The Beginner’s Guide To Creating Virtual Machines With VirtualBox
Virtual machines can seem juuuuust a bit too geeky for most otherwise computer-friendly people. That’s sad, because it’s an easy, free way to try or use a separate OS without messing with your hard drive.
What’s virtualisation? Why get that nerdy?
Virtualisation is a whole computer concept unto itself, at least on the server/enterprise/big-fancy-corporate level. For home users, talk about “virtual machines” generally refers to x86 virtualisation. Basically, it’s software that allows an entire operating system (the “guest”) to run on another OS (the “Host”), whether in a container window, or full-screen, or in what’s sometimes called a “seamless” mode, where just one application is run from the “guest”
Why would you want to run a virtual machine on your computer? Plenty of reasons:
- You like using one OS, but need just an app or two from another running in their natural environments—Office or Photoshop in Windows (nine times out of 10), a light-on-resources game, or maybe even some uber-cool Linux app.
- You want to try out some new software, but would rather not chance it mucking up the pretty decent system you’ve got right now.
- Web sites that don’t play nice with the operating system you’re running (we’re looking at you, almost every streaming site except YouTube).
- You’re intrigued at the idea of trying out a Linux desktop, but the word “partitioning” doesn’t sound like how you want to spend a Saturday afternoon.
For those and many other good reasons, we’re going to walk through installing VirtualBox, a free, open-source virtualisation tool offered for Windows, Mac, and Linux desktops, and then get virtual copies of Windows XP and Ubuntu running inside them. Installing Windows Vista (Ultimate or Business only, unfortunately) or the Windows 7 beta is about the same process, and almost any Linux distribution is friendly as a virtual machine, but this will give you an understanding of the basic process. Before you even ask, by the way, you can’t run OS X as a guest system on Windows or Linux, but the VirtualBox can run most anything else—including those pre-rolled virtual images you find laying around the internet.
I have to note here that VirtualBox is far from the only competitor in this field—in fact, many in the tech community report that VMWare’s Workstation offers more features and handles multiple virtual machines better. But VirtualBox is relatively easy to set up, free to install, and works on all three major operating systems.
Setting up
First off, head over to VirtualBox’s Download page and grab the right copy for your system. The only real choice falls on Linux users having to choose between 32- and 64-bit versions for their particular distribution—you don’t want to run a 64-bit guest on a 32-bit host machine, if you can avoid it. Linux users should note that while there may be a version of VirtualBox available in their repository, it’s usually the Open Source Edition, which may not be as up-to-date as the VirtualBox download page, and doesn’t offer support for USB devices, along with a few other odds and ends.
Click through the install screens; in most cases, you won’t have to stop and change anything. You’ll probably get a warning that VirtualBox will have to disconnect and re-connect your network connection for a few seconds while it’s setting up, so finish up any crucial net transfers.
During setup on Windows, you’ll be asked to install “device software” or “drivers”—hit “Install” for each, or check the box that indicates you’ll “Always trust …” Sun’s drivers.
Once VirtualBox is installed, launch it and you’ll arrive at a tauntingly empty screen:
Setting up
Let’s get something running in there. One big advantage of virtual machines over partitioning, dual-booting, and all that other hard-drive-tweaking stuff is the ability to install a system right from an ISO file. So if you’re testing out a Linux system, just download the ISO from Ubuntu, Fedora, or wherever. And if you’ve got an older XP installation disc, you can slipstream the latest service pack into it to create a minimal-hassle installation ISO image, and never bother burning it. While you’re at it, check out Adam’s guide to trimming down Windows to the bare essentials for a real speedy virtual installation ISO. If you’ve got your installation CD or DVD, however, that’ll play, too.
Hit “New” and you’ll be asked to give your system a name you’ll recognize—in my case, an XP system I’ll unleash all my morning Lifehacker test downloads on—and let VirtualBox know generally what variety and flavor it is. Linux users trying out a funky remix can head for Linux->Other Linux.
