Boot VirtualBox Guest From A USB Device
The BIOS of guest computers in VirtualBox doesn’t support booting from a USB device, and in this case users can’t boot off their (usually Linux equipped) USB thumb-drives or hard disks.
This is a mini tutorial that includes a temporary workaround until that feature is implemented (I am not sure if it’s a planned feature, it just might be)
The problem
I found myself in a similar situation when I needed to boot off my external USB HDD (which has Xubuntu installed) on an old PC which has motherboard-integrated USB 1.x ports, and (PCI) on-card USB 2.x ports. I was able to boot through one of the USB 1.x ports (a process that took forever to finish, and the system was so sluggish) but not one of the USB 2.x ports because they required drivers to be used.
The Solution
After searching the internet, this guide helped me create a Bootable CD that includes the Linux kernel and some other stuff including the USB driver needed to use a bootable USB device. This CD boots up and loads the USB driver then continues the boot process from any USB device.
I used that very method to boot my USB HDD in VirtualBox:
After creating a new virtual machine, I selected the USB section of that device’s settings and added a new USB device which is my Verbatim HDD:
Then I started the machine, mounted the bootable CD I created previously, and selected it so that the virtual machive would boot from it:
And it worked!
Important Note
On the old PC which I was trying to solve the problem with originally, the boot CD didn’t detect my USB HDD at first, but when I created another one applying the Using UUID tip in the guide’s comments, it worked, and I used that same (newer) CD with VirtualBox so that might be a requirement…
My impressions
Linux is a much more flexible OS than average commercial OSes : first I was able to create a custom version that is meant to boot, load USB drivers and continue booting from a USB device, and the system itself runs on a variety of systems (since it’s installed on a USB device) including a virtual system.
Which section of the guide is need it?
vito
2009-11-02 at 05:00
Your right, I should made the link point to the very section that describes how to create a bootable CD, thanks!
lawand
2009-11-02 at 14:05
Oooh, now I see
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootFromUSB#Booting%20the%20kernel%20from%20a%20bootable%20CD
Sorry my english is not soo good.
With this method can I boot a Windows Installer from USB?
vito
2009-11-02 at 05:06
I don’t know, try it.
Your feedback would be much appreciated!
lawand
2009-11-02 at 14:05
good work,
when i need to boot slax on my PC which doesn’t support usb boot at all, i use USB boot CD.
i found a similar one for ubuntu here
wouldn’t it help you to boot from a USB 2.x port?
ChArLoK_16
2009-11-14 at 03:55
As I said at the “The Solution” section, the guide helped me boot off the USB 2.x port, which means that my problem was actually solved.
And since it helped me there I decided to try it on Virtual Box, and when it worked there as well I decided to blog it…
Your link basically contains the same process, but thanks for it anyway!
lawand
2009-11-14 at 14:47
got it, the link is quoted from that guide.
i just thought you’re talking about Virtual Box precisely.
Ubuntu really has a good support.
ChArLoK_16
2009-11-14 at 15:19