26th Jun2014

VirtualBox – moving a VDI file and re-linking it to the Guest

by Gyro

virtualbox

Today I decided to move my vdi files to another partition.
So, I moved them and then started the Oracle VM VirtuaBox Manager to re-link the vdi files to the respective guest.First, I opened the settings of each Virtual Machine and deleted the "old" hard disk under "Storage".Then I clicked on "Add Attachment", selected "Add Hard Disk" and "Choose existing disk", and then selected the vdi file.

Next came a very strange error:

The Problem

Cannot register the hard disk ‘FULL PATH TO NEW LOCATION OF VDI' with UUID {UUID OF THE VDI} because a hard disk ‘FULL PATH TO OLD LOCATION OF VDI' with UUID {UUID OF THE VDI} already exists in the media registry (‘/home/user/.VirtualBox/VirtualBox.xml').

This confused me pretty good, as I knew for a fact that I moved the vdi, so it did not exist at the old location anymore. I also had no clue what this media registry was supposed to be, and before opening that xml file and messing around with it, I decided to see if others had this issue before.

After a bit of google-ing, I found the solution in the VirtualBox forum:

Even though the thread was started on 2. Mar 2009, 16:43, some kind soul decided to register to the forum to make one single post to the forum in this thread on 21. Dec 2012, 22:00 (Christmas spirit?) with the simple solution to this problem.

Hi there,

I had the same UUID problem and a very easy fix worked for me. I went File>virtual media manager. I found the vdi file that was giving me issues. Selected it and removed (though it was showing up as inaccessible). Then started the VM again and selected the file from my local hard-disk. That was it!
Hope this works for you too. :)
Om

So, to summarize with a bit more clarity:

The Solution

1. Open the Oracle VM VirtuaBox Manager
     Click on File -> Virtual Media Manager (or Ctrl+D)
2. Delete the hard disk entry in question (select and press "Del" on keyboard)
3. Open "Settings" of the Virtual Machine, go to "Storage", click "Add Attachment", select "Add Hard Disk" and "Choose existing disk", then selected the vdi file and you are done.

Enjoy :)

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26th Jul2012

Resize VirtualBox Disk Image – grow, expand, increase a .VDI disk image in 1 minute

by Gyro
Resize VirtualBox Disk Image -- the easy and the hard way.Today I actually used up the 20GB of virtual disk space I set for the Windows XP I use for specific Windows Software. Who would have thought that an old Windows XP license would be useful again, eh? :)

After performing a quick search on how to manipulate an existing VDI file, I found a bunch of lengthy guides, all pretty much saying the exact same thing… create a new VDI, load the old and new VDI disk images into a Virtual Machine as a master and slave drive, boot with a gParted or equivalent BootCD image, and then clone the old disk to the new one… or in short: do a lot of steps that take forever, but not what I want: Resize VirtualBox Disk Image.

virtualbox

After flipping through the 10th or so guide, I realized that pretty much all of them were written in 2008… very unusual as bloggers usually write about the same subject on a yearly basis. That in mind, I search a bit more and… BINGO! Since VirtualBox 4 is out, there is a simple command line tool to resize VDI images. Man, those extra 5 minutes of searching just saved me from a lot of hassle and a huge waste of time.
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19th May2012

Keep your passwords together and safe with KeePassX

by Gyro

As a web craftsman I have to keep a nearly endless list of usernames, email addresses, and the respective passwords.

KeePassX is the perfect solution to keep all your passwords, as well as all other important information in one place. It is an Open Source software for Linux, MacOS, and even Windows, that uses one single file to store all your information. This file is protected by your own password, the encryption technology used complies with the standards of the NSA, and best of all -- you can share and open this file on the before mentioned operating systems.

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