VirtualBox 6.0.4 Released

VirtualBox 6.0.4 (released January 28 2019)

This is a maintenance release. The following items were fixed and/or added:

• Virtualization core: support Shanghai/Zhaoxin CPUs.
• User interface: handle command line arguments to VirtualBox correctly (bugs #18206 and #18197)
• User interface: improvements to machine manager window, virtual optical disk creator, storage selector window and log viewer window
• User interface: various small fixes and improvements
• Audio: implemented time scheduling for the AC’97 device emulation to keep audio and video in sync
• Graphics: basic support for VMSVGA graphics device in virtual machines using EFI
• Network: fix occasional NATNet crashes (bug #13899)
• Network: worked around problems in certain PCnet drivers on old operating systems
• Serial: fixed connecting to pseudo terminals on POSIX hosts (6.0.0 regression; bug #18319)
• Linux hosts and guests: fix for building kernel modules against Linux 5.0. Thank you Kyle Laker

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Changelog

Setting Up an All-in-One Windows AD Test Environment (VMware Workstation Edition)

Build a basic all-in-one lab in VMware Workstation. This how-to shows you how to build a virtual Windows Active Directory environment isolated from your home or work network. This is a follow-up to my same procedure in VirtualBox:  https://smudj.wordpress.com/2019/01/17/setting-up-an-all-in-one-windows-ad-test-environment-virtualbox-edition/. 

Note: I’m no AD expert, there are better, worse, and different ways to do this and you’re not required to use VMware Workstation.

Requirements:
16GB RAM minimum
SSD or multiple HDDs
Quad-core or better CPU with hardware virtualization enabled

1. Download the necessary software. Download the ISO for the OSes you’ll be installing. For this example, I’ll be using IPFire and the MSDN versions of Windows Server 2016 and Windows 10 Pro.
   1. VMware Workstation Pro: https://www.vmware.com/products/workstation-pro.html
   2. Windows OS Evaluation: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/
   3. IPFire: https://www.ipfire.org/download/ipfire-2.21-core124
2. Create a folder for your test environment. 
   1. In Workstation, right-click My Computer and click New Folder.  Enter a name like “Allin1 AD” and press Enter.  Click your new folder to select it.
3. Create an internal network.
   1. Click Edit–>Virtual Network Editor.
   2. Click Change Settings, click Yes at the UAC prompt.
   3. Click Add Network, select a network.  For this example, we’ll use VMnet15.  Click OK.
      1. Under VMnet Information, verify that Host-only is selected.
      2. Uncheck Connect a host virtual adapter to this network.  *This will prevent your physical host from accessing the test environment.
      3. Uncheck Use local DHCP service to distribute IP address to VMs. *We will use the Windows server’s DHCP and DNS for this environment.
      4. Change the subnet address to 192.168.15.0 **Any IP subnet can be used here.  To prevent confusion, use a unique IP range.  10.0.15.0, 10.15.0.0, 172.16.0.0 and 172.16.15.0 are all alternative options. Choose an appropriate subnet.   For the labs purposes, a 255.255.255.0 subnet is acceptable.  Click Apply. 
      5. Verify your settings for VMnet15 and click OK.
      6. 
4. Create your IPFire Router VM
   1. Click File–>New Virtual Machine or CTRL+N.
   2. Select Custom and click Next to begin the New Virtual Machine Wizard.
   3. Click Next, the default hardware compatibility is fine.
   4. Select Installer disc image file (iso) and click Browse.  Go to the location from step 1.3 where the IPFire ISO is located.
      1. Select the ISO and click Open.  
      2. Click Next. 
   5. Select Linux as the guest OS and click Next.  *IPFire is built from scratch and not based on any Linux distro.
   6. Enter IPFire for the VM’s name.  Select the appropriate location for your VM.  For this document, the name is ipfire-wpdoc and the location is C:\VMs\ipfire-wpdoc
   7. Click Next.
   8. One processor is enough for our IPFire router, click Next.
   9. 512MB is the minimum requirement for IPFire.  Click 512MB and click Next. (https://wiki.ipfire.org/hardware/requirements)
   10. Network type.  Select host-only networking and click Next.
   11. Click Next to select the default I/O controller type.
   12. Click Next to select the default disk type.
   13. Click Next to create a new virtual disk.
   14. Change the disk size to 4GB and click Next. *2GB is the minimum, 4GB is recommended for logs and add-ons. See 4.9 above. 
   15. Click Next to accept the default disk file name and location.
   16. Click Customize Hardware.
       1. Click Add…, 
       2. Click Network Adapter.  
       3. Click Finish.
          1. The new network adapter, network adapter 2, will be selected.  Select NAT or Bridged for the network connection. **NAT will provide a more isolated environment, where bridged will allow the IPFire VM an IP address on your host’s network.  NAT will be used for this document.
          2. Click Advanced. Click Generate under MAC Address.  Make note of this address.  We will need the address when assigning network types in the IPFire installation.  Click OK.
       4. Click Close.
   17. Click Finish.
   18. Click Edit Virtual Machine Settings
       1. Click Network Adapter
       2. Click Custom, select VMnet15, click OK.
   19. Drag the IPFire VM into the folder created in 2.1 above. 
5. Install IPFire
   
