XP Physical to Virtual

Last time, I had taken my old XP hard drive from a previous computer and converted it to a virtual hard disk (vhd) using disk2vhd.  I was able to add it to a machine in VirtualBox 4.2.6, but it wouldn't boot.  I changed the disk controller from IDE to SATA, and I was able to boot, but it locked up.

Today, I checked the "Enable IO APIC" box under the System page of the VM settings.  I also changed the number of CPUs from 1 to 2 to match the previous physical machine.  I probably only needed to enable IO APIC.

After that, the machine booted fine and started installing new hardware from windows update.  Not all of  the installations were successful.  My mouse did not work until some of the devices were installed.

I rebooted into safe mode to install the VirtualBox Guest Additions, including Direct3D support.  To do this, I had to restart the machine multiple times until I was able to press F8 during the boot with the keyboard captured.

After installing the guest additions (as administrator), I rebooted normally.  All of the devices seemed to be installed properly.

I wanted to check the video, so I first went to graphics properties.  The adapter was listed as VBOX with 128 MB of memory.  I had set that earlier in the virtual machine settings to 128 MB, which is the maximum allowed.  I reran dxwebseup to install the latest directx, but the machine was still current.

Then I uninstalled some of the old software (video, sound, and network drivers) and rebooted.

Finally, I ran a game to see what would happen.  It started pretty slowly.  I had sound, so that was good.  The mouse sensitivity was so far off the charts that I couldn't even get into the menus to adjust it.  The problem seemed to be caused by using mouse integration.  Once I disabled mouse integration, the sensitivity was back to normal.

I loaded the previous save.  It took forever to load.  So long that I left to get a snack.  It eventually crashed.  That's usually IO driven.  I'll have to check the hard drive performance of the virtual drive later.

I rebooted and restarted the game.  I turned off all of the graphics options and ran it in windowed 1024x768 resolution this time.  It took a long time to load again, and then it crashed.  I'll play around with it a little more, but it looks like a physical machine might be best in this case.

Migrating Physical XP to virtual

I have a disk from my old desktop that has XP on it specifically to play some old games.  I finally turned it to a virtual image using disk2vhd from Sysinternals.  I made a new VM in virtualbox and started it up.  Of course, nothing happened.

I shut the vm down and removed the IDE controller and replaced it with a SATA controller.  I attached the vhd and started the VM.

This time I got the warning that windows did not start successfully and would I like to start in safe mode or normally.  Of course I selected normally, and it locked up.

I'm pretty sure that I have to go in and replace some of the hardware settings and maybe the disk ID.  I believe that there are some common known issues when converting physical XP machines to virtual.  It's just too late to look them up right now.

Steak au poivre (pepper steak)

I've been wanting to sear a steak in my cast iron skillet for a while now.  I really like my cast iron skillet.  It is a no-name 10" skillet that I got a a junky tool show 15 years ago.  It has a decent finish on it now, pretty smooth and black.  I've reseasoned it several times, and I think I'll try again soon with flaxseed oil, 6-8 coats.

Anyway, I've heard about heating it up as hot as it can get to sear the steak, then finish in the oven.  This gives you a nice sear, and good control on the finish.  I was watching PBS, and Martha Steward pan seared some NY strip steaks on medium, then made a mustard cream sauce.  It looked good, so I went to the store to get the ingredients.

I got a pair of NY strip steaks, then started looking for the vermouth.  I don't drink much, so I wasn't familiar with all of the alcohol and couldn't find it.  I decided to make steak au poivre instead.  I had steak au poivre in a restaurant once, and I thought it was way too fancy for me to make myself.  The only different ingredient is pretty much cognac instead of vermouth, and I knew that I had congnac.

I followed a recipe from Alton Brown pretty closely.  It is actually really easy to make.  Here are the ingredients, right from that web page.

• 4 tenderloin steaks, 6 to 8 ounces each and no more than 1 1/2 inches thick
• Kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons whole peppercorns
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/3 cup Cognac, plus 1 teaspoon
• 1 cup heavy cream

I used 2 strip steaks, probably 12-14oz each, so the same total weight.  They were only about an inch thick, though.  I let them warm to room temperature for an hour in some paper towels to remove moisture.  Martha Stewart said to make sure that they were dry to avoid steaming them, and not to season them until it was time to cook.

I heated up the pan.  I crushed some peppercorn.  I salted the steaks, then coated both sides of each steak.  That is a lot of pepper, but it ends up tasting just fine.  I added the butter and olive oil to the pan, which was set to med/med-high on a large burner.  I put the steaks on and left them alone for 3 1/2 minutes.  Then I flipped them, let them cook for another four.  I checked with a thermometer and pulled them at 125° to be tented.   I drained off the liquid and added the cognac. 

I have to admit - I have never lit cognac on fire before in my life.  It started boiling in the hot pan right away, so I should have known that there was a lot of alcohol vapor rising.  That didn't stop me.  I lit it and got a four foot fireball.  My wife ran to get a lid to put it out.  Like an idiot, I said no; it's supposed to burn.  As flames were licking up the cabinets.