This next screen asking for a memory allocation seems imposing—I won’t give it enough! I’ll kill my host system with too much!—but you can entirely change it later on. VirtualBox will recommend a minimum amount, based on the OS you said you were installing, but your common sense will pay off here. I’m usually not running anything intensive on my system with 2GB of memory, so if lost half a GB, or 512MB, I’d probably not notice much. Your mileage will certainly vary, but try peeling off as much as you can at first, then scale it back if you notice your system becoming unstable, or bump it up if you get frustrated with a lag-tastic system-in-a-system.
The next screen asks you to either create a new hard disk image or use an existing one. Assuming this is a first install, keep Boot Hard Disk checked and hit Next to create the image. Hit Next again at the start of the “New Virtual Disk Wizard” (they keep changing the name from “Virtual” to “image,” but it’s all the same), then you’ll be asked to choose a dynamically expanding image or a fixed-size storage. This depends on how much space you’re willing to give your virtual OS. Do you have just 8GB you want to give over, and don’t want it reaching past that? Choose the fixed-size option, set a size amount in gigabytes, and relax. Or you can choose “dynamically expanding,” which, just like it sounds, allots only a little bit of space at first, but will re-report itself to the virtual system as bigger if the OS needs a bit more space.
If you happen to have multiple SATA hard drives in your system, or a fast external SATA, the How-To Geek recommends placing your virtual machine image (the “guest”) on a separate physical drive from the machine running it (the “host”) for better multi-tasking and performance speed, plus a little less wear on a single hard drive. If not, don’t worry about it too much, and don’t go creating separate partitions for your machines, because you aren’t fooling anybody, least of all your system’s I/O bus.
Booting up
Assuming everything went well, you’ll see your new virtual system in the left-hand pane of the VirtualBox window. Huzzah! But before you hit “start,” let’s hit “Settings” and get it ready to roll the right way. The first category from the left-hand menu, General, lets you change how much base memory (or RAM) and video memory is given over to the virtual machine. Unless you’re planning to enable 3D effects, the default chosen for video memory should be fine, and the 3D acceleration box can remain un-checked. Let’s move down to “CD/DVD-ROM.”
Make sure “Mount CD/DVD Drive” is checked. If you’re going to install your virtual system from a boot CD or DVD, put it in your computer’s drive, then select “Host CD/DVD Drive.” If you’re using a downloaded or custom-made ISO file, select “ISO Image file,” hit the folder icon to the right of the drop-down box, and then hit the “Add” button and browse for the ISO you’re using. Once you’ve added an ISO file to this menu, you can mount it in any virtual machine you’re running at any time—kind of a nice feature for files you need to get at often. Hit “Select” to close this dialog.
Back at the main Settings window, head down to the Audio and/or USB menus and enable them if you’re going to be needing sound or access to thumb/external drives while you’re in your OS-in-a-box. Before we get to the “Shared Folders,” which is pretty darned convenient, let’s boot our system. Hit OK and close out your Settings window, then hit Start back at the main box to get rolling.
Whatever ISO or disc you’ve supplied VirtualBox with will load just like it’s on a machine for the first time, and you’ll go through the same installation process as if you were loading Windows/Linux/whatever on a hard drive for the first time. You’ll get occasional pop-ups from VirtualBox, “notifying” you that a mouse pointer is now in such-and-such a mode, the video display has changed, yada, yada—just hit OK and check the boxes so it doesn’t bother you further. Click through all the usual name/username/password/registration jazz you’re used to … All done? Great. After however many reboots, you’ll arrive at your fresh, clean desktop, which you could start using right away. You might notice, however, that the resolution is limited, the mouse might be jerky, and your sound or USB might not work out of the box. That’s where the Guest Additions come in.
Fine-tuning
Head to the “Devices” menu at the top of the virtual OS window (if you’ve accidentally gotten into full-screen mode, hit right-Control+F to switch out) and choose “Install Guest Additions.” In a virtual Windows, you’ll get a prompt like you were installing software you just downloaded; if not, you can open My Computer, open up the CD drive named “VirtualBox Guest Additions,” and run the auto-run software in there. In a virtual Linux, you may just get a CD or DVD mounted and displayed on the desktop. Each Linux system will be slightly different, but the Tombuntu blog’s instructions for installing VirtualBox Guest Additions in Ubuntu hold mostly true: head to where the ISO is mounted as a CD/DVD drive, then run VBoxLinuxAdditions-x86.run (or the -amd64 version for 64-bit systems). Click through everything, restart your system, and things should be a lot more convenient: Your virtual desktop resizes itself to however big you make its window, the mouse doesn’t get “captured” and require un-locking when you click around, and everything should be a bit smoother.