   1. Click Power on this virtual machine.
   2. Click the IPFire splash screen and press Enter.  
   3. Press Enter to accept the default language selection.
   4. Press Enter to Start Installation. 
   5. Press Tab, press the spacebar to select I accept this license.  Press Tab again and press Enter.
   6. Press Enter to Delete all data.  
   7. Press Enter to accept the default file system.
   8. Press Enter to reboot.
6. Configure IPFIre
   1. Press Enter to select the default keyboard layout.
   2. Change the timezone.  For this document PST8PDT will be used.  Press Enter.
   3. Press Enter twice to accept the default hostname
   4. Press Enter twice to accept the default domain
   5. Root password.  Enter a password and press Enter twice. Press Enter to continue. 
   6. Enter a password and press Enter twice.  *this is for the admin password, it can be the same for simplicity. 
   7. Press Enter to continue. 
   8. Use the arrow key to move down to Drivers and card assignments, press Enter.
      
      1. Green — This is our internal test environment network.  It will have no direct access to the Internet or the host’s network.
         1. Press Enter to select
         2. Compare the MAC addresses and use the one that was not generated in step 4.16.3.2.
         3. Use the arrow keys to select the correct interface and press Enter.  To move between fields, use the Tab key.
      2. Red — this will allow the test environment external access via the NAT network.
         1. Use the arrow key to select Red and press Enter.
         2. There should only be one interface left to select.  Press Enter. 
   9. Both network cards should now be assigned.  Use Tab to move to Done and press Enter.
   10. 
   11. Tab to Address Settings and press Enter.
       
