Hi Sameer,
For sharing the data from the guest to host OS, why not use VirtualBox’s
shared folder mechanism? This would avoid the use of the potential security
issues of old versions of SMB.
Cheers,
Laird
Laird A. Trimble, Ph.D.
President, Trimble Analytical Services Ltd.
laird.trimble_at_trimbleanalyticalservices.com
1-613-286-2799
> On Dec 15, 2025, at 5:12 PM, Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid via groups.io wrote:
>
> Hi AMMRL,
>
> Thanks to Greg, Laird, Ronald, Serge, Bob, Sebastian, we’re back
> up and running. The information below would not have been possible without
> their help!
>
> I should have clarified: we did not have recent image to restore from, and
> I was not able to restore Bruker’s clone CD (from install) to a
> Virtualbox VM. That being said, I’m happy to report two working options:
>
> TopSpin 3.2 on Windows 11
> Bruker’s download page <https://www.bruker.com/protected/en/services/software-downloads/nmr/software/topspin-archive.html
> has the NT Toolkit 2 CD, containing the OpenText NFS Solo 14 server which
> can be installed on Windows 11. After installing TopSpin 3.2, the CCU
> downloaded diskless and “cf” worked properly. I didn’t
> test this setup any further, as I eventually managed to get TopSpin 2.1 running
> and our users preferred that route.
>
> TopSpin 2.1 on CentOS 5
> Install Virtualbox 7.2.4 and create a CentOS 5 https://vault.centos.org/5.11/isos/x86_64/
> VM. Set the first NIC to NAT, using the MAC address of the old PC, and connect
> it to the campus network. Set the second NIC to "Bridged Adapter” and
> connect it to the spectrometer. Install CentOS 5 with the GNOME desktop.
>
> To install/update packages with yum, first edit /etc/yum/repos.d/CentOS-Base.repo, by:
> Deleting all “mirrorlist” lines
> Uncommenting all “baseurl” lines
> Replacing https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://mirror.centos.org/centos/$re=
leasever/__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!REFaAAubNFrz9oP6AjxP6ucjCdI9kgi01pOTgy1snDjZ=
zsdg0XmVdPTPkuymLR2XARehfhxIKhN_TeryY99HQwe47tBO$ with
https://urldefense.=
com/v3/__
http://archive.kernel.org/centos-vault/5.11/__;!!PvDODwlR4mBZyAb0!=
REFaAAubNFrz9oP6AjxP6ucjCdI9kgi01pOTgy1snDjZzsdg0XmVdPTPkuymLR2XARehfhxIKhN=
_TeryY99HQwSMm1bR$ because the versions at “centos.org” se=
em to require a newer version of SSL than supported by CentOS 5.
>
> Packages can now be updated, and a number of other packages should be installed
> before proceeding:
>
> sudo yum -y update
> sudo yum install xinetd dhcp tftp tftp-server bootparamd gcc gcc-c++ glibc-devel glibc-headers kernel-headers libXmu.so.6 libXp libXpm.so.4 openmotif samba
>
> The Bruker packages <https://repo-bbio.bruker.com/CentOS/5/Bruker-Addon/repoview/index.html>
> or RPM-GPG-KEY <https://repo-bbio.bruker.com/CentOS/RPM-GPG-KEY-Bruker-AddOn-support>
> cannot be downloaded in the normal way, apparently due to the SSL issue. Download
> the key and packages listed below from the links above, then install them one-by-one
> in the order listed:
>
> sudo rpm --import RPM-GPG-KEY-Bruker-AddOn-support.txt
> sudo rpm -ivh cups-pdf-2.6.1-4.el5.brk.x86_64.rpm
> sudo rpm -ivh bruker-lockdown-session-1.0-0.el5.brk.noarch.rpm
> sudo rpm -ivh bruker-topspin-environ-1.0-13.el5.brk.x86_64.rpm
> sudo rpm -ivh bruker-compatlibs-1.3-7.el5.brk.x86_64.rpm
> sudo rpm -ivh bruker-gdm-theme-1.3-1.el5.brk.noarch.rpm
> sudo rpm -ivh bruker-acquisition-environ-1.0-2.el5.brk.noarch.rpm
>
> Install TopSpin 2.1, then disable iptables and fix a diskless permissions issue:
>
> sudo /sbin/service iptables stop
> sudo /sbin/chkconfig iptables off
> sudo chmod a+w /usr/diskless/clients/spect/lock/*
>
> Reboot the CCU, do an nmr_restore from an old backup, run ‘cf’,
> and collect data.=
>
> I’ve since changed the first NIC from NAT to “Host-Only
> Adapter”, so the VM is not connected to the Internet. At the moment,
> I’m using SMB to get data from the VM to the campus network, which
> does require enabling SMB 1.0/CIFS File Sharing Support in Windows and
> accepting/mitigating the security risks that come with that.
>
> Best,
> Sameer
> --
> Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid, Ph.D.
> Manager, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre <http://nmr.uoguelph.ca/>
> University of Guelph
> 519-824-4120 x58914 / s.wahid_at_uoguelph.ca
>
> From: Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid <s.wahid_at_uoguelph.ca>
> Date: Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at 15:41
> To: Main <main_at_ammrl.groups.io>
> Subject: Replacing an AVANCE II PC in 2025
>
> Hello AMMRL,
>
> Our AVANCE II computer died and I’m trying to replace it.
>
> At the suggestions of others, I’ve started down the route of setting
> up VirtualBox on our Windows 11 machine, so I can create a CentOS 5 VM to
> run TopSpin 2.1. It’s a “two steps forward, one step back”
> process - for example, I can install CentOS 5, but doing an update of the
> (non-Bruker) packages requires a workaround.
>
> Before I go too far down this path, I thought I’d ask the collective
> wisdom - what have others done here? Are there newer Linux OSs that could
> work here? Using Windows seems to rely on needing an NFS server that I
> cannot seem to find.
>
> Our system could in theory support TopSpin 3.2 so I’d be open an
> option that required me to use 3.2 as well.
>
> Thanks for your time,
> Sameer
>
> --
> Sameer Al-Abdul-Wahid, Ph.D.
> Manager, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Centre <http://nmr.uoguelph.ca/>
> University of Guelph
> 519-824-4120 x58914 / s.wahid_at_uoguelph.ca
>
>
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