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Virtualisation Guide — Running MultiDisk FileBalancer on Windows

This guide walks you through running MultiDisk FileBalancer on Windows using a Debian Linux VM in VirtualBox. The program is Linux-only and does not run directly on Windows or via WSL.

Requirements​

  • A Windows PC
  • VirtualBox (downloaded in this guide)
  • The Debian ISO (downloaded in this guide)
  • The MultiDisk FileBalancer program folder

Step 1 — Go to debian.org​

Step 1

Step 2 — Scroll down and click on Download​

Step 2

Step 3 — Wait until the download is ready​

Step 3

Step 4 — Go to virtualbox.org​

Step 4

Step 5 — Click on Download​

Step 5

Step 6 — Click on Windows hosts​

Step 6

Step 7 — Wait until the download is ready​

Step 7

Step 8 — Click on the VirtualBox installer (.exe)​

Step 8

Step 9 — Click Next​

Step 9

Step 10 — Click Next​

Step 10

Step 11 — Click Next​

Step 11

Step 12 — Click Yes​

Step 12

Step 13 — Click Yes​

Step 13

Step 14 — Click Next​

Step 14

Step 15 — Click Next​

Step 15

Step 16 — Click Install​

Step 16

Step 17 — Click New to create a new VM​

Step 17

Step 18 — Give the VM a name​

Step 18

Step 19 — Click Other to select the ISO​

Step 19

Step 20 — Select the Debian ISO and click Open​

Step 20

Step 21 — Uncheck "Skip Unattended Installation"​

Step 21

Step 22 — Give the VM some hardware (RAM and CPU)​

Allocate at least 2 GB RAM and 2 CPU cores.

Step 22

Step 23 — Give the VM some storage​

Allocate at least 20 GB of disk space.

Step 23

Step 24 — Click Finish​

Step 24

Step 25 — Click Start to boot the VM​

Step 25

Step 26 — Select "Graphical install"​

Step 26

Step 27 — Click Continue (language selection)​

Step 27

Step 28 — Click Continue (location selection)​

Step 28

Step 29 — Click Continue (keyboard layout)​

Step 29

Step 30 — Click Continue (hostname)​

Step 30

Step 31 — Click Continue (domain name)​

Step 31

Step 32 — Choose a root password and click Continue​

Step 32

Step 33 — Click Continue (full name for user)​

Step 33

Step 34 — Click Continue (username for user)​

Step 34

Step 35 — Choose a user password and click Continue​

Step 35

Step 36 — Click Continue (timezone)​

Step 36

Step 37 — Click Continue (disk partitioning — use entire disk)​

Step 37

Step 38 — Click Continue (select disk to partition))​

Step 38

Step 39 — Click Continue (partitioning scheme)​

Step 39

Step 40 — Click Continue (write changes to disk)​

Step 40

Step 41 — Click Yes and Continue (write changes to disk)​

Step 41

Step 42 — Click Continue (scan extra installation media)​

Step 42

Step 43 — Click Continue (package manager mirror country)​

Step 43

Step 44 — Click Continue (select mirror)​

Step 44

Step 45 — Click Continue (proxy settings)​

Step 45

Step 46 — Click Continue (popularity contest)​

Step 46

Step 47 — Check and uncheck items to match the following software selection​

Make sure SSH server and Standard system utilities are checked. Select a desktop environment of your choice (e.g. KDE Plasma).

Step 47

Step 48 — Click Continue (install GRUB)​

Step 48

Step 49 — Select the disk for GRUB and click Continue​

Step 49

Step 50 — Click Continue (finish installation)​

Step 50

Step 51 — Click Shutdown (power off the VM before configuring settings)​

Step 51

Configuring VM Settings (before next boot)​

Step 52 — Click Settings​

Step 52

Step 53 — Click Network​

Step 53

Step 54 — Change the adapter to "Bridged Adapter"​

This gives the VM its own IP address on your local network, so you can reach SFTP/WebDAV/NFS from other devices.

Step 54

Step 55 — Click Shared Folders​

Step 55

Step 56 — Click the add shared folder button​

Step 56

Step 57 — Click the folder path dropdown​

Step 57

Step 58 — Click Other​

Step 58

Step 59 — Select the MultiDisk FileBalancer program folder on your Windows PC​

Step 59

Step 60 — Check "Auto-mount" and "Make Permanent", then click OK​

Step 60

Step 61 — Click OK to close VM settings​

Step 61

Installing Guest Additions​

Step 62 — Click Start to boot the VM​

Step 62

Step 63 — Enter your password and press Enter​

Step 63

Step 64 — Click Devices → Insert Guest Additions CD image...​

Step 64

Step 65 — Click Mount and Open​

Step 65

Step 66 — Right-click inside the folder and click "Open Terminal Here"​

Step 66

Step 67 — Run su -​

su -

Step 67

Step 68 — Install build dependencies​

sudo apt update && sudo apt install -y build-essential dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Step 68

Step 69 — Navigate to the CD-ROM​

cd /media/cdrom0/

Step 69

Step 70 — Run the Guest Additions installer​

sudo sh ./VBoxLinuxAdditions.run

Step 70

Step 71 — Reboot the VM​

sudo reboot

Step 71

Configuring User Permissions​

Step 72 — Log in again​

Step 72

Step 73 — Open the file explorer​

Step 73

Step 74 — Open the Root Disk​

Step 74

Step 75 — Open the media folder​

Step 75

Step 76 — Give yourself permission to the shared folder (next step)​

Step 76

Step 77 — Open the terminal​

Step 77

Step 78 — Run su -​

su -

Step 78

Step 79 — Add user to sudo group​

usermod -aG sudo user

Step 79

Step 80 — Add user to vboxsf group (shared folders access)​

usermod -aG vboxsf user

Step 80

Step 81 — Restart the VM​

reboot

Step 81

Installing and Running the Program​

Step 82 — Open the file explorer​

Step 83 — Open the Root Disk and open the media folder​

Step 83

Step 84 — Open the program folder​

Step 84

Step 85 — Right-click and click "Open Terminal Here"​

Step 85

Step 86 — Install Python and tmux​

sudo apt install python3 python-is-python3 pip tmux

Step 86

Step 87 — Install Python dependencies​

pip install -r requirements.txt --break-system-packages

Step 87

Step 88 — Start a tmux session​

tmux

Step 88

Step 89 — Run the program​

python multidisk_filebalancer.py

Step 89

Step 90 — Done! The program is now running​

Step 90

tmux Tips​

Step 91 — Detach from tmux (program keeps running in background)​

Press Ctrl+B, then D.

Step 92 — View active tmux sessions​

tmux ls

Step 92

Step 93 — Re-attach to a tmux session​

tmux attach -d -t 0

Step 93

Useful Commands​

Step 94 — Get the full path of the current directory​

pwd

Step 94

Step 95 — Get the IP address of the VM​

ip a

Use this IP address to connect to the SFTP or WebDAV server from other devices on the same network.