Table of Contents
Starting CHARON Virtual Machines Manager
CHARON execution is controlled by the "CHARON Virtual Machines Manager" that manages each CHARON instance, called a "CHARON Virtual Machine", running on the host.
The CHARON installation procedure creates a shortcut on the desktop and under "Start" menu for the CHARON Virtual Machines Manager.
Desktop shortcut:
"Start" menu shortcut:
CHARON Virtual Machines Manager runs automatically at Windows startup. If it is minimized to tray after you can run it from the tray menu in the following way:
After clicking the shortcuts the main dialog of CHARON Virtual Machines Manager appears.
If the icon is already present when you start the utility, nothing will be displayed. Please check the icon presence in the tray before trying to restart the manager.
Creating CHARON Virtual Machine
Creating CHARON VM using provided templates
CHARON installation contains a set of template files for creating a base configuration for each AXP model. Once CHARON Virtual Machine (VM) is created using these templates it can be configured further to meet your requirements and all the specifics of the emulated system.
By default the CHARON template does not contain any specification for disks and network; you need to update the configuration file created from the template to specify your specific disk and network configuration.
Start CHARON Virtual Machines Manager (see above) and press "Create VM from templates" button:
In the appearing dialog select the Alpha hardware model:
Note the Home Directory for VM. It will be used by default for storing logs, virtual disk images, toy and container files if no path is specified in the configuration file.
Specify a name for the VM and press the "Create" button:
CHARON Virtual Machines Manager will report the VM has been created successfully:
The created Virtual Machine will appear in the list of Virtual Machines (left pane):
Creating CHARON VM using existing configuration file
It is also possible to use any existing configuration file for creating CHARON Virtual Machine.
Start CHARON Virtual Machines Manager (see above) and press "Create VM from Cfg" button:
In the appearing dialog select the target configuration file by pressing the "Browse" button:
Select the configuration file and press the "Open" button:
Enter CHARON Virtual Machine name and note the Home Directory for VM. It will be used by default for storing logs, virtual disk images, toy and container files if no path is specified in the configuration file.
Press the "Create" button:
CHARON Virtual Machines Manager will report the VM has been created successfully:
The created Virtual Machine will appear in the list of Virtual Machines (left pane):
Running CHARON Virtual Machine
Select the target CHARON VM in the left pane and press the "Start" button:
CHARON Virtual Machines Manager will display the execution log:
The console of this particular CHARON VM will then appear (if defined in the configuration file):
Depending on settings, Windows may display a Firewall warning dialog asking to confirm CHARON access to different networks.
Check the desired options and press the "Allow access" button.
If you closed CHARON VM console it is always possible to re-open it by pressing "Show Console" button:
Closing the console will not stop the CHARON Virtual Machine
Stopping CHARON Virtual Machine
Select the target CHARON VM in the left pane and press the "Stop" button:
Removing and updating CHARON Virtual Machine
It is also possible to remove CHARON VM completely by selecting it and pressing "Remove VM" button or update it with "Change VM" button. This functionality will be discussed in the corresponding sections of this Guide.
Service functions
CHARON Virtual Machines Manager also provides the following additional functionality useful for starting CHARON and controlling its execution:
| Function | Description |
|---|---|
| Update Log | CHARON Virtual Machines Manager updates the displayed log once in 5 minutes. This is the default value, it can be changed in the "Settings" dialog of the program system menu: Right click on top of CHARON Virtual Machines Manager window and select "Settings":
In the appearing dialog you can change the default value of the log refresh:
If it is required to see most up-to-date version of the log press the "Update Log" button. |
| Display Log | Creates a separate window containing the selected CHARON VM log |
| Show Console | Opens the selected CHARON VM console if it has been closed |
CHARON Virtual Machine features
Select the target CHARON VM and switch to the "VM Configuration" tab to see its features:
Using this dialog it is possible to:
- Explore the Home Directory of CHARON VM
- Create virtual disks (press the "Create Virtual Disks" button)
- Edit CHARON VM configuration
- Change the startup mode
- Select CHARON version used for this Virtual Machine
Most of these settings will be discussed in this guide later; next sections highlight the most important ones for CHARON execution
CHARON Virtual Machine configuration file
Press the "Edit Configuration file" button to open the CHARON VM configuration file in Windows default text editor:
The configuration file specifies all the settings of the CHARON VM. It will be discussed in the next chapter.
CHARON Virtual Machine startup mode
Select CHARON VM startup behavior with the "Startup type" setting:
By default this setting is set to "Manual"; it assumes that user should run CHARON VM manually from CHARON Virtual Machines Manager after a host reboot. If the CHARON VM has to start automatically select "Automatic" option.
CHARON version to be used for CHARON VM
CHARON installation procedure allows several versions of CHARON to be installed on the host at the same time (V4.8 and later only). This option can be used for testing.
If a patch has been applied to a specific version, only the patched version will appear, not the vanilla one. If you need to rollback to a vanilla version, please uninstall the patch according to the documentation provided with the patch.
Select the target CHARON version from the "Executable" drop-down box and press the "Apply" button:
