Good news for those needing more graphics power. VirtualBox 4.1 just released today. Here’s a quick executive summary:

• Support for full cloning can be done through the GUI or VBoxManage
• New wizard for copying virtual disks
• Experimental WDDM graphics driver will now support Windows Aero (see image below)
• SATA ports are now configurable through the GUI

You can review the entire change log here:
http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog

Lots of goodness in this major release, but I’m not looking forward to updating all my virtual machines with the new version of Guest Additions.

But that’s the way it goes

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Reconfiguring SharePoint 2010 Settings

I developed the following Graphical Step-by-Step procedures to ensure that you can demonstrate trial or evaluation VM images without purchasing and using Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V. I also added steps to increase performance specifically for the 2010 Information Worker Demo Machine and Project Server 2010 add-on.

In this series I divided the procedures into the following four parts:

Part 1: Working with 64 bit Microsoft Trial or Evaluation VM Images

Step 1 – Download and Prepare a 64 bit Microsoft Trial or Evaluation VM Image:
Step 2 – Read the Hyper-V VM Image Documentation:

Part 2: Working with VirtualBox

Step 3 – Download, Install and Configure VirtualBox:
Step 4 – Create the VirtualBox Virtual Machine:
Step 5 – Configure Virtual Machine Settings:
Step 6 – Install VirtualBox Guest Additions:

Part 3: Configuring the 2010 IW Demo Virtual Machine

Step 7 – Modify the Network Configuration and DNS Settings:
Step 8 – Disable Services Not Required:
Step 9 – Configure SQL Server 2008 Maximum Server Memory Settings:
Step 10 – Remove Software Not Required:

Part 4: Reconfiguring SharePoint 2010 Settings (Adding Project Server)

Step 11 – Install Microsoft Project 2010 Demonstration and Evaluation Installation Pack (Optional):
Step 12 – Stopping Non-Configured SharePoint Web Sites:
Step 13 – Stopping SharePoint Web Sites:
Step 14 – Manually Creating the PWA Instance (Optional):

Continue reading “UPDATE – How to use VirtualBox for Hyper-V Preconfigured VM Images (Graphical Step-by-Step) – Part 4 of 4” »

Configuring the 2010 IW Demo Virtual Machine

I developed the following Graphical Step-by-Step procedures to ensure that you can demonstrate trial or evaluation VM images without purchasing and using Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V. I also added steps to increase performance specifically for the 2010 Information Worker Demo Machine and Project Server 2010 add-on.

In this series I divided the procedures into the following four parts:

Part 1: Working with 64 bit Microsoft Trial or Evaluation VM Images

Step 1 – Download and Prepare a 64 bit Microsoft Trial or Evaluation VM Image:
Step 2 – Read the Hyper-V VM Image Documentation:

Part 2: Working with VirtualBox

Step 3 – Download, Install and Configure VirtualBox:
Step 4 – Create the VirtualBox Virtual Machine:
Step 5 – Configure Virtual Machine Settings:
Step 6 – Install VirtualBox Guest Additions:

Part 3: Configuring the 2010 IW Demo Virtual Machine

Step 7 – Modify the Network Configuration and DNS Settings:
Step 8 – Disable Services Not Required:
Step 9 – Configure SQL Server 2008 Maximum Server Memory Settings:
Step 10 – Remove Software Not Required:

Part 4: Reconfiguring SharePoint 2010 Settings (Adding Project Server)

Step 11 – Install Microsoft Project 2010 Demonstration and Evaluation Installation Pack (Optional):
Step 12 – Stopping Non-Configured SharePoint Web Sites:
Step 13 – Stopping SharePoint Web Sites:
Step 14 – Manually Creating the PWA Instance (Optional):

Continue reading “UPDATE – How to use VirtualBox for Hyper-V Preconfigured VM Images (Graphical Step-by-Step) – Part 3 of 4” »

Working with VirtualBox

I developed the following Graphical Step-by-Step procedures to ensure that you can demonstrate trial or evaluation VM images without purchasing and using Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V. I also added steps to increase performance specifically for the 2010 Information Worker Demo Machine and Project Server 2010 add-on.

In this series I divided the procedures into the following four parts:

Part 1: Working with 64 bit Microsoft Trial or Evaluation VM Images

Step 1 – Download and Prepare a 64 bit Microsoft Trial or Evaluation VM Image:
Step 2 – Read the Hyper-V VM Image Documentation:

Part 2: Working with VirtualBox

Step 3 – Download, Install and Configure VirtualBox:
Step 4 – Create the VirtualBox Virtual Machine:
Step 5 – Configure Virtual Machine Settings:
Step 6 – Install VirtualBox Guest Additions:

Part 3: Configuring the 2010 IW Demo Virtual Machine

Step 7 – Modify the Network Configuration and DNS Settings:
Step 8 – Disable Services Not Required:
Step 9 – Configure SQL Server 2008 Maximum Server Memory Settings:
Step 10 – Remove Software Not Required:

Part 4: Reconfiguring SharePoint 2010 Settings (Adding Project Server)

Step 11 – Install Microsoft Project 2010 Demonstration and Evaluation Installation Pack (Optional):
Step 12 – Stopping Non-Configured SharePoint Web Sites:
Step 13 – Stopping SharePoint Web Sites:
Step 14 – Manually Creating the PWA Instance (Optional):

Continue reading “UPDATE – How to use VirtualBox for Hyper-V Preconfigured VM Images (Graphical Step-by-Step) – Part 2 of 4” »

Working with 64 bit Microsoft Trial or Evaluation VM Images

This is an update from my previous blog post in 2010 as a few things have changed, such as new Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.x and the Hyper-V images for SharePoint and Project Server 2010.

Questions

What do you do if you downloaded the Preconfigured VM images for your favorite Microsoft 64 bit software from the MS Downloads site (as listed below), but do not have Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V installed on your 64 bit notebook or desktop computer and you don’t have the money buy additional software?

What do you do when you find out that most of these VM images are not configured for the limited amount of hardware resources (RAM, CPU, etc.)

Answer
Use VirtualBox with your Microsoft preconfigured VM image and fine tune the VM settings

I developed the following Graphical Step-by-Step procedures to ensure that you can demonstrate trial or evaluation VM images without purchasing and using Windows Server 2008 with Hyper-V. You only need to complete Part 1 & 2.

I also added steps to increase performance specifically for the 2010 Information Worker Demo Machine and Project Server 2010 add-on.

Continue reading “UPDATE – How to use VirtualBox for Hyper-V Preconfigured VM Images (Graphical Step-by-Step) – Part 1 of 4” »