SD card on virtualbox

[davem...@gmail.com]

I've just started using Android-x86 via VirtualBox and thoroughly enjoying it. While trying to install an app I got an error message that I couldn't install the app without an SD card. I saw this lengthy post on setting up a card in VMWare and was wondering if this applies to VirtualBox or if there are any simpler solutions for setting up virtual SD cards?

Thanks for your help!

David

[Ikem Krueger]

> 2011/1/21 <davem...@gmail.com>:

Try it! And tell us the result! :)

[davem...@gmail.com]

I gave it a shot, and the SD card mounted! Here are the steps I used for VirtualBox:

1. Create a new virtual machine with a hard disk.
2. Launch the Live ISO in Debug mode (I used android-x86-2.2-generic.iso) to get the commend prompt.
   
3. "fdisk /dev/sda", then type:
1. "n" (new partition)
2. "p" (primary partition)
3. "1" (1st partition)
4. "1" (first cylinder)
5. "xx" (choose the last cylinder, leaving room for a 2nd partition)
6. "w" (write the partition)
4. Repeat #3, but call it partition 2, and use the remaining cylinders.
5. "mdev -s"
6. "mke2fs -j -L DATA /dev/sda1"
7. "mke2fs -j -L SDCARD /dev/sda2"
8. Reboot ("reboot -f")
9. At the boot menu, choose VESA, then hit TAB and type so that the end of the line reads: "DATA=sda1 SDCARD=sda2".
10. After booting (and of course disabling mouse integration via the machine menu), the SD card is read as unformatted, but you can format it by going to Settings > SD card & phone settings > Format SD Card, then Mount SD card.
11. The SD card should now work!

The steps are adapted from this and this posting. I couldn't find cfdisk, but fdisk worked. Are steps 5-7 necessary, since I ended up reformatting the card anyway?

[Ikem Krueger]

> 2011/1/22 <davem...@gmail.com>:

>
> I gave it a shot, and the SD card mounted! Here are the steps I used for
> VirtualBox:

Awesome! :D

[Suman Saraf]

Ikem,

Can I please ask you to refrain from sending one word e-mails like Cool, Awesome etc. to the list. If you are so excited and want to compliment the person please do it privately. This group has a wide circulation and people are looking for technical content.

It is ok expressing your delight occasionally, but please don't make that a habit!

Thanks
Suman

--- On Sat, 22/1/11, Ikem Krueger <ikem.k...@googlemail.com> wrote:

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the
> Google Groups "Android-x86" group.
> To post to this group, send email to andro...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> android-x86...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/android-x86?hl=en.
>
>

[Yi Sun]

I have added this to
https://sites.google.com/a/android-x86.org/web/documents/virtualboxhowto
Please take a look just in case I made any mistake.
Thanks
Yi

> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
> "Android-x86" group.
> To post to this group, send email to andro...@googlegroups.com.
> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
> android-x86...@googlegroups.com.
> For more options, visit this group at
> http://groups.google.com/group/android-x86?hl=en.
>

--
Android-x86
http://www.android-x86.org

[Suman Saraf]

Just a minor addendum - DevTools application has a MediaScanner which (re)indexes your SD card for cases where you manually copied media over. This ensures that you see new images and/or music in the apps without having to reboot.

If you downloaded it from within android, the application asks the relevant service to index new files.

--- On Sat, 22/1/11, Yi Sun <bey...@gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Yi Sun <bey...@gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: SD card on virtualbox
> To: andro...@googlegroups.com

[Yi Sun]

Added

[Chih-Wei Huang]

Thank you for the sharing, though there are
something need to be correct or modify.
See below.

Besides, I think these steps are still too complex for beginners.
I suggest newbies just install android-x86-2.2 to harddisk,
and use the "Create a fake SD card" feature in the installer.
(available when installation finished)

2011/1/22 <davem...@gmail.com>:

> I gave it a shot, and the SD card mounted! Here are the steps I used for
> VirtualBox:
>
> Create a new virtual machine with a hard disk.
> Launch the Live ISO in Debug mode (I used android-x86-2.2-generic.iso) to
> get the commend prompt.
> "fdisk /dev/sda", then type:
>
> "n" (new partition)
> "p" (primary partition)
> "1" (1st partition)
> "1" (first cylinder)
> "xx" (choose the last cylinder, leaving room for a 2nd partition)
> "w" (write the partition)
>
> Repeat #3, but call it partition 2, and use the remaining cylinders.
> "mdev -s"
> "mke2fs -j -L DATA /dev/sda1"
> "mke2fs -j -L SDCARD /dev/sda2"

Format it to vfat by

newfs_msdos /dev/sda2

Also remember the partition type has to
be fat32 (b or c).

> Reboot ("reboot -f")
> At the boot menu, choose VESA, then hit TAB and type so that the end of the
> line reads: "DATA=sda1 SDCARD=sda2".

If you use the vm target, you don't need to do so.
The vm target automatically does the equivalent thing
for you. That's what I called "persistent mode".

But if you use other targets like generic,
you have to add that by hand.

> After booting (and of course disabling mouse integration via the machine
> menu), the SD card is read as unformatted, but you can format it by going to
> Settings > SD card & phone settings > Format SD Card, then Mount SD card.

No need if you format it to vfat.

> The SD card should now work!
> The steps are adapted from this and this posting. I couldn't find cfdisk,
> but fdisk worked. Are steps 5-7 necessary, since I ended up reformatting the
> card anyway?

cfdisk only available in the installer (the last boot item).

--
Chih-Wei
Android-x86 project
http://www.android-x86.org

[davem...@gmail.com]

Thanks for the modifications and insight!

I'm a newbie to Android-x86 and think maybe a few items could be added to the online howto? From the howto I thought that I had to manually create partitions by command-line before installing to hard disk, but I've now realized that I can just use the installer to create one big partition and then create the fake SD card. When I tried creating an SD card with the default size (ie the size of the partition), it appeared to install fine but then didn't boot (came to a blank grub screen). I'm guessing that the fake disc image overwrote the Android install? I tried again and made a smaller SD card (estimated to be fit within the free space), and now it works.

[Chih-Wei Huang]

2011/1/23 <davem...@gmail.com>:

> Thanks for the modifications and insight!
> I'm a newbie to Android-x86 and think maybe a few items could be added to
> the online howto? From the howto I thought that I had to manually create

The doc is a little obsolete and needs to be updated.

> partitions by command-line before installing to hard disk, but I've now
> realized that I can just use the installer to create one big partition and
> then create the fake SD card. When I tried creating an SD card with the
> default size (ie the size of the partition), it appeared to install fine but
> then didn't boot (came to a blank grub screen). I'm guessing that the fake
> disc image overwrote the Android install? I tried again and made a smaller
> SD card (estimated to be fit within the free space), and now it works.

Yes. The installer is not smart enough
to detect the free space yet.

[littleinthesky]

thanks

[David King]

I too am new at this. I followed the instructions and divided the virtual hard disk (in VirtualBox 4) into 2 partitions, one about 1 GB, the other 7 GB.

The instructions on the website were hard to follow but I did it, only to find that after installing Android to sda1 that there is no more a GRUB menu at boot up, and when accessing the CLI (via pressing ALT F1), I find that the system is read only and thus I cannot edit anything.

I want to have it so that it loads the "fake" SDcard I created and can be used like a normal Android installation as much as possible. I did not see any option to create a fake SDcard during installation, maybe because I was not looking for it. I think the Documentation needs to be updated as currently i am confused about what to do.