| 1 | <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
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| 2 | <!DOCTYPE chapter PUBLIC "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.4//EN"
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| 3 | "http://www.oasis-open.org/docbook/xml/4.4/docbookx.dtd">
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| 4 | <chapter id="KnownIssues">
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| 5 | <title>Known limitations</title>
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| 6 | <sect1 id="ExperimentalFeatures">
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| 7 | <title>Experimental Features</title>
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| 8 | <para>Some VirtualBox features are labeled as experimental. Such
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| 9 | features are provided on an "as-is" basis and are not formally
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| 10 | supported. However, feedback and suggestions about such features are
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| 11 | welcome. A comprehensive list of experimental features follows:</para>
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| 12 | <itemizedlist>
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| 13 | <listitem>
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| 14 | WDDM Direct3D video driver for Windows guests
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| 15 | </listitem>
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| 16 | <listitem>
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| 17 | Hardware 3D acceleration support for Windows, Linux, and Solaris
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| 18 | guests
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| 19 | </listitem>
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| 20 | <listitem>
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| 21 | Hardware 2D video playback acceleration support for Windows
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| 22 | guests
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| 23 | </listitem>
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| 24 | <listitem>
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| 25 | PCI pass-through (Linux hosts only)
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| 26 | </listitem>
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| 27 | <listitem>
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| 28 | Mac OS X guests (Mac hosts only)
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| 29 | </listitem>
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| 30 | <listitem>
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| 31 | ICH9 chipset emulation
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| 32 | </listitem>
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| 33 | <listitem>
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| 34 | EFI firmware
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| 35 | </listitem>
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| 36 | <listitem>
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| 37 | Host CD/DVD drive pass-through
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| 38 | </listitem>
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| 39 | <listitem>
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| 40 | Support of iSCSI via internal networking
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| 41 | </listitem>
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| 42 | <listitem>
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| 43 | Synthetic CPU reporting
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| 44 | </listitem>
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| 45 | </itemizedlist>
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| 46 | </sect1>
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| 47 | <sect1 id="KnownProblems">
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| 48 | <title>Known Issues</title>
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| 49 | <para>The following section describes known problems with VirtualBox
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| 50 | $VBOX_VERSION_STRING. Unless marked otherwise, these issues are planned to
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| 51 | be fixed in later releases.</para>
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| 52 |
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| 53 | <itemizedlist>
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| 54 | <listitem>
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| 55 | <para>The following <emphasis role="bold">Guest SMP (multiprocessor)
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| 56 | limitations</emphasis> exist:<itemizedlist>
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| 57 | <listitem>
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| 58 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Poor performance</emphasis> with
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| 59 | 32-bit guests on AMD CPUs. This affects mainly Windows and Solaris
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| 60 | guests, but possibly also some Linux kernel revisions. Partially
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| 61 | solved in 3.0.6 for 32 bits Windows NT, 2000, XP and 2003 guests.
