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How to: Install Puppy-Linux to a VirtualBox VDI on a Windows Host


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#1 achzone

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Posted 09 November 2021 - 08:56 AM

Note: This tutorial has been split into four parts / posts to comply with forum image number restrictions. At the end of each post, simply move on to the next one to continue.

 

I run Puppy Linux FossaPup64 not as a Live CD but as a permanent frugal install that would save its state on each exit or reboot within an Oracle VM VirtualMachine. I had trouble finding a walkthrough that would show me how to do it, despite many searches on the Web and watching various YouTube videos.  

 

This walkthrough has been created to assist others new to Puppy Linux that may find themselves in a similar position while using BionicPup64 8.0 as an example. Snapshots of every step, as they were done, are included. Other current Puppy builds will be very similar.

 

It’s a great way to have a permanent Puppy Linux installation on hand.

 

Pre-requisites:

 

Windows 10 Host

Oracle VM VirtualBox Version 6.1

A downloaded copy of BionicPut64 8.0 from this link

 

Let’s get on with it…

 

Install Puppy Linux to an Oracle VirtualBox machine as a permanent install

 

Just like when installing any other OS to VirtualBox, we need to create an initial Virtual Machine (VM) template for it.

 

Step 1. Open VM VirtualBox Manager and click the New icon

 

bp1.jpg

 

 

Step 2. Start filling out the “Name and operating system details”


A ) Specify the name of your VM. (Puppy-Linux-BionicPup-64-Bit in this example)


B ) Choose an appropriate location on Windows 10 where VM will be saved


C ) Specify the amount of RAM you’re willing to dedicate to the VM. The default of 1GB (or even less) will be fine, but since I have plenty to spare, I’ve given mine 4GB of dedicated RAM


D ) Select “Create a virtual hard disk now” and then click the Create button


bp2.jpg

 

 

Step 3. Specify the settings of the VirtualBox Disk Image (VDI) - though it’s possible to use a Dynamically allocated VDI, I prefer to use a fixed size, so below, I’m going to specify a 4GB fixed sized VDI disk to install Bionic Pup to. Change that size to suit yourself. 

 

Once you’re happy with your settings, click the Create button. Your initial VM template will now be created.

 

bp3.jpg

 

 

Step 4. Back on the VirtualBox Manager window, time to adjust a few settings to best suit the Bionic Pup install. You could do this later, but I like to get it all out of the way now. Click the Settings button

 

bp4.jpg

 

 

Step 5. I suggest changing the following settings for best performance. 

 

System > Motherboard

 

A ) Chipset: PIIX 3

 

B ) Pointing Device: USB Tablet (or PS2/Mouse if that’s what you have)

 

C ) Extended Features: Enable I/O APIC

 

D ) Hardware Clock in UTC Time (This is optional)

 

bp5.jpg

 

 

System > Processor

 

A ) Processor(s): 2 (or more) depending on how many cores your Hosts processor has. If using an older generation CPU with Windows 10, leaving this to 1 processor will be fine

 

B ) Extended Features: Enable PAE/NX and Nested VT-x/AMD-V

 

bp6.jpg

 

 

System > Acceleration

 

A ) Paravirtualization Interface: Enabled

 

B ) Hardware Virtualization: Enable Nested Paging

 

bp7.jpg

 

 

Display > Screen

 

A ) Video Memory: 128 MB

 

B ) Graphics Controller: VMSVGA

 

C ) Acceleration: Enable 3D Acceleration

 

bp8.jpg

 

 

Storage > Controller IDE

 

This tells VirtualBox to load your downloaded bionicpup64-8.0-uefi.iso file as a Live CD that we’ll be booting with and using to permanently install Puppy later

 

A ) Click the Empty DVD icon

 

B ) Check the Live CD/DVD option 

 

C ) Click the Choose a virtual disk icon

 

D ) Select Choose a disk file...

 

E ) Browse to where you saved your Puppy ISO and select it, then click Open

 

bp9.jpg

 

 

Audio

 

A ) Check Enable Audio

 

B ) Host Audio Driver: Windows DirectSound

 

C ) Audio Controller: ICH AC97

 

D ) Extended Features: Check Enable Audio Output (You can also enable Audio Input as well if you’re that way inclined)

 

bp10.jpg

 

 

Network

 

Finally, ensure your Network Adapter is enabled and attached to NAT (it should be by default) and then click the OK button to exit out of settings

 

bp11.jpg

 

 

Running BionicPup64 8.0 Linux for the first time

 

Step 6. Now that you’ve set your VM to optimal defaults, click the Start button to Boot the VM

 

bp12.jpg

 

 

Step 7. The virtual machine boots to the following screen. Either wait 10 seconds for the boot to automatically continue, or press your Enter key

 
bp13.jpg

 

 

Puppy will boot into the Quick Setup screen as shown below. You can change these to suit yourself if you want to, but as we’re working on Live Boot at the moment, any changes will be lost so just click the OK button to continue. 

