Run Ubuntu and Windows Seamlessly – Part 3
Now that we’ve setup Ubuntu on our virtual machine (see here if you missed setting up the virtual machine), we can go ahead and configure it to become seamless.
Login to Ubuntu
Login to Ubuntu as soon as it starts.
Setup Guest Additions
In the window with Ubuntu in it, click Devices → Install Guest Additions…
These guest additions will allow you to select seamless mode. A window should popup with the CD contents. If not, check that the correct CD is mounted in Places. (If it’s the Ubuntu CD, shut down, and reconfigure the mounted CD to use the Guest Additions.)
Open Terminal (Applications → Accessories → Terminal). It’s a command line interface, but it’ll be easy.
We’ll need to switch to the CD directory. Type the following:
cd /media/cdrom0
Then type the following to install Guest additions:
sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run
Ubuntu will prompt you for your password. It will not show up (no asterisks, no plain text). Hit Enter after that, and the installation should run.
You should see a screen like the above. Restart, as directed.
Once you login again and it loads up the desktop, click Machine → Seamless Mode. You’re done! If you want, you can reconfigure the panels (taskbars) to complement your Windows desktop. There’s a few quirks here and there, but for the most part it works well.
Note: After we updated, we had to reconfigure the guest additions.
I'm Jason, the main author of Third Error, and many of the topics I'll focus on concern Windows (and applicable software), web applications, web design, and a bit of *nix (Ubuntu mainly). My computer runs Windows XP, with virtualized Ubuntu and OS X handy.