Install Archlinux & Xfce4 on VirtualBox

Below are random notes I jotted down when I installed Archlinux and Xfce4 on VirtualBox. It has been a while so there might be errors here and there.

Guest System configuration

  • EFI enabled
  • GPT partition table for all disks
  • GRUB bootloader
  • Network setting: NAT

Install

Notes for installation steps:

Partition the disks

  1. use gdisk to create GPT partition table for /dev/sda/
  2. create boot partition with EF00 file system code
  3. mkswap /dev/sdb create swap partition (I created another virtual disk with GPT table for swap only)

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/EFI_System_Partition#GPT_partitioned_disks
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Swap#Swap_partition

Boot loader

Install GRUB: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/GRUB#Installation_2

  1. grub-install --target=x86_64-efi --efi-directory=/boot --bootloader-id=grub
  2. create a script /boot/startup.nsh containing this line: FS0:\EFI\grub\grubx64.efi

Activate Numlock on boot

Enable internet on boot

  1. ping www.google.com
  2. If no internet, run systemctl enable dhcpcd@enp0s3.service and reboot

Create main user

  1. useradd -m -G wheel -s /bin/bash fsworld009
  2. passwd fsworld009
  3. add user to other groups: sudo gpasswd -a fsworld009 group_name
  4. current group setup:
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    $ id fsworld009
    uid=1000(fsworld009) gid=1000(fsworld009) groups=1000(fsworld009),10(wheel),92(audio),109(vboxsf)

Xfce4

  1. Install: sudo pacman -S xorg xfce4 xfce4-goodies
  2. start xfce4: startxfce4
  • I didn’t make xfce4 run on boot, just feel like it is better to login to shell only by default

Notes for xfce4 environment:

Customize startup script

~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc

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export GTK_IM_MODULE="fcitx"
export QT_IM_MODULE="fcitx"
export XMODIFIERS="@im=fcitx"
imwheel
source /etc/xdg/xfce4/xinitrc

All configs need to be above the source call

Audio

  1. add user to audio group:
    sudo gpasswd -a fsworld009 audio
  2. pulseaudio is required for Firefox audio output, so I use pulseaudio as audio core
  3. sudo pacman -S alsa-utils pulseaudio
  4. detailed explanation: https://askubuntu.com/a/427036/776335

Change default app

Change mouse scroll speed

  1. sudo pacman -S imwheel
  2. add imwheel to ~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc
  3. create ~/.imwheelrc:
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    ".*"
    None,      Up,   Button4, 6
    None,      Down, Button5, 6

Chinese and Japanese Font

  • I use Google Noto fonts
  • sudo pacman -S noto-fonts noto-fonts-cjk noto-fonts-emoji

IME

  • gcin does not work properly in many applications (like Google Chrome), so I installed fcitx instead
  • pacman -Syu fcitx-im for installing fcitx & GUI framework supports (required)
  1. fcitx-chewing for Traditional Chinese, fcitx-mozc for Japanese
  2. you need fcitx-configtool package in order to config IMEs
  3. add the following to ~/.config/xfce4/xinitrc:
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    export GTK_IM_MODULE="fcitx"
    export QT_IM_MODULE="fcitx"
    export XMODIFIERS="@im=fcitx"

Thunar No Suitable Archive Manager found error

zip archives

  • use peazip-gtk2

Install VirtualBox Guest addon

  1. sudo pacman -S virtualbox-guest-utils
  2. enable kernel module: systemctl enable vboxservice.service
  3. Xfce4 should automatically load guest services, if not then do VBoxClient --clipboard --draganddrop --seamless --display --checkhostversion or VBoxClient-all
  • DO NOT use hibernate from archlinux, use VirtualBox host’s save state feature instead. Otherwise guest addon will break on resume and it can only be fixed by full reboot.

Mount shared folder

  1. Users have to be in vboxsf group (created after installing virtualbox-guest-utils):
    sudo gpasswd -a fsworld009 vboxsf
  2. cd /;sudo mkdir shared
  3. Manual mount:
    mount -t vboxsf shared_folder_name mount_point_on_guest_system
  4. Mount in fstab:
    shared /shared/ vboxsf uid=1000,gid=1000,rw,dmode=700,fmode=600,noauto,x-systemd.automount

Mount other disks in fstab

  1. Run lsblk -f to get UUIDs
  2. edit /etc/fstab
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    # /dev/sdc1
    UUID=enter_uid_here       mount_point      ext4    defaults,nofail,x-systemd.device-timeout=1      0       2

SSH server

  • Run a ssh server so that host machine can connect via SSH.
  1. setup port forwarding in VM setting (Network -> Advanced): for example TCP, host 2222 to guest 22
  2. sudo pacman -S openssh

  3. enable the following options in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

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    ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
    Protocol 2
    PermitRootLogin no
    ChallengeResponseAuthentication no
    UsePAM yes
    Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/ssh/sftp-server

  4. add sshd:ALL to /etc/hosts.allow

  5. sudo systemctrl start sshd.socket, I created another user to authorize the service, not sure if this is required.
  6. check sshd log: journalctl /usr/bin/sshd
  7. test ssh server locally: ssh fsworld009@0.0.0.0:22
  8. Ssh from host machine: ssh 0.0.0.0 -p 2222

Xorg over SSH

NOT RECOMMEND as the performance is generally worse and there are many UI bugs when running over SSH

  • In SSH sessions, run GUI applications with & at the end to start the application in another process, for example: firefox &

  • enable the following settings in /etc/ssh/sshd_config:

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    X11Forwarding yes
    X11DisplayOffset 10
    X11UseLocalhost yes

Windows

  1. You need a X Server such as VcXsrv
  2. Use putty to connect to the guest machine, with the following setting enabled:
    • Connection -> SSH -> X11 -> Enable X11 forwarding
    • X display location: localhost:0
  3. If $DISPLAY = localhost:10.0 after you login via ssh, then you are all set.
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    $  echo $DISPLAY
    localhost:10.0
  • Other notes:
    • If you want to use ssh from msys2 or Bash on Windows in windows 10, refer to below. (I believe you still need to run VcXsrv as X Server)
    • The change IME short cut for fcitx may conflict with Windows host

Unix based OS (not tested )

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export DISPLAY=0.0.0.0:0
ssh -X fsworld009@0.0.0.0 -p 2222
firefox &

Pacman and AUR packages

Refer to my other article.

Enable Hibernate

DO NOT USE systemd hibernate when running as a VM guest, use VirtualBox host’s save state feature instead. Otherwise guest addon will break on resume and it can only be fixed by full reboot.

  1. Edit /etc/default/grub: add resume kernel parameter

    • have seen many reports on /dev/sdx not working, but I didn’t try.
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      GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet resume=UUID=swap_uuid"

  2. grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

  3. Edit /etc/mkinitcpio.conf: add resume to HOOKS option

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    HOOKS=(base udev autodetect modconf block filesystems keyboard fsck resume)

  4. sudo mkinitcpio -p linux

  5. xfce4-power-manager-settings: change sleep mode to hibernate

Other refs:

Comments

2017-12-28
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