except OSX, I think. Hmm... we'll see about that. *wink*)

So, I suggest you give it a try as an alternative to VMware. It's working well for me so far. Here is the link.

Update 2009-05-22:
Hmm... after giving it a good test, I don't think I'm very happy with VirtualBox. Switching from gui mode to text mode on a Linux guest seems to mess up the mouse pointer. A Vista x64 guest caused it to crash. I had to restart my pc to kill the Virtualbox process. And snapshots are so limited in functionality compared to VMware. I might actually give VMware another try. Perhaps I was just doing it wrong the first time. Oh well...


Enjoy!

AVG Invalid Update Control CTF File

I don't really know what happened. But this error just started coming up. Here's how to fix it:


1) Download this small program by Gary.
2) Important! Right-click, Run as Administrator.
3) Click OK when asked to delete corrupted update files.

I hope this helps. Enjoy!

Links:
Link1

Control multiple computers with one keyboard and mouse

If you're geekozoid like me, you probably have more then one computer at home. And maybe even have them in a range of different operating systems. How do you control them from one source?

Well, there are plenty of options out there, like VNC, etc. But I just discovered one cool app: Synergy. I works for Windows, linux and mac. And best of all, it's free!

Check out my video below.



References:
* http://synergy2.sourceforge.net/
* PC World Magazine August 2008

Enjoy!

How to enable color profiles & color management in Firefox 3

Photographers and photo enthusiasts will be happy to hear this. Firefox 3 now supports color management. No more viewing flickr using Safari. You have to explicitly enable it though. Read on to know how.

Here is the link to the official test site for ICC v4. Go ahead and open it in a new window.

If your browser does not support color profiles or has it disabled, here is what you'll get:


If your browser does support color profiles, this is what you'll get:


Here is how to enable Color Management on Firefox 3:
1) Open Firefox 3 browser.
2) On the address bar type the following:

about:config

3) On the search bar type the following:

gfx.color_management.enabled

4) Confirm it is now set to true, then restart firefox.

That's it! Go back to the test site and confirm that you get the proper image.

Now, if only they had turned this on by default...

Enjoy!

Hosts file on Windows

Yup! There is actually a hosts file on Windows. It does exactly the same thing as it does on Linux/Unix. And it can be found here:
C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts

Note:
* You will need to open it as administrator if you want to edit it.

Enjoy!

How to disable firefox session restore dialog

I know the session restore is a very useful feature. And a lot of people actually rely on it. But I find a bit annoying that it has to prompt me every time I start firefox.

I read somewhere that it is actually a bug in that firefox cannot distinguish between a machine shutdown and a crash. It thinks it crashed, an so prompts you if you want to continue off with the previously open windows that you had.

Anyway, until they get this fixed, I'm turning it off. Here's how to do it:

1) Open firefox and type the following in your address bar:
about:config

2) Right-click, and select:
New -> Boolean

3) In the dialog box, type the line below and press ok.
browser.sessionstore.resume_session

4) Set the value to:
false

You're done. Enjoy!

Google Toolbar for Firefox 3.

Finally, it's here! Get yours from:
http://www.google.com/tools/firefox/toolbar/FT3/intl/en/index.html

Enjoy!

Camel Caps Title and Artist in iTunes

I DON'T LIKE ALL CAPS LIKE THIS. I prefer my music titles to: "Use Camel Caps". And I'm tired to renaming each of the 1000 Top Songs Of The 80's. Here is my solution:

1) Save the snippet below into: MarkyCamelCapsSelectedSongs.js

---

// m_a_r_k_y@yahoo.com 2008-04-05 Initial

var iTunesApp = WScript.CreateObject("iTunes.Application");
var selectedTracks = iTunesApp.SelectedTracks;
var numTracks = selectedTracks.Count;
var ITTrackKindFile = 1;

while (numTracks > 0) {
   var currTrack = selectedTracks .Item(numTracks);
   // is this a file track?
   if (currTrack.Kind == ITTrackKindFile) {
      title = currTrack.Name;
      artist = currTrack.Artist;

      //WScript.Echo(convertToCamelCaps(title) + " : " + convertToCamelCaps(artist));

      currTrack.Name = convertToCamelCaps(currTrack.Name);
      currTrack.Artist = convertToCamelCaps(currTrack.Artist);      

   }
   numTracks--;
}

// camelcaps string converter
function convertToCamelCaps(str) {
   var tempArray = str.split(' ');

   for (var i = 0; i < tempArray.length; i++) {
      tempArray[i] = tempArray[i].charAt(0).toUpperCase() + tempArray[i].substring(1).toLowerCase();
   }

   return tempArray.join(' ');
}

---

2) Open iTunes and select the songs you want to convert.
3) Double click MarkyCamelCapsSelectedSongs.js from explorer to run it.

You should see your selected songs get converted.

More Info here:
http://developer.apple.com/sdk/
http://www.nsc.ru/docs/ms/js/jstoc.htm
http://www.asp.dk/docs/jscript/jstutor.htm

Enjoy!

A better defrag program for Windows Vista

Ok, so you're not too happy about the new disk defragmenter that comes with Vista.

Well, try this for a change.You can download it from www.auslogics.com.

It gives you a better view of what is happening while it's running. And it seems to do a decent job. Finally, the best thing is, its absolutely FREE!

Enjoy!

Image Resize Software.

I've been looking around for a good image resizing application. This seems to have good reviews. And apparently it works for Canon Raw (.CR2) files as well. I'm giving it a try.

Click here to visit the website.

By the way, did I mention it's free?

XNeat Taskbar Program

Arrange your taskbar with XNeat.
Visit http://www.xneat.com/windows_manager/