Virtualbox - do I need to install open-vm-tools etc?

luckman212 · Dec 1, 2015, 5:08 PM

I am wondering if, when testing pfSense under Virtualbox 5.x, do I need to install any special packages etc for performance or compatibility issues? I know typically when installing in VMware you would install open-vm-tools etc.

Thank you

johnpoz · Dec 1, 2015, 5:51 PM

to be honest the only thing the tools are good for is so that you can initiate a proper shutdown.. I have not used virtualbox for quite some time, do the open-vm tools even work with it? Shouldn't you be using the virtualbox guest additions..

luckman212 · Dec 1, 2015, 6:02 PM

Hmm. Maybe you're right. Well, I dug some more and found this
https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/virtualization-guest-virtualbox-guest-additions.html

Looks like it really might just not be needed at all on a console-based system like pfSense. The features that you get are

Clipboard sharing
Mouse pointer integration
Host time synchronization
Window scaling
Seamless mode

None of those seem necessary, as pfSense will do it's own NTP and the rest are GUI related.

jimp · Dec 4, 2015, 2:54 AM

^ That. I wouldn't bother with the tools for virtualbox.