Problem trouble getting latest version of oracle virtualbox to work on win10 & virtual machine comm probs

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Hi,
I am currently studying 70-680 config of win7, the training kit suggests using a virtual machine for the exercises.
So i have installed a while ago Oracle virtualbox and installed 2 virtual machines, both running win7 ultimate x64, 1 as tech pc and the other to act as a client pc, i also installed a virtual windows server 2008 r12, to compenstate for the domain roll parts of the course.

so my problem arises:- Was running on host machine windows win 7 ultimate x64 and the latest virtualbox, until i used the free upgrade from Windows 10 pro. Now i cant use the latest version of virtualbox and i have to use the version 4.3.38 instead of 5.1.2. As anyone else had this problem and managed to get around this issue, all the forums i search dont seem to have workable solutions.

Also my other problem is, i cannot get my virtual machines to communicate with each other or the host machine, i either get an internet connection or no connection, i cant apply winpe exercise to the client virtual machine or share anything with the server. trying to become a domain member wont work.

Is there a solution to using 2 virtual machines to communicate with the host or utilise the host in a server role?

i would use hyper V, i have tried it and dont seem to get my head round it, my opinion it does not have a user friendly interface. maybe someone can offer advise how i can utilise the v machine better or share some tips and tricks

 

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As you've now got Windows 10 use Hyper-V. It isn't any more difficult to setup your virtual machines with Hyper-V than Oracle VirtualBox. The only thing that's slightly less easy is sharing host drives with the VMs to install software etc but it's not that hard really. Also using Hyper-V will be useful for future if you are following the MS cert path. My current setup for 70-697 Configuring Windows devices is a Windows 10 Pro host PC with four Hyper-V VMs....a Windows 2012 Server, 2 Windows 10 Ent clients and a standalone Windows 10 PC on the internet.

If you are having to use an older version of Oracle VirtualBox then that's fine. All you should be bothered about are computers that can see each other in a virtual network. For the Windows 7 exam all you need is a Windows Server 2008 machine and 2x Windows 7 Enterprise clients.

Let me try to explain the internet connectivity / clients can't see each other issue....

By default your client IP settings are set to get them from a DHCP server (which is your ISP router) so this means the IP address of the client and the DNS server (to resolve hostnames) it looks at are set by this router. This happens when you connect a device to your wireless - it gets an IP address. The IP addresses are in a private range..192.168.... which are not routable on the internet. Your router will have an outside IP address which is routable but it uses network address translation (NAT) so your home network can access the internet.

Your ISP probably won't allow you to set static IP addresses for your PCs so that's why you can't get on the Internet but you'll be able to see each other's device if you set the IP addresses and subnet masks correctly whatever the IP address range is.

However another issue is DNS. In your lab environment I would setup the Windows 2008 Server to have a static IP address and set it up as a DHCP Server and a DNS server. On your server set up the DNS server in the IP4 settings as the loopback address so it looks at itself.

On the Windows 7 clients set the IP address as automatic so it gets its IP address from the Windows 2008 Server and set the DNS address as the Windows 2008 Server IP address.

I've played around with trying to get the PCs to see each other and also to be on the internet (putting the Windows 2008 Server IP address in the HOSTS file) but had no joy.

I think I've got most of this correct but there will be people much better placed than me to explain how to do this.

I've been ok with having a private network and not having the internet connection - you can test everything out as long as the lab PCs can see each other. One thing I usually do when first installing/configuring the operating systems is activate them on the Internet then change the IP settings. I assume you are using evaluation versions.

 

@garycul.28863 ok sounds like a plan, i need to re-start my pc shortly after a update, so Hyper-v will be activated after a new start.
yeah with enterprise i am using evalution versions, although using ultimate should do the same thing?
what would you recommend in harddrive allocation? i was thinking 50GB for virtual tech pc & virtual client pc and maybe 60GB for server 2008.

 

Another suggestion use vmware player (free edition) can confirm I used this for running VMs on Windows 10 with no issues.

 

is there a way to add USB flash drives to Hyper V ( USB flash disks )i am sure when i last tried it out it worked, however i cant get it to work now. also if i use an external harddrive just for hyper v, can i use that harddrive for all clients on the hyper v?

Thanks @Juelz however i wont use vmware as the free version is very limited in tasks you can carry out with it

 

What limitations are you talking about at this stage? I mean yes it's limited but you're not exactly going full on virtualisation here with it.

 

If you set it up correctly the virtualbox network adapter performs NAT for the virtual hosts allowing them to see the internet and be routable.

If you reference hosts by IP they should all be contactable from each other, DNS is optional.

If you set up a domain controller that performs DNS and DHCP and set it to allocate the correct DNS settings and DNS suffix you should be able to resolve the hosts by DNS. The clients will need to be joined to the domain and use dynamic IP resolution.
Once you have your own DNS you will need a forwarder to resolve external names.

 

Hi Simon,
For example i cant use multi screen and i remember trying it out beginning of last year, there was something which annoyed me about it, cant remeber now, maybe i should try it again just to try and remember what it was that hindered me.

 

Hi Dmarsh, i will have another look at that hopefully tomorrow, just spent most of today trying to get hyper v to work, to find out you cant use USB sticks within the VM, Now i remember why i like virtualbox better. however i will still give hyper v a try and also your suggestion with virtualbox, many thanks first of all

 

It's no good asking me about virtualisation. I've just created 3 new hard disks on a Windows 10 client in Hyper-V to test storage spaces and got in a mess with filenames and locations for the VHDs so I deleted the VHDs and started again. Then I couldn't start up the VM because I had deleted the OS drive which was in the same folder as the other VHDs !!! I'd emptied the recycle bin as well. Hopeless !!!

 

Cheers.

 

Dohhhhh!!!! ><

 

@dmarsh

I am using hyper-v as i seem to be limited with virtualbox, however i will try your solution if what i am trying on Hyper-v does´nt work.

My problem currently is i have linked my virtual win7 client to virtual server, however i cant get virtual windows vista to link on the server.
keep getting error code.

My IPv4 setting are as follows:-

VM Server 2008 r2
I.P 10.10.0.2
subn 255.0.0.0
gateway left blank
use following DNS server preferred 127.0.0.1

VM Win 7 Ultimate Client
IP 10.10.0.3
subn 255.0.0.0
gateway left blank
preferred dns 10.10.0.2 (same as Server IP)

VM Vista Sp1 Client
IP 10.10.0.5
subn 255.0.0.0
gateway left blank
preferred 10.10.0.2 (same as Server IP)

however like i said with win7 is connected on the network with the server and vista when i try to connect i get the following:-



I cant see whats wrong! everything as you can see is the same, apart from the individual IP addresses. or am i having a brainfart and its totally obvious?

 

Never used hyper V, hopefully someone else can describe how you get the networking correct.

https://blogs.oracle.com/fatbloke/entry/networking_in_virtualbox1

Normally there are different network 'modes', like NAT, bridged, host only, internal etc.

They are critical to what can be seen where.