Creating a VirtualBox VM for Pathfinder CORE Pro

Updated by Bryan Jones

SCOPE

This document is specific to creating a VirtualBox VM for Pathfinder CORE Pro software. This document is not an all-inclusive guide to setting up VirtualBox. It is simply provided as a guide and is provided without warranty or support. Proceed at your own risk.

DESCRIPTION

Installing Pathfinder CORE Pro on an Oracle VirtualBox VM. Virtual box and support for it can be found directly at the Oracle, Virtual Box website.

SETTING UP VIRTUAL BOX

Create the VM instance
  1. Open the VirtualBox Manager and click the New Icon.

  1. Provide a name for your Core PRO VM instance
  2. Select Linux and Debian (64-bit) from the drop-down menus then click Next

  1. Select the amount of ram you wish to give to the virtual machine then click Next.
You need to select a minimum of 2 GB of ram. One of the advantages of running Pathfinder Core PRO on your hardware or virtual machine is the ability to make additional ram available for larger setups and better headroom.  For this example, I will select 4GB.

  1. Select Create a virtual hard disk now and click Create.

  1. Select the drive type and click Next.
    For this example, we are selecting VDI type, but you could pick VHD or VMDK as well.

  1. Select how you want the data stored on disk then click Next.
  • Dynamically allocated gives you better space utilization whereas
  • Fixed size will be faster. 
In this example, we will select Fixed Size.

  1. Select where you want to store the drive data and select the drive size and click Create.
We recommend 4 GB or larger with the Default of 8GB suggested.
Having more drive space allows for more space for logs and graphics files.
The system will split the drive into equal size bank0 and bank1 partitions so your running space will be approximately half of the actual size you choose. In this example, we will select 8GB for the drive size.

Change the settings for your VM Instance
  1. Select the new virtual machine in the list and then click the Settings icon.

  1. Click the System menu, click the Processor tab, and select the number of processors to assign to your VM.
It is recommended you give the system at least two processors as PathfinderCore PRO is multi-threaded and will use however many processors you provide to it.  In this example, we will choose 4.

  1. Select the Network Menu item;
We recommend using a bridged adapter and under Advanced making sure one of the Intel PRO/1000 variations is selected.  The default adapter has worked well in our tests.
If you use a NAT adapter instead of bridged, likely, you will not be able to discover devices using multicast.  For this reason, NAT is not recommended.

Make sure to select the Axia LAN from the drop-down of NICs in the host machine. If your host computer has network cards on both the Axia and office network, Add a second adapter and assign it to the office LAN.

Once all settings are correct, click OK.

  1. Select the Storage menu.  Click on the Empty CD, and then click the little cd icon with the down arrow next to the Optical Drive attribute.  Select the ISO image file which you downloaded from pathfinderpc.com.
The current version of the ISO install file for the Pathfinder Core PRO VM can be found by clicking this link. Download the version labeled with "Installer (virtual machine ISO)" and save it to an accessible location on your computer.

  1. Click OK.
  2. Make sure the Virtual machine is highlighted in the list and click the Start icon.
  3. Continue to the document titled Installing the Pathfinder Core PRO VM ISO

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