 

bp14a.jpg

 

 

Step 8. Close the Welcome screen and continue to Step 9.


bp16.jpg

 

 

Preparing your VDI Partition

 

Step 9. Time to prepare the virtual disk image you created earlier for a permanent install of BionicPup64 on it.

 

Click Menu > System > GParted partition manager

 

bp17.jpg

 

 

Step 10. Select sda internal drive -- ATA VBOX HARDDISK and click the OK button

 

bp18.jpg

 

 

Continued in next post...


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#2 achzone

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Posted 09 November 2021 - 07:27 PM

Step 11. You now need to create a partition on the unallocated VDI space, so select it and then click Device > Create Partition Table

 
bp19.jpg
 
 

Step 12. Accept the msdos default for now and just click Apply

 

bp20.jpg

 
 

Step 13. Next click Partition > New from Gparted’s menu bar and set the defaults as shown below and click the Add button.

 

bp21.jpg

 
 

Step14. Click Apply to complete the pending Create Partition operation and then Apply again to confirm you want to proceed

 

bp22.jpg
 
 

Step 15. Click Close to return to the GParted main screen

 

bp23.jpg
 
 

Step 16. Click the partition once to highlight it, then click Partition > Format to > ext4 from the menu bar

 

bp24.jpg

 
 

Step 17. Click Apply to complete the pending Partition Format operation and then Apply again to confirm you want to proceed

 

bp25.jpg
 
 

Step 18. Click Close to return to the GParted main screen

 

bp26.jpg
 
 

Step 19. One last important step here. Select the partition, then click Partition > Manage Flags from the menu bar

 

bp26-a.jpg
 
 

Step 20. Check the “boot” flag and then click Close. This makes the partition bootable

 

bp26-b.jpg

 
 

Step 21. We’re now done here, so close GParted by clicking X at the top right

 

bp27.jpg

 
 

Install Puppy to your permanent VDI


Step 22. Now it’s time to install BionicPup64 to the Virtual Hard Disk Image we’ve just manipulated. Click the Install icon on your desktop, then the Universal Installer button

 

bp28.jpg
 
 

Step 23. Click the Internal IDE/SATA/SCSI hard drive option

 

bp29.jpg

 
 

Step 24. Click your sda ATA VBOX HARDDISK as the drive to install to

 

bp30.jpg
 
 

Step 25. Click the Install Puppy to sda1: button to begin the installation

 

bp31.jpg
 
 

Step 26. Click the OK button to confirm you want to proceed with installing Puppy to partition /dev/sda1 with the ext4 file system on it

 

bp32.jpg
 
 

Step 27. Next you may be prompted whether to do a “Frugal” or “Full” installation. Read about the differences on the window shown and select either. I suggest (and am proceeding) with a “Frugal” installation here. To do that, click the FRUGAL button. 


Note: On some puppy builds, you may not get the choice for a Frugal or Full install. In that case (such as with FossaPup64) the default install will begin as a Frugal installation anyway.

 

bp33.jpg
 
 

Step 28. Click the OK button to continue

 

bp34.jpg
 
 

Step 29. Click the OK button again to continue

 

bp35.jpg

 
 

Step 30. Click the Yes button to confirm you want to install Grub4dos

 

bp36.jpg

 

 

Continued in next post...

 

Andrew Leniart - IT Professional / Freelance Journalist

 

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#3 achzone

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Posted 09 November 2021 - 07:47 PM

Step 31. Just leave everything set to default on the Grub4DosConfig windows and click the OK button to continue

 

bp37.jpg

 

 

Step 32. Leave defaults again and just click OK to continue

 

bp38.jpg

 

 

Step 33. Click OK again to confirm

 

bp39.jpg

 

 

Step 34. Now click OK once more to Quit the Grub4DosConfig installer

 

bp40.jpg

 

 

Step 35. Click OK, then OK again, and finally, Close the NEWGRUBTEXT document presented

 

bp41.jpg

 

 

Step 36. Bionic Pup is now installed on the VDI. Click Menu > Exit > Shut Down to temporarily close the VM 

 

bp42.jpg

 

 

Step 37. Click No to save this session. Puppy will shut down.