You’ve got a well-oiled virtual machine at this point, but let’s make it real easy to pass files between your host and guest systems (terminology should be making sense at this point, no?). The VirtualBox makers have described the process for Windows and Linux users in a FAQ post, and I’ve described the virtual-Windows-inside-Linux process in more detail in our guide to running Windows apps seamlessly inside Linux. Giannis Tsakiris has also explained setting up sharing from an XP guest, and the process is much the same for any virtual Windows (although some of the network tools have changed names). Need a bit more? Here’s a quick video guide for a Windows guest system:
Now you’re up and running with a machine you don’t have to feel bad about messing with, or which lets your run the few apps you need in one OS while enjoying the benefits of the one you really want to work in.
Are you an experienced virtual machine user with suggestions on making the process smoother for beginners? Just starting out and need something clarified? Drop your questions and suggestions in the comments.
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Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
Thanks so much for that last part!
i recommend vmware workstation, i feel theres a lot more custom settings to tweak and stuff. Also, i managed to run an OSX virtual machine in windows vista host - if i had more ram i would have kept it! :)
Jamie Roos
@Penguins-R-Us:
*rest
@Penguins-R-Us:
Oops. And all the resT!
@JRobb: I forgot to say, I have three partitions, Macbook HardDisk-hfs journaled/SHARE-hfs/Jaunty-ext4/
The vdi is on SHARE.
Thanks!
JRobb
Hey, I'm running Virtual Box on both my MacOSX Leopard and Jaunty Jackalope partitions on my laptop. Is there a way of accessing the virtual machine on both systems, without messing it up? I took an initial install of Win7(installed using Leopard VirBox) and opened it from Jaunty VirBox. I had to change permissions in order to do that, when I accessed it from Jaunty it was missing a million .dlls. Then I did the same thing, except installed it from Jaunty VirBox(wait, I didn't change any permissions), and leopard vb won't open it. Any help?
JRobb
Hey, I'm running Virtual Box on both my MacOSX Leopard and Jaunty Jackalope partitions on my laptop. Is there a way of accessing the virtual machine on both systems, without messing it up? I took an initial install of Win7(installed using Leopard VirBox) and opened it from Jaunty VirBox. I had to change permissions in order to do that, when I accessed it from Jaunty it was missing a million .dlls. Then I did the same thing, except installed it from Jaunty VirBox(wait, I didn't change any permissions), and leopard vb won't open it. Any help?
JRobb
So far, I have been pretty happy with Microsoft's Virtual PC 2007. Is this better than VPC? Considering it's open source, it probably is.
Is there a way to use VPC machines in VirtualBox? Or maybe convert them?
hello! if a person wants to use Ubuntu.
VirtualBox is better , or use portable Ubuntu ?
(google translator :) )
Alessandro Romano
Are there any ready installed Linux-Virtual-box-harddrives?
VirtualBox runs fast. VMWare will do OSX and it has hundreds of pre made machines for you to try. ESXi by vmware is next on my list.
I run many Virtual machines so that when I am on the phone with someone I can follow along with what I want them to do. I also run crossloop in XP on my Ubuntu machine. I use wine to run thunderbird on my usb key in Linux.
My basic premise is to run a base install of Ubuntu and then create VM machines primarily in virtualbox for my custom tasks. Copy my machines so when they blow up I can reload quickly.@Alessandro Romano:
I run a virtual XPpro box and love it!
ShivaniAeetes
Jamie how did you manage to install mac os x on your vmware machine.
any tutorials
Roket250
I have always loved and used virtual box. I actually use it to run the windows 7 beta because I do not have a spare computer or want to partition. A little tip: When running virtualbox, turn off all ram hogging apps because the virtual OS will run laggy and slowly. Yes that means turning off rainmeter and samurize.
robots199
I've been using Virtual Box for about a week so far (testing different builds of Windows 7) and am really enjoying it. I'll have to come back and read the bits about accessing shared folders as I could never quite get that to work.
