DMI BIOS settings (information taken from this thread) If you have an OEM version of Windows XP you should set these additional parameters as follows so your copy of Windows does not have to be reactivated. In total there are 13 such parameters (which you can set, see section 9.13 in the manual). To determine them use the below commands.
First use dmidecode -t0:
vt@vt:~$ sudo dmidecode -t0
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.3 present.
Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 20 bytes
BIOS Information
Vendor: Dell Computer Corporation
Version: A12
Release Date: 08/26/2004
Address: 0xF0000
Runtime Size: 64 kB
ROM Size: 512 kB
Characteristics:
PCI is supported
PNP is supported
[...]
Bios Revision: 2.3
Firmware Revision: 2.3
This determines: DmiBIOSVendor (Dell Computer Corporation), DmiBIOSVersion (A12), DmiBIOSReleaseDate (08/26/2004), DmiBIOSReleaseMajor (2), DmiBIOSReleaseMinor (3), DmiBIOSFirmwareMajor (2) and DmiBIOSFirmwareMinor (3).
If Bios and Firmware Revisions are not listed, set them both to the version of SMBIOS.
Subsequently run dmidecode -t1:
vt@vt:~$ sudo dmidecode -t1
# dmidecode 2.9
SMBIOS 2.3 present.
Handle 0x0100, DMI type 1, 25 bytes
System Information
Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
Product Name: Dimension 4600i
Version: Not Specified
Serial Number: JTGL999
UUID: 99999C9C-9999-9999-999C-CAC99F999999
Wake-up Type: Power Switch
Family: X86-based PC
This determines: DmiSystemVendor (Dell Computer Corporation), DmiSystemProduct (Dimension 4600i), DmiSystemVersion (Not Specified), DmiSystemSerial (JTGL999), DmiSystemUuid (99999C9C-9999-9999-999C-CAC99F999999) and DmiSystemFamily (X86-based PC).
If a field is not shown or indicates “Not Specified” fill it in as “<EMPTY>” (see below).
Now you can use the VBoxManage setextradata command to set these fields. The easiest way is to do this with a script:
#! /bin/bash VM_NAME="xpraw" # Name of your Virtual Machine VSETED="VBoxManage setextradata $VM_NAME" CFG_PATH="VBoxInternal/Devices/pcbios/0/Config" $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSVendor "Dell Computer Corporation" $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSVersion "A12" $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSReleaseDate "08/26/2004" $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSReleaseMajor 2 $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSReleaseMinor 3 $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSFirmwareMajor 2 $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiBIOSFirmwareMinor 3 $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiSystemVendor "Dell Computer Corporation" $VSETED $CFG_PATH/DmiSystemProduct "Dimension 4600i"