Tools

Dank einem Hinweis von notebook im VirtualBox Community Forum wurde das CloneVDIGUI-Tool erneut an VirtualBox angepasst. Der Installations- und Registrypfad von VirtualBox (aktuelle Version 3.0.12) hatte sich geändert, so dass die vboxmanage.exe nicht mehr automatisch gefunden wurde.
Die neue Version unterstützt die neuen Pfade und speichert ggf. den manuell ausgewählten Pfad ab, so dass immer wenn der Pfad nicht automatisch gefunden werden kann der gespeicherte Pfad verwendet wird. Die GUI hat sich seit der letzten Version nicht verändert.

Hinter dem Klick folgt Download, Beschreibung und Changelog CloneVDIGUI.

The VirtualBox command line helper for cloning disk images, CloneVDIGUI, was updated once more after a bug report of notebook in the VirtualBox Community Forum. The default installation path and registry path of virtualbox has changed, so vboxmanage.exe was no longer found automatically. The new version now detects the path correclty again (VirtualBox version 3.0.12) and also saves a manually selected path for use whenever the autodetection fails. The UI didn't change since the last update.

Download, Description and Changelog of CloneVDIGUI follows after the click.

UPDATE: There is a similar project for linux in the "don't trust technology" blog (german)
UPDATE: Es gibt ein ähnliches Projekt für Linux im "don't trust technology" blog

Angeregt von HunterX im VirtualBox Community Forum wurde die grafische Oberfläche für das VirtualBox-Commandlinetool VBoxManage.exe wurde mal wieder aktualisiert. CloneVDIGUI unterstützt nun alle Kommandozeilenoptionen, die momentan von VirtualBox (aktuelle Version 3.0.2) unterstützt werden.

Hinter dem Klick folgt Download, Beschreibung und Changelog CloneVDIGUI.

The VirtualBox command line helper for cloning disk images, CloneVDIGUI, was updated once more after a suggestion of HunterX in VirtualBox Community Forum. It now supports all command line options of the current version, VirtualBox 3.0.2.

Download, Description and Changelog of CloneVDIGUI follows after the click.

Ever wanted to know why the heck your brand new silverlight application crashes just once more...
Then check out the Silverlight Spy .

And, after I found out most of it myself in hard work, I finally found this great article about Silverlight Authentication patterns to be used with your silverlight app talking to your web service:

http://www.silverlightshow.net/items/Building-a-Silverlight-Line-Of-Business-Application-Part-3.aspx

I hope I made you cut the corner...

I recently changed (i.e. enlarged) the size of my Windows Vista boot partition.
Without thinking, I hibernated my system afterwards...
This seems not to be the best idea, as the result was an infinite loop booting:
Directly after the MBR chainloading the windows partition (no matter wheter it was grub, a basic mbr from linux "install-mbr" or whatever) the screen turned black and the system started over again with the POST.

The reason was that it seems like the partition ID had changed.
If you have a Windows Vista Installation CD/DVD at hand - no problem:
Insert, select "repair" at the screen with the big "install" button and answer "yes" to the question: "should I fix your boot problems and restart the system?" - so easy.
I recommend doing a CHKDSK run after this!

But what if you don't have a bootable Vista CD at hands (e.g. you got an OEM version without recovery disc)?

Well, The NeoSmart Files blog is your rescure:
At http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vista-recovery-disc-download/ you can find a torrent download of an official (?)
Microsoft Vista recovery disc which seems to be an installation disc that only supports recovery, but not installation.
With a total size of only 120MB, this is a real alternative of downloading a complete Windows Vista DVD!

finally, my system is running again – although I lost some files: my opera config and my pidgin accounts file seem gone...

Whereigo is a rather new variant of the classic Geocaching GPS trash hunting game.

Sadly, Groundspeak (the Geocaching.com operator) didn't manage it until now to present a player for the wherigo "catridges" for java enabled phones. Currently, only Windows CE and the Garmin Orgegon are supported by Wherigo.

Now for the happy part:
I found a Thread in the Groundspeak forums about OpenWIG. This is an evolving project that builds a wherigo player for j2me (java for mobile phones). Many cartridges already run with the player, many don't. But give it a try, you have good chances. I hope all the best for this project.

So long, I don't have more time to write because my Nokia E66 pulls be out to play

(For those who missed the download link above:
Navigate your phone to http://openwig.googlecode.com/files/OpenWIG.jad for a direct installation "over the air" or visit The OpenWIG google code project page with your browser.)

Angestoßen von massivem Druck „der Community“ habe ich eine kleine GUI erstellt, mit der Disk-Images der Virtualisierungs-Software VirtualBox komfortabel kopiert werden können.

Das Tool wird regelmäßig weiterentwickelt (s.a. VirtualBox Community Forum Thread) und dieser Post entsprechend aktualisiert. Die aktuelle Version ist kompatibel zu VirtualBox 3.0.12 und allen vorausgehenden 3.x und 2.x Versionen (mit entsprechend eingeschränktem Funktionsumfang.)
Die VirtualBox-Version wird automatisch erkannt und in der Statuszeile angezeigt. Funktioniert die Erkennung nicht, so werden alle Optionen aktiviert und ein Warnhinweis angezeigt. Es wird dann die Syntax von VBoxManage.exe aus Version 3.0.12 verwendet.

Die aktuelle Versionsnummer und die Änderungshistorie stehen im vollständigen Artikel.

CloneVDIGUI.exe - GUI für vboxmanage.exe clonevdi (ca. 823kb)

After a request from in the forums of VirtualBox, I created a small application to ease the process of copying/cloningdisk images for Virtualbox.

The tool is updated on a regular base and when the community requests changes (see VirtualBox Community Forum Thread). The current version is compatible to VirtualBox 3.0.12 and all previous 3.x and 2.x Versions (with restricted features depending on version). The VirtualBox version is automatically detected and shown in the status line. When the detection fails, a waring is shown, all options are available and VBoxManage.exe Syntax of Version 3.0.12 will be used.

The current changelog and version number is shown in the complete article.

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Update: By now, Virtualbox forum user "mpack" has created another tool that does not use vboxmanage.exe internally. This makes it possible to provide other features:

- Reads VDI,VHD or VMDK, writes VDI.
- A simple GUI Interface.
- Ability to discard unused blocks from the clone (no need to run SDelete first).
- Ability to enlarge the maximum size of a virtual disk.
- User choice to either keep the old UUID or generate a new one for the clone.
- Some useful diagnostics about the source VDI, such as the partition map and the internal fileystem.
- Better feedback while cloning: a progress bar and an estimated time to completion.
- It seems to be significantly faster than "VBoxManage clonehd".

Choose yourself which tool is more appropriate to you. I will nevertheless update my CloneVDIGUI with the latest virtualbox versions. Continue reading "VirtualBox - CloneVDI"