OK. sorry if this is a stupid question, but I've never seen anyone address it and I'm curious.
I already have a Vista partition and an Ubuntu partition. I'm wondering if there's a way I can boot up in Ubuntu, and then pull up my pre-existing Vista partition as though it were a Virtual Box.
Any takers?
ogoldberg
@Alessandro Romano: I would load ubuntu. Make a image file of your M$ and you can load that in a VM. If it gets a virus, delete the image
I started using Virtual Box about a year ago. I've tried downloading VMwares free tool, (which used to be great) but they totally messed it up. Couldn't figure out how to get the damn thing running. VBox ftw!
@DanB: thanks!
ogoldberg
Hey, are there anybody encounter the problem "C++ Rumetime error...." when adding a new share folder? It never happened on my computer before ver2.20
SatyavatiPriam
@ogoldberg: You can do it in vmware and virtualbox. Just go to ubuntu forums and as the question
boot existing partition in vmware or virtualbox.
@Attmay: Considering it's free, cross-platform, USB device support(awesome but sometimes don't work),VBox is surely better than VPC. However , I haven't found any solution to use VPC machines in VirtualBox.
YorkCynortas
@robots199: 6MB of ram = RAM hog now?
I've been using Virtual Box on my work lappy as a way to support multiple environments. I.E.I have three separate clients that have separate VPN network clients that connect me to their network. I just bought my first Macbook and plan on installing VirtualBox soon, so I can hopefully have a single device (might i add, superior technology on OS X) to run my entire computing environment. I've used VMWare, MS Virtual PC and MS Virtual Server...nothing compares to how absolutely simple VB was in setting up.
Drew Haege
VirtualBox has come about as far in the ease-of-use department as Ubuntu as a whole has, which is to say light years. Out of the box, my virtualized XP machine on Ubuntu worked perfectly on install with full networking, sound (once I enabled it), and shared folders. Installing the host extensions made it even better, with decent 3d performance and the entirely-too-cool seamless mode. Given that all I need a Windows installation for at this point is a place for Google SketchUp and Earth to play nice together, I couldn't be happier; by consequence, I no longer have a bootable Windows install on my laptop, which makes me *very* happy.
Matt Simmons
@Rose Tyler:
first thing to check for sharing is that your network is set to host interface.
in the main vbox page go to the settings for your guest OS. from there hit up network on the left menu. under "attached to:" select host interface.
that's what kept my tripped up for a while with mine.
m-unit
Just working with vbox today -- I've used vmware sever for a while. Seems like a good product, but the truth of importing old vmware images is not as good as they make it sound. I have yet to import one that ran right.
AndrewJayPollack
@Jamie Roos: vmware "feels" heavy compared to virtualbox, IME.
OTOH, VirtualBox just recently (last 2 months) became stable on my system where I didn't have to reboot weekly to prevent a client lockup.
VMware Workstation $$$
VirtualBox $0 for non-IT supported versions. Probably $$$ for IT supported versions.
Xen rocks if you're running Linux on Linux, not heavy at all.
TheFu
@Attmay: vbox is **sorta** open source. Chances are you won't use the OSS version and therefore won't have USB support in clients.
Also the license for vbox doesn't allow free use in companies unless each user installs and maintains the installation on their own. As soon as IT say, you must install vbox, then it is commercial use and payment is ***required***.
VPC has sucked relative to any other virtualization, IME. VPC has never been ready to run production servers, neither is virtualbox. I trust prod servers to VMware commercial products and Xen.
TheFu
@[www.microsoft.com]
@Jamie Roos: Although VMware workstation is a great piece of software, it's not (legally) free like VirtualBox as well as being open source and cross platform.
UbaidJobo
@Rose Tyler: Inside unix clients, the device is the exact name that you gave it in the vbox interface.
Host Client
C:\Data Data
Turns into this in the /etc/fstab
Data /Data vboxsf rw 0
TheFu
@Alessandro Romano: Why not just load Ubuntu? What other OSes do you need?
My laptop is Vista-64 (the host) and I run VirtualBox with xUbuntu, kbuntu, WinXP, Debian, CentOS clients.