       1. Press Enter to reconfigure the Green interface.
       2. Press Enter to acknowledge the warning.  We are not connected remotely, so this does not apply.
       3. Since we are using the 192.168.15.0 subnet, we will assign a 192.168.15.1 IP address to the Green interface as it will be our gateway IP address.  The default subnet mask does not need to be changed.  Press Enter three times to accept the IP, subnet, and return to Address Settings.
       4. Use the arrow key to select Red.  Press Enter.
       5. The Red interface will get an IP address from Workstation’s NAT.  Using the arrow keys and spacebar, select DHCP.  Use Tab to move to OK and press Enter.
       6. Use Tab to move to Done and press Enter. 
   12. DNS and Gateway settings are only needed if using a static IP. Since we are using DHCP, there is nothing to change here. Tab to Done and press Enter.
   13. We will be using Windows DHCP so we do not need to enable IPFire’s DHCP server.  Tab to OK and press Enter.
   14. Setup is complete.  Press Enter.
   15. Login with root and verify that you can ping an external IP address like 4.2.2.2 or 8.8.8.8.  Press CTRL+C to break the ping.  If unable to ping, verify the network configuration is correct above.
7. Create a Windows Server 2016 VM.
   1. Press CTRL+N, select Custom, click Next.
   2. Click Next, the default hardware compatibility is fine.
   3. Select Installer disc image file (iso) and click Browse.  Go to the location from step 1.2 where the Windows Server ISO is located.
      1. Select the ISO and click Open.  
      2. Click Next. 
   4. Click Next to skip the Easy Install Information. Click Yes to accept the product key prompt.
   5. Enter a VM name and location.  For this document, the name is W2016DC1 and D:\VMs\Virtual Machines\W2016DC1
   6. Click Next to select the default BIOS.
   7. Select One Processor and Two Cores. Click Next.
   8. Set RAM to 4096MB. If you have more than 16GB of RAM, you can increase to 6 or 8GB, if needed. Click Next.
   9. Select use host-only networking and click Next.
   10. Click Next to select the default I/O controller type.
   11. Click Next to select the default disk type.
   12. Click Next to create a new virtual disk.
   13. Change the Maximum disk size to 80.0 GB.  Click Next 
   14. Click Next to accept the default disk file name and location.
   15. Click Finish.
   16. Click Exit virtual machine settings.
       1. Click Network Adapter.
       2. Select Custom, VMnet15, and click OK
8. Install Windows 2016
   1. Install Windows as you normally would.
9. Configure Windows Server and Domain
   1. Enter the IP information. The IP needs to be on the same subnet as configured for the GREEN network. EX: 192.168.15.200, GW: 192.168.15.1, DNS: 127.0.0.1 since we’ll be creating a domain controller with DNS and DHCP services. *Remember to use the IP address entered in step 6.11.3 for the gateway address.
   2. You should be able to ping an IP address like 192.168.1.15 and 4.2.2.2, but not a DNS name.
   3. Change the name of your server and reboot.
   4. Start the Add Roles and Feature Wizard
      1. Add the following roles:
      –Active Directory Domain Services
      –DHCP Services
      –DNS Services
      2. Follow the wizard’s steps.
      3. Promote: Add a new forest.
      4. Enter your domain name and follow the wizard.  –you will get a warning about DNS, this will be resolved later.
   5. Configure DNS and DHCP
      1. DNS.  We need to add a forwarder for our DNS settings.
         1. From Administrative Tools, open DNS
         2. Right-click on your server and click Properties.
         3. Click the Forwarders tab
         4. Click Edit, and add your external DNS servers like 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.2, 8.8.8.8, and 8.8.4.4.
      2. DHCP
         1. Double-click DHCP from Administrative Tools
         2. Expand IPv4 and right-click, click New Scope from the menu.
         3. Enter an IP range, ex: 192.168.211.50 to 192.168.211.100
         4. The remaining settings can be default for now.
         5. When asked to configure scop options, verify “Yes” and click Next.
         6. Router/Default gateway will be the IP we used to configure the GREEN NIC, ex: 192.168.15.1
         7. Domain name and DNS should be pre-configured. You should see the server’s IP in IP address box, ex: 192.168.15.200
         8. WINS does not need to be configured at this time.
         9. When prompted to activate scope, verify “Yes” and click Next.
         10. Click Finish to complete the wizard.
         11. Right-click on the server’s name under DHCP, and click Authorize from the menu. Refresh and IPv4 should have a green circle with a white check mark
   6. More details for setting up an DC in Windows 2016 can be found here: https://blogs.technet.microsoft.com/canitpro/2017/02/22/step-by-step-setting-up-active-directory-in-windows-server-2016/
10.  Managing IPFire via web interface
    1. IPFire can be accessed via web browser.  Enter Enter https://ipfire_ip-address:444, in this document it will be https://192.168.15.1:444
    2. You will get a certificate error when accessing the IPFire management page.
11. Adding Client VMs
    1. Add your Windows Client OSes.  Install Windows as usual, make sure to set your VM’s network to the custom VMnet15.
12. Completion! 

Here’s the all-in-one pic!

• VMware Workstation
• IPFire
• Windows 2016 DC via RDP
• Windows 10 

 

CPU-Z Ads

It seems the newest version of CPU-Z has some ads in the zip or setup file.  My work firewall blocks the download with the message:  Going to the

“This request is blocked by the SonicWALL Gateway Anti-Virus Service.  Browsefox-6628766-0 (Adware) blocked.”

Going to the version history page brings up some additional download options:  https://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html#version-history

I was able to download the CoolerMaster branded version without any firewall restrictions.

Setting up an All-In-One Windows AD Test Environment (VirtualBox Edition)

Build a basic all-in-one lab in VirtualBox. This how-to shows you how to build a virtual Windows Active Directory environment isolated from your home or work network.  See my follow-up post using VMware Workstation here: https://smudj.wordpress.com/2019/01/23/setting-up-an-all-in-one-windows-ad-test-environment-vmware-workstation-edition/

Note: I’m no AD expert, there are better, worse, and different ways to do this and you’re not required to use VirtualBox.