 

There is no need to save this session because we’ve already configured the partitions on the VDI and installed Puppy to it 

 
bp43-a.jpg

 

 

Step 38. Back at the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager window, click the Settings button on your BionicPup VM

 

bp44-a.jpg

 

 

Step 39. Navigate to Storage and Right-Click the bionicpup64-8.0-uefi.iso file and then click Remove Attachment 

 

This tells VirtualBox to no longer boot from the ISO and to boot from the VDI you installed Puppy to instead

 

bp45-a.jpg

 

 

Step 40. Click the Remove button to confirm your choice and then click the OK button to close the Settings window

 

bp46-a.jpg

 

 

Step 41. Now click the Start button to fire up and use your BionicPup Virtual Machine again, only this time, from the installation you made in the earlier steps

 

bp47-a.jpg

 

 

Step 42. When puppy boots this time, you’ll see the following screen. Press your Enter key to continue booting

 

bp48-a.jpg

 

 

Step 43. When Quick Setup presents this time, be sure to set your Locale and other preferences. We’ll set up Puppy to remember these settings for future boots later. At a minimum, you should:
 

A ) Set your preferred Country, State, and Keyboard preferences

 

B ) Check Firewall enabled to configure Firewall protection at the same time

 

C ) Click OK to continue

 

bp49-a.jpg

 

 

Step 44. Click the Apply button to accept the generic pre-set firewall rules

 

bp50-a.jpg

 

 

Step 45. You will be prompted to perform a soft Puppy restart (Restart X) so that your locale and other settings can take effect 

 

Click the Restart X button to continue

 

bp51-a.jpg

 

 

Step 46. Close the Welcome window that appears and proceed to do the first shutdown where we will tell Puppy to remember and automatically save whatever is done each time it's booted up

 

bp52-a.jpg

 

 

Continued next post...


Andrew Leniart - IT Professional / Freelance Journalist

 

Helping others, to help themselves for 20+ Years

 

Links to all my Articles & Tutorials can be found at this link (Contains no Ads or Nags)            

 

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#4 achzone

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Posted 09 November 2021 - 07:58 PM

Step 47. We're on the home stretch. Prepare yourself for a wild ride of confirmations!

 

This step is essential so that you don't lose all of the preference changes you've just made

 

Initiate another shutdown by clicking Menu > Exit > Shut Down

 

bp53-a.jpg

 

 

Step 48. Click the SAVE button

 

bp54-a.jpg

 

 

Step 49. Click the administrator button

 

bp55-a.jpg

 

 

Step 50. Click the NORMAL (no encryp.) button

 

bp56-a.jpg

 

 

Step 51. Retain the Save in a folder. *RECOMMENDED* option and click the OK button

 

bp57-a.jpg

 

 

Step 52. Click the OK button

 

bp58-a.jpg

 

 

Step 53. Click the YES, SAVE button on the First Shutdown: sanity check

 

bp59-a.jpg

 

 

Step 54. Now click the “Create pupswap.swp“ button to accept the default 64MB swap file size and “finally” get to watch your Virtual Machine shut down for the first time

 

bp60-a.jpg

 

 

Done!

 

BionicPup 64 8.0 is now fully installed as a Frugal installation just as if it were installed to a physical hard drive.

 

Each time you fire up your Virtual Machine now, it will save its state and remember anything you’ve installed automatically.

 

If you have any questions about using or configuring your new Puppy installation, head over to the Puppy Linux Discussion Forum, create a free account for yourself and ask away. Lots of friendly help for beginners is available there.

 

Enjoy the speed that using Puppy Linux will give you. I hope this walkthrough helped you out and look forward to any comments you may have below.

 

Regards, Andrew


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Helping others, to help themselves for 20+ Years

 

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#5 NickAu

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Posted 09 November 2021 - 10:15 PM

Great job.


Edited by NickAu, 09 November 2021 - 10:15 PM.

"When God shuts a Window, he opens a Linux." —Linus 8:7

 

 

 

 


#6 achzone

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Posted 09 November 2021 - 10:29 PM

Thanks for your feedback Nick. Much appreciated :)

 

Best, Andrew


Andrew Leniart - IT Professional / Freelance Journalist

 

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#7 Mike_Walsh

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Posted 10 November 2021 - 07:26 AM

Well, I must say.....amazing job, Andy. Well done!

 

Reading through all this reminded me that I'd forgotten just how much in the way of GUI 'help' tooltips & wizards'n'stuff Puppy actually has. I haven't gone through all these steps for several years; I usually do a "quick'n'dirty" manual install to a sub-directory, followed by tweaking the bootloader by hand. Takes all of around 5 minutes!

 

After that, it might take me perhaps 90 minutes or so to set-up and completely customize any Puppy to how I want it. Over time, I've "streamlined" the process; I've built several highly personal .pet packages which, upon the single-click for an install will perform multiple customization steps FOR me, automatically. Some of these steps are also 'fixes' for Puppy peculiarities that tend to interfere with the way I like to do things.

 

Again; excellent job.

 

 

Mike.  :wink:


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#8 achzone

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Posted 10 November 2021 - 12:36 PM

Thanks much for your kind words, Mike. All feedback is always encouraged and appreciated.
 
I'm hoping this will encourage staunch Windows users to give Puppy Linux a try. That it does things so differently to the many other Linux builds I've tried, I believe to be one of its biggest strengths. Nowhere near as dependant on Terminal usage, so for Windows users, that's a huge plus.
 
All the best,
 
Andrew

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#9 Mrvus

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Posted 28 May 2022 - 08:58 AM

Thank you!

:guitar:






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