Comments on: Run your virtual OS directly from GDM in Ubuntu

By: Alice Dudson

Alice Dudson — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:16:16 +0000

Very nice looking blog

By: Linfiniti Geo Blog » Blog Archive » Some handy resources for thin clients and virtual machines

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 10:06:58 +0000

[...] VM from GDM – This one explains how to set up a custom session type so that it logs you directly into a virtual machine instance from the Gnome Display Manager. So you get a full screened windows or whatever session with no Gnome running in the background. [...]

By: Run your virtual OS directly from GDM in … « Standalone Complex – Final Gig

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 12:23:53 +0000

[...] http://www.quicktweaks.com/2008/10/14/run-your-virtual-os-directly-from-gdm-in-ubuntu/ [...]

By: Shaarangapanaye

Shaarangapanaye — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 12:46:45 +0000

Wow! Thank you! I always wanted to write in my site something like that. Can I take part of your post to my blog?

By: calito

calito — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:32:52 +0000

to comment on the idea for a virtualbox os for each user i did this to make it so you dont have to enter a password

sudo passwd -d your_username

sudo sed -i ’s/#PasswordRequired=false/PasswordRequired=false/’ /etc/gdm/gdm.conf

sudo sed -i ’s/nullok_secure/nullok/’ /etc/pam.d/common-auth

and after that you should be able to login without entering a password which can get tedious when switching between users. of course dont do this if your concerned about security and dont trust people in your house

and on another note you must make sure the .Virtualbox directory has sufficient permissions if your sharing it between users.

By: Amit

Amit — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 06:38:10 +0000

Hey,

Thanks for the nice tip It works on Ubuntu 8.10 Beta

Thanks again,
Amit

By: Neal Stone

Neal Stone — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 00:33:35 +0000

Ignore the part about the password that is lined out. You only need this part:

#!/bin/bash
VirtualBox -startvm NameOfYourVirtualOS

FOllow the rest of the instructions and it works well. The main reason to do a VM this way is you don’t have the Gnome or KDE graphical interface using up resources and the system, runs better.

There is an addon that you can install with VirtualBox that contains additional drivers. I had issues with the mouse lsoing the VM until I installed the addon.

By: Neal Stone

Neal Stone — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 05:21:24 +0000

I did this tip and it worked just fine. great in fact. As for security, I still had to enter my login and password at the GDM screen.

By: ashokgelal

ashokgelal — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:52:42 +0000

@Stomfi: Great Idea! I was also trying to figure out if it was possible? Did it work for you? If yes, would you please explain it step-by-step and I will be more than happy to write a post mentioning you as a contributor.

By: Stomfi

Stomfi — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 02:42:22 +0000

On second thoughts the easy way (ie using this idea) is to create a user for each virtual box.

If you run VirtualBox as a user you may have to run Virtualbox for each user to create the required VM in their name and folder so it gets found.

Create a GDM Xsession entry (or if you are using KDM an /etc/X11/wmsession.d) entry for each VM and on second login select the session for the VM user name.

I used the command VBoxSDL -vm to minimise resources even more.

Thanks for a handy tip.