This mostly overviews my installation of Windows 7 (pre-beta) build 6956 in VirtualBox hosted on a Windows XP machine and the problems I had.
Disclaimer:
Windows 7 pre-beta is still under heavy development. Don't install on a machine which cannot safely crash. VirtualBox installations should be safe, but who can guarantee. This software is likely not legal for just anyone to use. It expires after 30 days of use. This should be used as an educational tool, if at all.
Links:
torrent link (as of 2008.12.11)
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4561592/Windows_7_Ultimate_Beta_Build_6956_32Bit_-_Watermark_Removed
VirtualBox link
http://www.virtualbox.org/
I'm a Windows user. Not because I think Windows is superior, just because I know it. Laziness. I've considered switching to Ubuntu or something...and want to, but I game occasionally. For those who do not know, (prepare for over-simplification) games designed using Direct X don't port well to other platforms. Games designed using OpenGL are far more easily ported to other platforms. Plus I am super familiar with loads of applications for Windows. But I digress.
I downloaded Windows 7 (pre-beta build 6956) using a bit-torrent client. After a few years, I'm still not comfortable with Vista because I've not been exposed to it very frequently (when repairing other folks' computers). Also, I've not had a good reason to install it myself. That said, I've read very positive pre-reviews of Windows 7 so I thought I'd get a head start on learning my way around. As to not risk my system, I thought I'd install it using VirtualBox (PC Virtualization software -- a 'software' computer, to put it simply).
Installing Windows 7 on my XP SP3 VirtualBox Host went without any major hitches. The only problem I ran into was using VirtualBox's dynamic sized hard-drive (where your virtual hard drive starts small and 'grows' as it needs to). I had to use a static hard-drive (I picked 20 GB).
Setup was a little easier, but I think I was complicating a relatively simple problem. The VirtualBox 'network adapter' wasn't recognized by Windows 7. After a little research, I tried to use the 'Guest Additions' .iso for VirtualBox. It had helped me overcome some problem with Ubuntu in the past. Windows 7 is not supported. After some more research, and a few other failed attempts, I realized that you can (with the Virtual Windows 7 powered down) adjust the 'network adapter' used by VirtualBox. The default one didn't work, but the following steps left me with a working network adapter and no futher problems with Windows 7 on VirtualBox:
- right click the Virtual Installation (in my case, I named it Windows 7) and click settings
- go to network
- change 'network adapter' to 'Intel/PRO 1000 MT Desktop'. The other settings should not be changed
Next time Windows 7 was started, it works fine. I allocated 1GB of ram and have a mid-range dual-core system and it runs great for me.
I hope no one spends as much time as I did on this problem, but if anyone has and didn't find an answer, I hope this helps with some resolution!
