Do you really think you will get help from Oracle for a VBox using patched DLLs? The DLLs are signed, any modification breaks the signature. Their answer will be: Use unmodified version. Shouldn't be hard to use the Hewlett-Packard DMI string and change the OEMBIOS files to HP with the changer tool available. No more patching of DLLs.
I`m hoping so, as in their dev mailing list it gives details on extracting the bios so it can be modified with such strings and then used by using the extra data item to reinsert, in this instance it was a program that needed a string added to allow it to run as it checks the bios for the string. The hewlett-packard dmi string is useless when it comes to activating the official xpmode.vhd from win7, now if you can`t for whatever reason run vpc, then this is an alternative. sure you can payout for vmware or the other commerical alternatives but when your competitors offer the ability it would be a bit stupid not to offer the same sort after feature. please also consider that they have already modified the code base to allow the use of custom tables/slics, and vmlite offer products that use the exact same method for xpmode slp, download their bios from the link on this forum and check for yourself, their developers talk to orcale developers so i dont think oracle has to much of a problem with it. The DLL route is just a short cut and as its been fully working with those signed DLL`s uptil now my moneys on a glitch in the code as it only effects linux 32bit, if it was a problem with the signing then i`d expect x64 linux and xpmode to suffer the same fate which they don`t. If the only vm you run is xpmode then you don`t have to worry its only if you have 32bit linux vm`s as well but there are work arounds for that too on here. All i can do is ask (via the ticket) if they do great if they don`t oh well, but maybe it will highlight another problem and a fix for that might fix this but who knows. what will be , will be.
Hey I know it works (using VBox since 1.56 and have done XPMode patch myself in the past). However, I'm pretty sure they do not support and like binary-patching the DLLs of their official version. Their intent was to change it in the sources and compile your custom version. After all, the base package is OSS. In theory, they could enforce running with genuine DLLs easily (by checking their signatures in the official OSS and PUEL packages). If you go back some pages in this thread you'll see the patch has had already at least one undesired side effect in the past (had to do with FreeDOS booting IIRC). Using a different place for insertion fixed it, maybe it can fix this problem, too. Let's see how this ticket works out.
I agree Carlos patching officail dll`s not best option and most people dont like it (including myself), if i had the knowledge then i would modify the source to achieve the same end. Ok after a little investigation i have tracked down the source of the problem with the bios patch, it turns out that from vbox ver 4.2.4 the tables in the dmi went from 5 to 9 causing an overlap of acpi tables and the slp memory range. Now while windows just quite happly continues on, linux is a bit more touchy about it hence why forcing acpi has it working. So as carlos said source modification would be the ideal way, by reserving the byte range for the msslp string or adding a table that could be called by the extradata item ie slp.bin in theory (Insert lots of reading here) its already possible as you can add custom tables just no way to specify a start address in memory. so if anyone on here and if not maybe the vbforum /dev list could alter the source to achieve this and get it submitted we could be on to a win win, i will have a look at the source myself but my knowledge in this area is limited.
The grub fix from post #437 worked. Sorry I haven't replied back but I've been having some ISP problems and haven't been update update emails for the thread from the forum. Let me know if there is anything I can do. I'm satisfied with the grub fix. Thanks amiga. Much appreciated.
Does anyone know if the ExtraDataItem fix works for a Vista virtual machine. I know it works for Win 7 and I'm going to try that. If that won't work for Vista, is there anything that will in VirtualBox?
If you're referring to the SLIC insertion via ExtraData, it works for Vista/Server2008, 7/Server 2008R2 and Server 2012. Vista can use SLIC 2.0 or 2.1, but it needs the correct certificate installed.
Thanks. Will the SLIC, cert and SLP key listed in the Vista stickies work for Vista SP1? Or do they they only work for SP0? Ultimate SP1 is all I could find. I use different OS's in VirtualBox to test software that I develop. My host is Windows 7 HP SP1 64 bit. Also my version of Vista is retail. Do I need to convert it to an OEM version first?
Sure, should work. As long as there's a SLIC 2.0 or 2.1 with a matching certificate, there's no problem. If you are going to use a SLIC 2.1 (from the Win7 section), just use the DAZ Loader inside the guest and it will care for the cert and key (the loader part will be skipped upon detection of a proper SLIC 2.1). The latest SP is SP2. I know of a few Vista keys only working with SP1 and beyond, but apart from that all should work. If you can install SP2 ASAP. I have a similar setup, and tested everything from SLP1 to SLIC 2.2 and didn't have any problems. Vista Ultimate can be SLP2.0 and 2.1-activated. Not required, the proper key switches the license channel. This works even post-installation, e. g. the Loader installing an OEM_SLP key makes it an OEM_SLP machine.
@Carlos: Thanks much for the info. Really appreciate it. Can you run the DAZ loader inside a Win 7 VM too? @sebus: I'm doing pretty good. Just finished my first app in 4 different programming IDEs to learn the languages and IDEs (Visual Basic, Visual C#, Visual C++ and Qt 5). All with info from the web (I didn't buy any books). I found Qt 5 the most bothersome with deployment. I managed to compile the opensource libraries statically and add them to Qt 5, with having to add about 10 dlls to the app exe package to make an install. But my program only runs on Win 7 (where I programmed it). It runs in the guest VM win 7, and the host Win 7. But I can't get it to run in XP, Vista, or Win 8. I think maybe something to do with DirectX SDK dependencies. If you have any experience with Qt let me know.
@Carlos: Got Vista and Win 7 working in VirtualBox using the ExtraData fix, an HP 2.1 SLIC, and the DAZ loader. Thanks a heap. If you have any experience with Qt, let me know.
sorry, I'm something of a novice. I extremely appreciate the forum above. but when I try to run the patch (4.2.6 r82870), I direct it to the VBoxDD2.dll file (in folder Program Files\Oracle\VirtualBox, but I just get this error: "There was an error applying patch: 0x80070057 (the parameter is incorrect.) could you please help me, thank you. -budi