I barely use Vista. It only has enough on it to boot VirtualBox. I use xubuntu daily as my main OS. About 2x a week, I swap over to WinXP to do Visio or view extremely complex documents from customers.
The best thing? About once a week, I shutdown the VMs and back them up to another box. Virtualizing the hardware is fantastic. I can load those image files onto any other machine with virtualbox and be back exactly with my settings and programs in under 2 hours. Laptop gets dropped before a big meeting? Grab a replacement from IT and load my vbox images - I'm back with no more than 7 days of data loss. Really critical data isn't stored on the laptop at all.
TheFu
@UbaidJobo: VMWare Viewer and VMWare Server are free software offereing from VMWare.
I switched over after I got a new Vista computer, set up a Virtual machine in Virtual box for WindowsXP. Hit the power button to start up Virtualbox-BLUE SCREEN. Restarted the host machine, tried again BLUE SCREEN. I gave up on virtual box and used VMWare.
On my computer, over the past year and a half, the only things that have cause BSODs:
-Virtualbox
-Truecrypt (only once, generally it's stable)
-DVDFlick (I don't even know how or why, but every time I tried to import a video, BSOD)
What is the only thing in common between these programs? They are all open source! Yes, that's right, trademark programs from the circle jerk of Open Source software. But we all know that it's only icky proprietary software that ever causes Kernel Panics...
While I can see how Virtualbox and Truecrypt have kernel level drivers, I don't even know how it's possible for DVDflick to BSOD on me. And I'm not alone, other users have experienced this, but the DVDFlick folks just start pointing fingers.
johnsmith1234
@SatyavatiPriam: There are known issues in shared folders on v2.2.0 that they claim are fixed in svn. Workarounds that appear to work for others are:
- reboot the VM or
- add another share or
- reboot the entire machine or
- some combination of these.
TheFu
@[forums.virtualbox.org]
Apparently there's issues with OSX not liking Virtualbox's crappy ACPI implementation.
johnsmith1234
@Attmay: VPC doesn't get as much development work as other virtualization programs, and IIRC, Microsoft has configured Vista to refuse to install as a VPC guest any version other than Business and Ultimate.
Technically VPC doesn't support XP Home, Vista Basic, Vista Home Premium as host operating systems, though I guess it works anyways.
johnsmith1234
VirtualBox works great for quick easy installs, but in a server environment vmware is much better. The networking seems to be easier to manage.
VirtualBox is super easy to install in Windows and Linux though. VMware has been hit or miss for me on Linux.
Angry Numismatist
Can someone care to explain why OSX can't be hackintoshed into a virtual machine?
I have a Dell Mini 9 and one way or another I was going to run OSX, WinXP and a Linux distro on it. I was most likely going to dual-boot OSX and Linux with an XP virtual machine but i'm ultimately curious why OSX can't be hacked into a VM.
@TheFu: Let's say you had backed up VM images when using a Dell laptop. Then the IT department gives you a Sony laptop replacement with a totally different set of drivers. Is it quick to get up and running or do you need to do anything about drivers?
@D0rk: You actually can, at least in VMWare. Just search for a premade VMware Image, there all around the net and on torrent sites. I got it working on my machine but it was slow. I would recommend triple-booting, its not that hard, as i am quad-booting WinXP, Win7, Ubuntu, and Hackint0sh
ckrames1234
I'm looking forward to trying this out. Thanks, Kevin :)
Colby
VBox allows users to do a lot more than implied above. First, if one simply wants to try a new Linux distro to see how it works, there's no need to create a disk--just move on and load the .iso (I guess it's about as fast as creating a USB from .iso with Unetbootin).
There is one problem, however, when using VBox to test run a distro--what works in VBox--say sound--may or may not work when actually running the distro Live or some other way.
Second, installing the VBoxLinuxAdditions can be simple or rather complicated depending on the OS being used--likewise with folder sharing between guest and host; however, just google around and the answer will be found.
Third, the most wonderful aspect of VBox is that it allows one to install a Linux distro, customize it and update it, and then create a new .iso. I really hope everyone tries it.