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| 62 | Requires 3.0.6 or higher Guest Additions to be installed.</para>
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| 63 | </listitem>
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| 64 |
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| 65 | <listitem>
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| 66 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Poor performance</emphasis> with
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| 67 | 32-bit guests on certain Intel CPU models that do not include
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| 68 | virtual APIC hardware optimization support. This affects mainly
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| 69 | Windows and Solaris guests, but possibly also some Linux kernel
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| 70 | revisions. Partially solved in 3.0.12 for 32 bits Windows NT,
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| 71 | 2000, XP and 2003 guests. Requires 3.0.12 or higher Guest
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| 72 | Additions to be installed.</para>
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| 73 | </listitem>
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| 74 | </itemizedlist></para>
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| 75 | </listitem>
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| 76 |
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| 77 | <listitem>
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| 78 | <para><emphasis role="bold">64-bit guests on some 32-bit host systems
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| 79 | with VT-x</emphasis> can cause instabilities to your system. If you
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| 80 | experience this, do not attempt to execute 64-bit guests. Refer to the
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| 81 | VirtualBox user forum for additional information.</para>
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| 82 | </listitem>
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| 83 |
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| 84 | <listitem>
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| 85 | <para><emphasis role="bold">NX (no execute, data execution
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| 86 | prevention)</emphasis> only works for guests running on 64-bit hosts
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| 87 | or guests running on 32-bit hosts with PAE enabled and requires that
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| 88 | hardware virtualization be enabled.</para>
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| 89 | </listitem>
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| 90 |
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| 91 | <listitem>
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| 92 | <para>For <emphasis role="bold">basic Direct3D support in Windows
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| 93 | guests</emphasis> to work, the Guest Additions must be installed in
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| 94 | Windows "safe mode". Press F8 when the Windows guest is booting and
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| 95 | select "Safe mode", then install the Guest Additions. Otherwise Windows'
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| 96 | file protection mechanism will interfere with the replacement DLLs
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| 97 | installed by VirtualBox and keep restoring the original Windows system
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| 98 | DLLs. <note>
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| 99 | <para>This does <emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> apply to the
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| 100 | experimental WDDM Direct3D video
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| 101 | driver available for Vista and Windows 7 guests shipped with
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| 102 | VirtualBox 4.1.</para>
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| 103 | </note></para>
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| 104 | </listitem>
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| 105 |
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| 106 | <listitem>
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| 107 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Guest control.</emphasis> On Windows guests,
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| 108 | a process lauched via the guest control execute support will not be able
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| 109 | to display a graphical user interface <emphasis>unless</emphasis> the
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| 110 | user account under which it is running is currently logged in and has a
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| 111 | desktop session.</para>
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| 112 |
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| 113 | <para>Also, to use accounts without or with an empty password, the
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| 114 | guest's group policy must be changed. To do so, open the group policy
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| 115 | editor on the command line by typing
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| 116 | <computeroutput>gpedit.msc</computeroutput>, open the key
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| 117 | <emphasis>Computer Configuration\Windows Settings\Security
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| 118 | Settings\Local Policies\Security Options</emphasis> and change the value
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| 119 | of <emphasis>Accounts: Limit local account use of blank passwords to
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| 120 | console logon only</emphasis> to <emphasis>Disabled</emphasis>.</para>
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| 121 | </listitem>
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| 122 |
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| 123 | <listitem>
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| 124 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Compacting virtual disk images is limited to
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| 125 | VDI files.</emphasis> The <code>VBoxManage modifyhd --compact</code>
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| 126 | command is currently only implemented for VDI files. At the moment the
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| 127 | only way to optimize the size of a virtual disk images in other formats
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| 128 | (VMDK, VHD) is to clone the image and then use the cloned image in the
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| 129 | VM configuration.</para>
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| 130 | </listitem>
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| 131 |
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| 132 | <listitem>
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| 133 | <para><emphasis role="bold">OVF import/export:</emphasis><itemizedlist>
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| 134 | <listitem>
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| 135 | <para>OVF localization (multiple languages in one OVF file) is not
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| 136 | yet supported.</para>
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| 137 | </listitem>
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| 138 |
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| 139 | <listitem>
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| 140 | <para>Some OVF sections like StartupSection,
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| 141 | DeploymentOptionSection and InstallSection are ignored.</para>
