i need help setting up virtualbox for research. using win7, vm its installed. whats next? im guessing ill have to install a OS? if im on win7 does the vm has to be win7 to? please keep in mind i know nothing about VM.

What do you plan on doing with it? Is it for a project that runs under BOINC? Then you don't need to add an OS, as the project will send a complete VM before the first task and that VM holds the operating system they want to use. Usually Scientific Linux. So other than that you don't have to do anything.

To read more about this, see https://boinc.berkeley.edu/wiki/VirtualBox

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boinc@tacc is the one im trying to currently get working. later ill be adding other under the topic of astrophysics. i was receiving error message, something about not being able to communicate. i gotta wait for the message to pop up again. so no OS, awesome. thanks.

Make sure you didn't install BOINC as a service. It'll show "Starting daemon" in the startup messages (CTRL+SHIFT+E) if it is. You will then have to uninstall BOINC, reinstall it and in the third screen in the installer click Advanced. Then uncheck Service Install before continuing installation.

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4/28/2020 9:51:50 PM | | Running as a daemon (GPU computing disabled) 4/28/2020 9:51:51 PM | | No usable GPUs found
i see the problem, i didnt notice it used GPU. i dont think my GPU can be used. im not using a normal desktop. thank you for the help

I don't know if the service installation prevents VirtualBox work from running, but there is no GPU work for any project using VB that I'm aware of.

BOINC@TACC has no work right now and the work supply in general has been very sparse. Right now you'll need to try another project to see if it's actually working.

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I think it's perfectly possible to install VirtualBox for the projects that issue work for VBs, and GPUs for projects that issue work for GPUs.

But it isn't possible to run GPU work inside a VB, even if the host has a GPU outside the VB. Not until VirtualBox successfully implements 'PCI passthrough', and the last time I looked they had abandoned the effort.

Until then, the VirtualBox container acts as an event horizon for GPUs.

i was just gonna say i got a new message with boinc@tacc. no new projects and server down. that's different from 2 weeks ago.

the message finally popped up on cosmology@home (postponed:communication with VM hypervision failed) thats the problem im having. same message on anything that needs VM

4/28/2020 9:51:50 PM | | Running as a daemon (GPU computing disabled) 4/28/2020 9:51:51 PM | | No usable GPUs found
i see the problem, i didnt notice it used GPU. i dont think my GPU can be used. im not using a normal desktop. thank you for the help

BOINC must not be installed as a service (Windows) because when BOINC is installed as a service it runs as an unprivileged user and cannot run any virtual machines.
As I said earlier, you will have to uninstall BOINC through the normal means, then reinstall it and in the third screen in the installer click Advanced, uncheck Service Install, continue installation. You can then test with LHC - not the default Sixtrack - that that works.
New Covid work for BOINC@TACC is expected to come in the next 2-3 days.

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it works now and see my gpu thank you so much for your help