VMware--if one is going that direction, get the server. VBox virtual machines work with VMware Server which means one can have an https: server accessible from the internet and have an entire virtual machine at one's disposal--the ultimate in clientless portability.
MS Virtual PC--well, it's great,too, but, as I remember, one can install Linux but without any of the additions.
VBox and MS Virtual PC have been made into full portable apps which means it's quite practical to carry around an OS in the pocket. One caveat--the portable versions are not "stealth," but they are "clean" in the sense that when they are shut down there's no trace left on the host machine (and one can be running the portable machine from the USB on a computer that is already running some other OS.
Gosh--there's even more to go, but that's a start.
All quite fun and a super learning experience. Enjoy!
rainbowsky
everytime i try this vm virtaulbox crashes and restarts the pc..any ideas?
fitz622
@Phoshi: I dunno about you, but my Samurize client takes up a good 13.
...given, I have three separate graphs going on at once and I'm constantly pinging Google, but hey!
@robots199: Either way, I think most people, unless you're on an old computer, can spare 13 MB of RAM. If you can't...why are you trying to run a virtual box?
I using RHEL 5.X that is best VM as i seen from last so many year using diff VM seen 2000 so this best easy to config easy to use..
Rajat J Patel
i hav a Question ?
( as i m a newbie in Linux and english is my 2nd Language so plz forgive me for mistakes )
after Installing XP on Ubuntu 8.10-amd64 thru VirtualBox . do i need to install Anti-virus to protect my system or bcoz i m on Linux, Virus Trojans would not harm me ??.
as my banking site only open fm Internet Explorer ( with MS JAVA installed - What The Fuck) no Firefox allowed . i need to make it secure.
plz help
Fringe Agentica
@Fringe Agentica: You need to install antivirus only in Windows XP. Ubuntu won't affected and doesn't need to do anything more.
Nice article! Here are some guides for VirtualBox that I think will be interesting. :)
How to copy and transfer a Virtualbox Virtual Machine .vdi
How to resize a VirtualBox disk partition
How to install Ubuntu Linux on Windows using VirtualBox
A quick tip if you have a VM you use often... (I keep my copy of XP in one): make a launcher that uses the command VBoxManage startvm "name-of-virtual-machine" (replace "name-of-virtual-machine" with your VM, with quotes).
That way you can use it easily without having to keep the main VirtualBox window open.
Oropher8598
That command will be a bit different if you're using VirtualBox on Windows, obviously.
Oropher8598
@Fringe Agentica: Your XP virtual machine is still vulnerable to all the usual threats to XP, so as usual you should have good firewall/antivirus protection at minimum (and preferably anti-spyware as well).
The good news is that anything that does manage to infect the XP VM is extremely unlikely to be able to propogate itself to your Ubuntu install.
Also, if you take a snapshot of your XP VM while it's 'clean', if it ever does get an infection you can easily restore the snapshot.
Oropher8598
@nerdly: Virtualization also virtualizes the hardware seen by the client OS, so YES, with some stipulations.
VirtualBox provides built-in drivers for video, network, disks, etc. You need to select the same drivers from the list on the new machine. For example, you can select either SATA or IDE disk controllers. Be consistent. You can select different network devices - I always choose the Intel Pro/1000 MT regardless of the actual network card on the host. Even for wifi on the host, I still use the Intel Pro/1000 MT VirtualBox driver.
This isn't just virtualbox that does this. Any virtual server does, provided you don't do a hardware pass thru for extra performance.
TheFu
@Sensai: Weird.
[py.staticfire.co.uk]
sorry for the messy shot, it just happens my files still exist - I'm just locked out :(
Anyway, bar on the right. A lot of the usage comes form the MS scripting engine :P
@Angry Numismatist: Completely agree with your assessment.
VMware on linux is a pain.
For Linux on Linux, look at Xen. Maintaining it is almost as easy as `apt-get update; apt-get upgrade` across all the machines. Only when a kernel changes do you need/want to touch the VM configuration files to use the new kernel. Xen isn't perfect either, but the price is good (free) and the stability has been excellent for my company the last 9 months. I run CRM, email/Zimbra, collaboration, VoIP, document management, wiki, DB, blogs, jabber, on the same physical server with 4GB of RAM. I don't think that would be possible on VMware. Xen rocks for us.