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| 142 | </listitem>
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| 143 |
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| 144 | <listitem>
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| 145 | <para>OVF environment documents, including their property sections
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| 146 | and appliance configuration with ISO images, are not yet
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| 147 | supported.</para>
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| 148 | </listitem>
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| 149 |
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| 150 | <listitem>
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| 151 | <para>Remote files via HTTP or other mechanisms are not yet
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| 152 | supported.</para>
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| 153 | </listitem>
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| 154 | </itemizedlist></para>
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| 155 | </listitem>
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| 156 |
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| 157 | <listitem>
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| 158 | <para>Neither <emphasis role="bold">scale mode</emphasis> nor <emphasis
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| 159 | role="bold">seamless mode</emphasis> work correctly with guests using
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| 160 | OpenGL 3D features (such as with compiz-enabled window managers).</para>
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| 161 | </listitem>
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| 162 |
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| 163 | <listitem>
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| 164 | <para>The RDP server in the VirtualBox extension pack supports only
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| 165 | audio streams in format 22.05kHz stereo 16 bit. If the RDP client
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| 166 | requests any other audio format there will be no audio.</para>
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| 167 | </listitem>
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| 168 |
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| 169 | <listitem>
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| 170 | <para>Preserving the aspect ratio in scale mode works only on Windows
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| 171 | hosts and on Mac OS X hosts.</para>
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| 172 | </listitem>
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| 173 |
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| 174 | <listitem>
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| 175 | <para>On <emphasis role="bold">Mac OS X hosts,</emphasis> the following
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| 176 | features are not yet implemented:</para>
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| 177 |
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| 178 | <para><itemizedlist>
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| 179 | <listitem>
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| 180 | <para>Numlock emulation</para>
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| 181 | </listitem>
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| 182 |
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| 183 | <listitem>
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| 184 | <para>CPU frequency metric</para>
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| 185 | </listitem>
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| 186 |
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| 187 | <listitem>
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| 188 | <para>Memory ballooning</para>
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| 189 | </listitem>
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| 190 | </itemizedlist></para>
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| 191 | </listitem>
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| 192 |
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| 193 | <listitem>
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| 194 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Mac OS X guests:</emphasis>
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| 195 | <itemizedlist>
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| 196 | <listitem>
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| 197 | <para>Mac OS X guests can only run on a certain host hardware.
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| 198 | For details about license and host hardware limitations, please
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| 199 | see <xref linkend="intro-macosxguests" /> and check the Apple
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| 200 | software license conditions.</para>
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| 201 | </listitem>
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| 202 |
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| 203 | <listitem>
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| 204 | <para>VirtualBox does not provide Guest Additions for Mac OS X
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| 205 | at this time.</para>
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| 206 | </listitem>
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| 207 |
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| 208 | <listitem>
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| 209 | <para>The graphics resolution currently defaults to 1024x768 as
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| 210 | Mac OS X falls back to the built-in EFI display support. See
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| 211 | <xref linkend="efividmode" /> for more information on how to
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| 212 | change EFI video modes.</para>
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| 213 | </listitem>
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| 214 |
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| 215 | <listitem>
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| 216 | <para>Even when idle, Mac OS X guests currently burn 100% CPU.
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| 217 | This is a power management issue that will be addressed in a
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| 218 | future release.</para>
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| 219 | </listitem>
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| 220 |
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| 221 | <listitem>
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| 222 | <para>Mac OS X guests only work with one CPU assigned to the
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| 223 | VM. Support for SMP will be provided in a future release.</para>
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| 224 | </listitem>
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| 225 |
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| 226 | <listitem>
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| 227 | <para>Depending on your system and version of Mac OS X, you
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| 228 | might experience guest hangs after some time. This can be fixed
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| 229 | by turning off energy saving (set timeout to "Never") in the
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| 230 | system preferences.</para>
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| 231 | </listitem>
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| 232 |
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| 233 | <listitem>
