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Cloudera provides 64 bit VirtualBox vm to play with hadoop tools. I have a personal laptop which hosts 32 bit Windows OS. Is there any hack to run the 64 bit virtualbox vm to execute on my Windows 7 32-bit.

The VirtualBox i am using is a 32 bit. The Cloudera VM is 64 bit. The VT-x is enabled and also i have changed my chipset to ICH9. Enabled I/o APIC.

But when i boot my cloudera VM i am getting the below issue.

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Configuration details.

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This question is very specific to cloudera as cloudera ia not providing any 32 bit VM's.

wandermonk
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  • Does your CPU support VT-x that would be a requirement. Since you dit provide text version of your hardware specifications I can't look it up myself – Ramhound Sep 04 '17 at 07:48
  • I'll give it a shot in a bit ... it'll take a bit to download. – Bob Sep 04 '17 at 12:32
  • You can get free VM from Microsoft. Link: https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/ – Biswapriyo Sep 04 '17 at 13:03
  • As far as I can tell, downloading the VirtualBox appliance from the Cloudera site works with minimal changes (just reduce the amount of allocated RAM so you don't choke the rest of your system). You might also want to make sure you have EPT enabled. I've updated my answer. – Bob Sep 04 '17 at 14:56
  • @Biswa I'm not sure how exactly that's supposed to be relevant to the question. – Bob Sep 04 '17 at 14:56

1 Answers1

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Theoretically, you should be able to do so, without 'hacking' anything. According to the VirtualBox Manual, you need to:

  • Enable VT-x (hardware acceleration) on your CPU. This is supported by your CPU model, so you should be able to toggle it on in your firmware (BIOS) settings. Since your CPU supports x86_64, this will allow hypervisors to use hardware acceleration to support 64-bit guests despite the 32-bit host OS.

    Check that this is correctly enabled using a tool such as CPU-Z. Check that the VT-x instruction is available:

    Screenshot of CPU-Z

    Just to be sure, I suggest that you also make sure EPT (Extended Page Tables, also known as SLAT) is enabled, again in firmware (BIOS) settings.

  • Install a 32-bit version of the VirtualBox program, so it can run its exes.

  • Make sure your VM guest is configured as 64-bit. I'm assuming you're running a Virtual Appliance, which you should be able to import into the 32-bit copy of VirtualBox (see the File menu).

    • Ok, I actually tested Cloudera, and you can pretty much run the OVF directly. The only change required while importing is reducing the allocated RAM - I would suggest no more than 2048 MB, and even that can potentially starve your host. (Also note that the first startup takes quite a long time).

      Pay attention to any warnings or errors from VirtualBox during the import process (in the textbox in the import window) and also while running the VM.

      Screenshot of VBox

However, the better long-term solution would be to install a 64-bit host OS. Not only will that put you firmly into well-supported territory, but it should also greatly improve overall system performance - for example, currently some amount of your installed RAM is inaccessible, as are the extra CPU registers that 64-bit mode enables for the host.

Bob
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  • This CloudEra **[link](https://www.cloudera.com/downloads/quickstart_vms/5-12.html) says:: "These 64-bit VMs require a 64-bit host OS and a virtualization product that can support a 64-bit guest OS." – Biswapriyo Sep 04 '17 at 07:57
  • @Biswa IMO, that's likely just their supported scenario, but does not necessarily mean it won't work otherwise. As long as it's a typical Appliance, it should work as long as the hypervisor supports a 64-bit guest. That said, I do not have any non-virtualised 32-bit host OSes to test this on right now. – Bob Sep 04 '17 at 07:58
  • https://superuser.com/questions/27086/why-does-windows-only-show-about-3-5-gb-of-my-4-gb-of-ram ^^^^^ – Ramhound Sep 04 '17 at 07:59
  • @Biswa Well VirtualBox supports it. Don't care what a third-party VM building website says with regards to what is actually possible. See duplicate for more information – Ramhound Sep 04 '17 at 08:00