TheFu
@Jamie Roos: your favorite "custom settings ... and stuff" notwithstanding, you should keep that comment in mind when the title of the article is not "The Beginner's Guide to..."
mahumphrey
@Oropher8598:
how to take snapshot of XP VM while it's 'clean' !!
Fringe Agentica
@Oropher8598:
thnx for the help Oropher8598
but how to take snapshot of XP VM while it's 'clean' !! . i m newbie in Linux :(
Fringe Agentica
@Phoshi: Old dell computer with 1 gig of ram, thats how
robots199
@Sensai: I am runing a computer with only a gig of ram and need to spare it.
robots199
Nice one.
Blake Robinson
@johnsmith1234: You said yourself: I switched over after I got a new Vista computer, set up a Virtual machine in Virtual box for WindowsXP. Hit the power button to start up Virtualbox-BLUE SCREEN. Restarted the host machine, tried again BLUE SCREEN. I gave up on virtual box and used VMWare.
It's Vista's problem here and not VirtualBox. I've got a Vista box that I've managed to run (forgot how) Mac OS X with VirtualBox with no BSOD.
my virtual xp running gr8 . but its screen size is very small how to view it full screen and then off the full screen .
Fringe Agentica
Wikipedia has an article with a series of tables showing how different VM products compare.
The tables list items such as USB support, cost, guest OS's supported.
Might not answer all questions, but a good source nonetheless.
[en.wikipedia.org]
Getting started is often the hardest part for me with new tech. So while I am a big fan of VMWare products, this tutorial might just be enough to allow me to check out VirtualBox.
LetMeSayThisAboutThat
@robots199: Dude, it sounds like you need more RAM, period.
@TheFu: Why not run Vista as a guest rather than a host. Using it mostly to just be a host makes little sense.
And why run separate VMs of Xubuntu and Kubuntu? They are both the same OS just with different desktops. Just like any other Linux distro, you can run both KDE and GNOME (and/or XFCE.....) in the same OS.
Unless you are doing something really, really unusual, there is no need to have Kubuntu and Xubuntu in different Virtual Machines.
@VirtualBoxImages. You can also find a whole bunch of VDI torrents
CherylIshabunny
@ogoldberg: Vmware offer a tool/wizard that takes an existing Windows installation and converts it to a Virtual Machine. http://www.vmware.com/products/converter/ You'll then be able to run it under just about any vmware 2.x tool - player, server etc
GilmerJahoobies
I used VirtualPC and VMware before I completely moved to the VirtualBox. I just love it!
[www.flickr.com]
Satya
i just tried vm virtualbox, and i tried running ubuntu and win 7..thing is, the pc crashes and reboots b4 doing anything else..and that happens everytime. any ideas?
CliffordWasp
I tried installing it on xp but during the installation, I got a message error saying that the programme didnt have a "logo" that proved that this program was made for Windows.... and it stopped the download, any clues why it made that ?
MelissaMonkey
Not really. You can get it to boot alright, but Windows will notice that it is being booted into a different set of hardware, and lock you out of the OS until you re-activate your copy with Microsoft. To make matters worse, this will carry over to when you boot iy on your real machine too. Just don't do it.
AlbionCypselus
If I used ubuntu as a host and XP in virtual box would there be a need to have anti-virus and firewall software or would a router be enough? tia
UgoZuu
@robots199: Only a GB! How do you LIVE?!
Seriously, man, I had a PC with 224MB of RAM running XP for 3 years, and I never worried about 6 MB of RAM.
Thanks Lifehacker Crew for knocking one more item off my need-to-check-out-this-wicked-cool-tool.../skill-check-list. Guess what I'll be learning about this week?
m.c.cookie
I like to run Window 7 beta in a VirtualBox running on Ubuntu 8.04 that is running in a VMWare box running on a windows XP machine. It makes me feel so powerful.
whats wrong with msoft virtual machine? its easy to use
CiroHeretic
So virtualisation sounds great and all, but how is it performance wise? The only thing keeping me with windows is my gaming (mainly BF2, flight sims, Valve games etc). So if i run virtualbox on ubuntu, with XP inside there, can i expect a performance drop compared to running xp standalone? And do i need to boot up XP inside ubuntu (meaning waiting for it to load), or can it launch programs instantly?