Requirements:
16GB RAM minimum
SSD or multiple HDDs
Quad-core or better CPU with hardware virtualization enabled

 

1. Download the necessary software. Download the ISOs for the OSes you’ll be installing. For this example, I’ll be using IPFire and MSDN versions of Windows Server 2012R2 and Windows 10 Pro.
   1. VirtualBox: https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
   2. Windows OS Evaluation: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/
   3. IPFire: https://www.ipfire.org/download/ipfire-2.21-core124
2. Create your IPFire router VM
   1. Click New, enter the name of your router, ie “IPFire”
   2. Change the OS to Linux, Ubuntu 64bit is fine as the version. Click Next.
   3. Enter 512MB for memory. Click Next.
   4. Click Create for a new virtual HDD and select VDI. Click Next.
   5. Select Dynamically allocated and click Next.
   6. Change the location here if necessary. The 10GB default is large enough, click Create.
   7. Once created, click Settings and then click Network. We need to modify the networking options.
      1. Adapter 1 should be set to NAT or Bridged.
      2. Adapter 2 needs to be enabled and set to Internal Network. **Make note of the MAC address for adapter 2. You can find it by expanding the Advanced tab.** 
      3. Click OK.
      4. 

 

3. Mount the IPFire ISO and install
   1. Click Settings on the IPFire VM. Click Storage.
   2. Click “Empty” next to the CD icon. Click the CD icon next to the far right to mount the ISO.
   3. Select “choose a virtual optical disk file” and browse to the ISO’s location.
   4. Select to mount. Click Ok to close the window.
   5. Power on the VM.
   6. Follow the IPFire prompts. Press enter to select, tab to move between selections, and the space bar to select check boxes.
   7. All defaults can be used.
   8. 
4. Configure IPFire
   1. Select the keyboard mapping. I’m using “us.” Press Enter to accept.
   2. Set your timezone. By pressing the first letter of your timezone, you can jump to that section. Select the correct timezone via the arrow keys and press Enter to accept.
   3. Enter a host name, the default is fine for our lab. Press Enter twice.
   4. The default domain is fine for our lab, press Enter twice to continue.
   5. Enter the root password and press Enter each time and once more to continue.
   6. Do the same for the admin password. Password can be the same for both for our lab purposes.–Network Configuration–
      1. Press Enter for “network configuration type”
      2. Select “Green + Red” and press Enter
      3. Arrow down to “drivers and card assignments.” and press Enter.
      4. Green: This is our internal network. Press Enter to select. Compare the MAC and select the correct interface. Press Enter to select the Interface.
      5. Red: This is our internet facing network, NAT or Bridged. Select RED, press Enter, and press Enter again to select the remaining interface.
      6. Tab over to done and press Enter.–Address Settings–
         Press Enter to select.
         GREEN:
         1. Select GREEN and press Enter.
         2. This is a new private, virtual network for our lab. Select a different IP subnet than your host network to avoid confusion.
         3. The IP warning can be ignored as we are not logged in remotely. In this example, the subnet is 192.168.211.1/24. Since this will be the gateway, we can use 192.168.211.1. The subnet mask does not need to change.
         4. Press Enter until you return to the GREEN/RED menu.
         RED:
         1. Select RED and press Enter.
         2. Select DHCP. This interface will get the IP from the VBox NAT or your physical network’s DHCP server. You can modify the hostname here if necessary.
         3. Tab to Done and press Enter.
         –DNS and Gateway settings–
         1. DNS and Gateway settings are only needed if using a static IP. Since we are using DHCP, there is nothing to change here. Tab to Done and press Enter.–DHCP Configuration–
         We will be using Windows DHCP instead of IPFire’s. Tab to OK and press enter without enabling DHCP. Press Enter to close setup.
5. Create Windows Server 2012 R2 VM
   1. From the VBox main men, click New.
   2. Enter a name, ex: “WS2012R2”, select the appropriate type (Windows 2012) and version (64-bit). Click Next.
   3. Set RAM to 4096MB. If you have more than 16GB of RAM, you can increase to 6 or 8GB, if needed. Click Next.
   4. Create a new virtual hard disk, click Create.
   5. Select VDI and click Next.
   6. Select Dynamically allocated, and click Next.
   7. Enter 80GB and click Create.
   8. Click Settings, then click Network.
   9. Select Internal Network.
   10. Select Storage. Click the CD under storage devices, then click the CD icon to the left of Optical Drive.
   11. Select Choose virtual optical disk file. Browse and select your Windows Server ISO.
   12. Click OK.
6. Install Windows Server 2012
   1. Install Windows as you normally would.
7. Configure Windows Server and Domain
   1. Enter the IP information. The IP needs to be on the same subnet as configured for the GREEN network. EX: 192.168.211.200, GW: 192.168.211.1, DNS: 127.0.0.1 since we’ll be creating a domain controller with DNS and DHCP services.
   2. You should be able to ping an IP address, but not a DNS name.
   3. Change the name of your server and reboot.Start the Add Roles and Feature Wizard
      1. Add the following roles:
      –Active Directory Domain Services
      –DHCP Services
      –DNS Services
      2. Follow the wizard’s steps.
      3. Promote: Add a new forest.
      4. Enter your domain name and follow the wizard.  –you will get a warning about DNS, this will be resolved later.
8. Configure DNS and DHCP

