Xen Guest Utilities On Debian Sid/Squeeze

Installing the Xen Guest Utilities requires a little more work than on a stable debian installation due to the Xen Guest installer looking specifically for a version number in the /etc/debian_releases folder. To bypass, we’re going to temporarily manipulate this file to fake the installer.

1. First, cat /etc/debian_version, make sure it says squeeze/sid
2. Now, put in that file “5.0.6” instead.
3. Run the install.sh in the Linux folder on the xs-tools.iso cd This will run through the installer and ask you to reboot when complete.
4. Put the string “squeeze/sid” back into /etc/debian_version.

That’s it! The Xen Console should now show the xen utilities as being installed. Also, on the guest you should see a new /proc/xen/ folder that is present and populated.