ReadyNAS OS 6.0.6 | VirtualBox Image #notsupported

Are you a developer that wants to create and test new add-ons, but don't have systems available to develop on/break?
Are you pondering upgrading your first generation x86 system to the new OS, but want to test it out first?
Are you just jealous that Synology DSM can be run in a VM, and ReadyNAS can't?

Well here is how you can create a VirtualBox HDD to run ReadyNASOS virtually!

For the lazy, a pre-made appliance to download and import, all ready to go! ReadyNASOS-6.0.6-x86_64.ova (68 MB)
(First boot does install, will take ~1 minute. First time setup wizard will show. Has 2x8GB data disks in RAID1.)

This VM is no longer updated by the #notsupported team, as NTGR now provides an official VirtualBox image themselves:
Installing ReadyNAS OS on VirtualBox




These steps were run on a RAIDiator-x86 4.2.22 system, any Debian system should work, other platforms may need tweaking;
your mileage may vary! And of course, it has to be said, don't expect any support from NETGEAR with this.

$ wget -q ftp://downloads.netgear.com/files/GDC/READYNAS-100/ReadyNASOS-6.0.4-x86_64.zip; unzip -q ReadyNASOS-6.0.4-x86_64.zip
$ apt-get -y install syslinux-common; apt-get -y install syslinux mtools
$ mkdiskimage RNOS6.raw 512 8 32; losetup --offset 16384 /dev/loop0 RNOS6.raw 
$ mkdosfs /dev/loop0; syslinux /dev/loop0; mount /dev/loop0 /mnt
$ dd if=ReadyNASOS-6.0.4-x86_64.img bs=16k skip=1|tar -C /mnt -x
$ echo -e 'default Normal\nlabel Normal\nkernel kernel\nappend initrd=initrd.gz reason=normal' > /mnt/syslinux.cfg; umount /mnt; losetup -d /dev/loop0

(losetup creates loopback device at first partition offset. installing syslinux-common (for mkdiskimage) first, because it will conflict with syslinux if installed at the same time. mtools provides mkdosfs.)

Now you have the raw disk image. Next you need to create a .VMDK file, to properly reference the RAW file, example:

# Disk DescriptorFile
version=1
encoding="windows-1252"
CID=fffffffe
parentCID=ffffffff
isNativeSnapshot="no"
createType="monolithicFlat"

# Extent description
RW 327680 FLAT "RNOS6.raw" 0

# The Disk Data Base 
#DDB

ddb.virtualHWVersion = "8"
ddb.longContentID = "deadbeefcafedeadbeefcafeffffffff"
ddb.uuid = "60 00 C2 9c c1 a4 a8 2b-9f d1 65 f2 1e b1 9d 09"
ddb.geometry.cylinders = "325"
ddb.geometry.heads = "16"
ddb.geometry.sectors = "63"ddb.uuid.image="71222d44-9672-4482-941c-149c2ee0dfc4"
ddb.uuid.image="71222d44-9672-4482-941c-149c2ee0dfc4"
ddb.uuid.modification="de4161f9-152e-442e-ad6e-aa559179bd3e"
ddb.uuid.parent="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
ddb.uuid.parentmodification="00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000"
ddb.geometry.biosCylinders="325"
ddb.geometry.biosHeads="16"
ddb.geometry.biosSectors="63"

Another option is to install the qemu-utils package, and run this command, to convert the raw image into a single VMDK file:

qemu-img convert -f raw RNOS6.raw -O vmdk RNOS6.vmdk

Now load up VirtualBox, create a VM, give it this disk to boot from, and a few more 'data' disks to install to. Put the E1000 NIC in Bridge mode.

You can discover the NAS via RAIDar, and possibly readycloud.netgear.com. Default admin/root password is 'password'. You can login via the console in the VM as root. Open https://IP/admin, and access Dashboard. The system model shows as 'VirtualBox Simulation'.