DNS.  We need to add a forwarder for our DNS settings.

1. From Administrative Tools, open DNS
2. Right-click on your server and click Properties.
3. Click the Forwarders tab
4. Click Edit, and add your external DNS servers like 4.2.2.1, 4.2.2.2, 8.8.8.8, and 8.8.4.4.

DHCP
1. Double-click DHCP from Administrative Tools
2. Expand IPv4 and right-click, click New Scope from the menu.
3. Enter an IP range, ex: 192.168.211.50 to 192.168.211.100
4. The remaining settings can be default for now.
5. When asked to configure scop options, verify “Yes” and click Next.
6. Router/Default gateway will be the IP we used to configure the GREEN NIC, ex: 192.168.211.1
7. Domain name and DNS should be pre-configured. You should see the server’s IP in IP address box, ex: 192.168.211.200
8. WINS does not need to be configured at this time.
9.When prompted to activate scope, verify “Yes” and click Next.
10. Click Finish to complete the wizard.

Right-click on the server’s name under DHCP, and click Authorize from the menu. Refresh and IPv4 should have a green circle with a white check mark.

9. Managing IPFire via web interface

You can access IPFire’s management console via a web browser.
Enter https://ipfire_ip-address:444, ex: https://192.168.211.1:444
Use “admin” and the password entered during step 4.

Note: You will get a certificate error when accessing the IPFire management page.

9. Adding Client VMs.

Nothing special here.  Install Windows/Linux as usual.  Make sure to select Internal Network for the VM’s network

10. Completion!

Here’s the money shot:
-VirtualBox
-IPFire VM
-WS2012R2 VM – domain controller for sw.net, DHCP and DNS roles
-Win10 VM – joined to sw.net, displaying IPFire’s web management page and network settings.

VirtualBox 6.0.2 Released

https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

This is a maintenance release. The following items were fixed and/or added:

• User interface: fixed creation of desktop shortcuts for starting virtual machines (bug #18207)
• User interface: allow the first run window to selecting host drives (bug #18230)
• User interface: fixed attaching empty host optical drives (bug #18223)
• User interface: implemented a new virtual optical disk creation window
• USB: modified Linux backends to reset USB devices (previously, most guest attempts to reset USB devices were ignored)
• PCnet: fixed a regression which caused some PCnet PCI guest drivers to not detect the emulated hardware (bug #18286)
• Linux hosts: fixed conflict between Debian and Oracle build desktop files (bug #18264)
• Linux and MacOS hosts: VirtualBoxVM command not accessible (bug #18257)
• Windows guests: multiple monitor fixes with VBoxSVGA graphics
• Windows guests: black screen with VBoxSVGA graphics when 3D is disabled (bug #18205)
• Linux guests: fixed building drivers on SLES 12.4 (bug #18213)
• Linux guests: fixed building shared folder driver with older kernels (bug #18238)
• OS/2 shared folders: fixed write regression introduced in 6.0.0 GA