I finally had the sense to move it away from the cabinets and shook the pan gently.  The flames went out, so I put the pan back on medium heat and added the cream.  I reduced it by about half, adding the steaks back in with the juice.  I should have added the juice back and reduced some more.  I ended up taking the steaks back out to do that.

The final touch was a little more cognac and salt.  Served with baked potato and plenty of sauce.  I guess french fries are typically served with this.  The whole family loved it.  It was pretty easy to make and tasted great!

Convert Windows Server 2008 R2 from Physical to Virtual

I rebuild my computer recently.  By that, I mean I bought a new motherboard, cpu, memory, hard drive, and case.  I reused the power supply and dvd burner, keyboard, and mouse.  I even got a new monitor.  So it wasn't so much a rebuild as a replacement.

Anyway, I had Windows Server 2008 R2 on the old machine.  I backed up all of the data, but I thought it would be nice if I could virtualize the old machine.  That way I could go back and get data, run old programs, check settings, etc.

I mounted the old hard drive in the new computer so that I could do a physical-to-virtual image.  The old drive was 600GB with a 100GB boot partition and a 500GB data partition.  There are several physical-to-virtual tools available.  Some run on an already running system, and some run on a disk.  I wanted one that ran on a disk.

I use VirtualBox instead of VMware, so I didn't want to use the VMware tools.  I decided to use Disk2vhd from the excellent Systernals Suite.  It creates a .vhd file, which is a microsoft format.  VirtualBox can read those natively.

I had the drive that I wanted to image already mounted as e:\ and f:\.  I chose just the e:\ drive to image and let the software run.  When it was done, I had a new .vhd file.

I created a new windows 2008 machine in VirtualBox and attached the virtual drive.  I started it up, and of course got a blue screen.  The OS couldn't find the boot drive.  This is caused because the disk controllers/IDs/or something else is different.  The solution is to make changes to the registry.

To change the registry of the virtual disk, first take the physical disk online.  If you don't there will be a conflict with disk IDs later when we try to mount the virtual drive.  I used Windows 7 to mount the vhd.

Go to Computer Management, then Disk Management.  Click on one of the drives in the lower right so that the module is active.  Then right click on Disk Management and select Attach VHD.  Select the .vhd and make sure it gets mounted to a drive letter.

Now, open a command prompt.  I did this as administrator.  Assuming that the .vhd is mounted to drive e:\, I ran these commands:
C:\>reg load HKLM\VHDSYS e:\windows\system32\config\system

This loaded the .vhd registry to the current registry under HKLM\VHDSYS.  I started regedit and modified the Start key from 3 to 0 under these two entries:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\VHDSYS\CurrentControlSet1\Services\Msahci

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\VHDSYS\CurrentControlSet1\Services\IastorV

I closed regedit and then unloaded the .vhd registry with this command in the command prompt:

C:\>reg unload HKLM\VHDSYS

Then, I started up the virtual machine.  It booted normally.  Then I installed host additions.  That gave me a better resolution and mouse integration.

However, the machine was not activated, and the old key did not work.  I'll have to research this more.

Refs Still Suck

That didn't take long.  Refs on the Green Bay game suck as bad as ever.  I wish they would have stuck with the replacements and let them get better.  A missed offensive interference call on the Saints first touchdown.  Then absolutely blowing the fumble by Sproles on the kickoff.

The catch by James Jones to seal the win was absolutely ridiculous.

Mac and Cheese

I've been trying to make a decent mac and cheese for a while using white cheeses.  I usually cook it on the grill and it ends up being a little thick from too much cheese.  I finally hit a good batch yesterday.

Of course, the only thing I measured was the milk, but here are the rough ingredients and measurements.

• 8oz elbow macoroni
• 2T butter
• 2T flour
• 2c milk
• 1/2t black pepper
• 1/2t white pepper
• 1t salt
• 1/2t basil
• 1t onion powder
• 2/3c smoked gouda
• 2/3c white cheddar
• 2/3c gruyere
• panko crumbs

Prepare the noodle a little al dente.

Make a rue (cook butter and flour) until slightly toasted.

Add milk to rue and whisk.  Add the spices or whatever you think will taste good.  Bring to boil while mixing so it doesn't scald.  Cook until it thickens; about 5-10 minutes.   Remove from heat and add cheese.  Stir until it melts.  Add to noodles.  Put in buttered 9x9 pan.  Add panko crumbs to the top.  If you feel like messing up more dishes, mix the panko with parsely, salt, pepper, and Parmesan in a food processor until it is fine.  Sprinkle on top.  Cook for ~20 minutes at 400° F.  I added a little milk (about 1/4c) because it had been so thick in the past.

It turned out great!  The smoked gouda is delicious in mac and cheese!

I am a CISSP Now

I got my confirmation email saying that the (ISC)2 board of directors had awarded (!) me with the CISSP certification.  I'll continue with flying lessons and start my continuing education requirements.  It's nice to have the pressure off now.