Installing Linux on Windows - Common Linux Display Problems On Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2

published by Scott on Sat, 03/15/2008 - 10:42pm

I have recently setup a few LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySql, PHP) servers to support my website habit. Due to a lack of physical computers I decided to use Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 to get things taken care of. That way I have a portable server and can move it to any other (albeit Windows) computer that has Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 installed. When I upgrade, I won't have to spend time reconfiguring a new server. Since the virtual hardware is completely seperate from the physical hardware managing this is simple and easy and done by copying one file.

Some things to keep in mind when creating virtual guest machines in Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2:

  • RAM is important. Always have at least the same amount, plus an extra 30% in the host computer for all of the memory you allocate to each of your virtual machines
  • RAID helps. If you have more than one virtual machine on the host computer, make sure it has a good backup plan. If this host computer has only 1 or 2 hard drives you're data may not have the protection you need. I strongly suggest RAID to run virtual servers because keeping the virtual server file intact is essential to preventing problems. If you're going to be doing a whole lot of development on a virtual machine (like I do) - then a physical hard drive goes down, so do all your virtual machines and so does all your work!
  • In your Windows host computer, mount an ISO file as a CD or DVD in Daemon Tools or your favorite CD/DVD program (MagicISO, Nero, etc.)  This makes installation of the virtual machine operating system fast. Installing from a hard drive is a lot faster than DVD, CD, or network. You just have to get the file on the hard drive.
  • Torrents are available for ISO's of most Linux distributions which makes downloading them easy
  • Use the default network settings. Ideally you will have a router or device that you can manage the internal network with. Settings provided by the Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 administration service automatically allocate you network hardware. Maximum use of default settings is encouraged.

There are a number of HOW-TO articles setting up operating systems. Here are some references I had to dig for when I got started. When you are trying to get Fedora or other Red Hat based Linux running, on Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2:

Problem #1 No Mouse in Fedora or CentOS Linux when running in Microsoft Virtual Machine
An obscure boot option that will need to be inserted into your /etc/grub.conf file to make the mouse work properly, and to enable the scroll-wheel:

i8042.noloop psmous.2=imps

Via console or SSH navigate to /etc/ and use your text editor to edit grub.conf and add this bit on the kernel line. These are your boot options in Linux; the first is to get a ps/2 mouse to work in Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 (i8042.noloop), and second is to get the mouse wheel to work (psmous.2=imps). Insert the boot options in grub.conf on the kernel line after "rhgb".

Problem #2 X Windows Display Resolution Problem
Windows Virtual Machines don't support the default color settings used by Linux. When X Windows starts with incorrect settings for the first time, all kinds of things can go wonky. If you're using a Red Hat based Linux distribution and the X Window environment open your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file and find the DefaultDepth setting under Section "Screen". Change it from "24" to "16" or "32". Do not change anything else in the file.

My virtual guests are running on an Intel 945 platform dual core system, with 2.5 GB of RAM and lots of storage. A pretty basic system utilized by up to three virtual machines running at one time. The host operating system is Windows Vista Ultimate. If this computer is upgraded all three virtual servers will be automatically upgraded too. If I move the virtual servers to another host computer (also running MS Virtual Server 2005 R2) it will not affect the virtual hardware. Within the virtual server environments, the hardware remains the same. Besides a virtual Microsoft Windows 2003 Standard server - I needed a LAMP to run hosted dns, web and email development services.

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