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| 234 | <para>By default, the VirtualBox EFI enables debug output of the
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| 235 | Mac OS X kernel to help you diagnose boot problems. Note that
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| 236 | there is a lot of output and not all errors are fatal (they
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| 237 | would also show on your physical Mac). You can turn off these
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| 238 | messages by issuing this command:<screen>VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" "VBoxInternal2/EfiBootArgs" " "</screen>To
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| 239 | revert to the previous behavior, use:<screen>VBoxManage setextradata "VM name" "VBoxInternal2/EfiBootArgs" ""</screen></para>
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| 240 | </listitem>
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| 241 | </itemizedlist></para>
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| 242 | </listitem>
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| 243 |
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| 244 | <listitem>
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| 245 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Solaris hosts:</emphasis> <itemizedlist>
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| 246 | <listitem>
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| 247 | <para>There is no support for USB devices connected to Solaris 10
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| 248 | hosts.</para>
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| 249 | </listitem>
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| 250 |
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| 251 | <listitem>
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| 252 | <para>USB support on Solaris hosts requires Solaris 11 version
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| 253 | snv_124 or higher. Webcams and other isochronous devices are known
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| 254 | to have poor performance.</para>
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| 255 | </listitem>
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| 256 |
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| 257 | <listitem>
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| 258 | <para>No ACPI information (battery status, power source) is
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| 259 | reported to the guest.</para>
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| 260 | </listitem>
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| 261 |
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| 262 | <listitem>
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| 263 | <para>No support for using wireless adapters with bridged
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| 264 | networking.</para>
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| 265 | </listitem>
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| 266 |
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| 267 | <listitem>
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| 268 | <para>Crossbow-based bridged networking on Solaris 11 hosts does
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| 269 | not work directly with aggregate links. However, you can manually
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| 270 | create a VNIC (using <computeroutput>dladm</computeroutput>) over
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| 271 | the aggregate link and use that with a VM. This technical
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| 272 | limitation will be addressed in a future Solaris 11 release.</para>
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| 273 | </listitem>
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| 274 | </itemizedlist></para>
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| 275 | </listitem>
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| 276 |
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| 277 | <listitem>
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| 278 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Guest Additions of version 4.1, 4.1.2 and 4.1.4 for Windows</emphasis>
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| 279 | Thus VirtualBox WDDM Video driver may be installed and kept in guest system
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| 280 | if Guest additions uninstallation is performed.
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| 281 | This is caused by a bug in Guest Additions uninstaller.
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| 282 | <note>
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| 283 | <para>This does <emphasis role="bold">not</emphasis> apply to Guest Additions update,
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| 284 | i.e. installing a one version of Guest Additions on top of another works correctly.</para>
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| 285 | </note>
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| 286 | To solve this problem, one should uninstall the VirtualBox WDDM Video driver manually.
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| 287 | To do that open Device Manager, and check whether the Display Adapter is named
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| 288 | "VirtualBox Graphics Adapter ..". If no - there is nothing to be done. If yes - right-click
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| 289 | the VirtualBox Graphics Adapter in Device Manager, select "Uninstall", check "Delete the driver software for this device"
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| 290 | and click "OK". Once uninstallation is done - in Device Manager go to menu "Action" and select
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| 291 | "Scan for hardware changes" to make the propper (Windows default) driver be picked up for the Graphics adapter.
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| 292 | </para>
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| 293 | </listitem>
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| 294 |
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| 295 | <listitem>
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| 296 | <para>Neither <emphasis>virtio</emphasis> nor <emphasis>Intel PRO/1000
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| 297 | </emphasis> drivers for <emphasis role="bold">Windows XP guests
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| 298 | </emphasis> support segmentation offloading. Therefore
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| 299 | Windows XP guests have slower transmission rates comparing to other
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| 300 | guest types. Refer to MS Knowledge base article 842264 for additional
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| 301 | information.</para>
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| 302 | </listitem>
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| 303 |
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| 304 | <listitem>
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| 305 | <para><emphasis role="bold">Guest Additions for OS/2.</emphasis> Shared
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| 306 | folders are not yet supported with OS/2 guests. In addition, seamless
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| 307 | windows and automatic guest resizing will probably never be implemented
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| 308 | due to inherent limitations of the OS/2 graphics system.</para>
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| 309 | </listitem>
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| 310 | </itemizedlist>
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| 311 | </sect1>
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| 312 | </chapter>
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