Virtual Machines: Microsoft Virtual PC: Installing Ubuntu 10.04

Posted by ADMINISTRATOR On 9 June 2010 No Commented

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To get Ubuntu working in Microsoft Virtual PC 2007, you need to make some changes manually. The default color depth is configured to 24 bits per pixel, Virtual PC only supports 16 bits per pixel. To install Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop for Virtual PC 2007

Create a new virtual machine
Start the Live CD version of Ubuntu from a CD or the ISO file in safe graphics mode
Install Ubuntu onto the new virtual hard disk and reboot
Interrupt the reboot at the GRUB prompt and select the (recovery mode) option
Edit the xorg.conf file to fix the color depth
Reboot

Basic Installation

1. Start Microsoft Virtual PC 2007.

2. Create a new virtual machine by clicking the “New” button. This starts the New Virtual Machine Wizard.

Select the “Create a virtual machine” option. Click “Next”.
Name the virtual machine. For example: “Ubuntu 8.04 Desktop”. Click “Next”.
Select “Other” for the Operating System. Click “Next”.
Recommended RAM of 128MB is too small. Select “Adjusting the RAM” and configure for at least 256MB. I would give at least 512 mb if your system can give it Click “Next”

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Select the virtual disk option. I always create “A new virtual hard disk”. Click “Next”
Specify the Virtual Hard Disk Location. Click “Next”
Click “Finish” to create the new virtual machine.

Installing Ubuntu

After creating a new Virtual PC machine, select the CD menu and then Capture ISO Image and browse for the iso image you downloaded.

At this point, select “Start or install ubuntu” and follow the regular installation procedure.
If you are unable to install this way, try entering the live demonstration of linux by choosing ‘Start Ubuntu in Safe Graphics Mode’

After entering the live demonstration, you are ready to start the install. From the top level Systemmenu, select Administration | Install.

The Mouse Capture Issue

If you’re running Ubuntu 7.04, you might run into an issue where you can’t use the mouse in the VPC. This is due to a bug in some Linux distros where it cannot find PS/2 mice, which is the type that VPC emulates.

The Bit Depth Issue

Earlier I mentioned making sure to start Ubuntu in Safe Graphics Mode. The reason for this is that the default bit depth property for Ubuntu is 24, which Virtual PC does not support.

Fortunately, I found the fix in this post on Phil Scott’s blog (Phils rule!). I bolded the essential elements.

Once I was in there, I found the configuration file for the graphics card in /etc/X11. Sso type in cd /etc/X11, although I certainly hope even the most harden of MScentric people can figure that out . Once in there I opened up xorg.conf using pico (so type in pico xorg.conf – isn’t this fun?). Browse down to the screen section. Opps, looks like the defaultDepth property is 24, which VirtualPC doesn’t support. I changed this to 16 and hit CTRL-X to exit (saving when prompted of course). Typed in reboot and here we go….

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When I ran through these steps, I found that I had to use the sudo command (runs the command as a super user) first. For example:

sudo pico xorg.conf

So now I have Ubuntu running in a virtual machine. It comes with Open Office, Firefox, etc… pre-installed.

Virtual Machine Additions for Linux

At this point, you’ll probably want to install the Virtual Machine Additions. Unfortunately, the additions only work for Windows and OS/2 guest operating systems.

However, you can go to the Connect website and download Virtual Machine Additions for Linux. It took me a while to find the actual download linkbecause various blog posts only mentioned the Connect site and not the actual location.

Ubuntu isn’t listed in the list of supported distributions. I’ll let you know if it works for Ubuntu.