GilroyFeardie
This is great, this finally gives me the initiative to start working on Linux From Scratch. Thanks! =D
saviorx
I find it fascinating that I'm installing 64-bit Windows 7 on a 32-bit 2003 Server. Just to play with 64-bit. My laptop is currently running Win 7, but only 32-bit mode, I just upgraded it to 4GB. And it's interesting that it's not even using a full 3GB! Not a problem, since once I get Win 7 Gold, I'll be installing that puppy on a new 400 GB drive.
I use Windows XP inside Virtualbox every day. I use Ubuntu as my main OS. I develop in Ubuntu and test it on the Windows XP virtual machine, as I have to be on a VPN to access my development environment.
So I use a VPN in Windows and Leave Ubuntu for my development and am able to search the PHP Manual online etc etc. Its good and stable, I have used the same .vdi file to access XP in Elive Linux in another version of virtualbox and have used VirtualBox inside XP to run the same instance of XP, its brilliant!!!
hyperhead
I finally upgraded my Ubuntu PC to an AMD X2 5000+ and 4 GB of Ram recently, I have Virtual Box running very happily on it with Win2K, XP and Vista machines running at the same time while I am VNC'd in testing stuff. Loving it!
kiwiboyus
I finally upgraded my Ubuntu PC to an AMD X2 5000+ and 4 GB of Ram recently, I have Virtual Box running very happily on it with Win2K, XP and Vista machines running at the same time while I am VNC'd in testing stuff. Loving it!
kiwiboyus
@TheFu: Lovely. It's what I'm running into right now. Not going to futz with it right this minute though.
I just started to try this! This is great! Thank you lifehacker for reading my mind...wait is this a good thing? Are you related to google?
BigCanada
@johnsmith1234: The only thing in common is you.
I've had issues with VB now and again however I've never run into something that there wasn't a work around or fix for.
XP, 7, RH, and Fedora 11.. No problems here running on Vista.
Hi everybody,
I have a question. I've an XPS Dell M1530 (Vista inside) and I was thinking tha I could use Virtual box for same "experiments" with Kubuntu.. But I'm not sure that my 2 gb of ram is enought.. I'm wrong?
I didn't found any HW requirments... on the site!
Thanks!
Perikli
Perikli Thanasi
Awesome guide, even for long time VirtualBox users like me.
motang
Is VMWare Workstation as easy to use as this?
tmcaffeine
I've been using VMware Player for my virtualizations. VirtualBox has the advantage of letting you create your own VM from scratch, which is very nice. VMware Player will only work on a pre-existing VM, but it's easy and free to create one using EasyVMX.com or even QEMU.
I found VirtualBox to be generally good to use, but a bit clumsy for mounting and unmounting hardware during a running session. I was also not too happy with its display characteristics when I had a Puppy Linux guest on Windows XP host. These problems may have been overcome by now, and I notice that VirtualBox is very actively and responsively developed.
One thing about VMware Player, though, is that its configuration is set in a plain text file (*.vmx) that is easy to modify and understand. In addition, I can copy a virtual machine's files from one directory to another, give them different names with a few alterations in the .vmx file, and run them without problems. VirtualBox seems to keep closer tabs on a virtual machine's identity, and will complain or not work. Instead, it seems to require some kind of machine-cloning process that I was too impatient to learn.
Still, while I will stay with my VMware setup, I hear a lot of good things about VirtualBox, and very little bad.
DanYHKim
This is just outrageous. All this trouble to run an app or two on some other OS. There is more to be gained, with less busy-work and less slowdown, by installing on OS on a dedicated hdd. Even a partition if you don't have a whole drive to spare. The very process of writing this how-to, must have been a project, and for what? Beyond some kind of geeky tweaky thrill, I see no point to this if you're out to get something done on some app or other. Just get to know Grub or some other bootloader and deal with two drives. Less hair pulling that way...... and most definitely, less software-on-software to suck away computer ram and cpu.
paintbox
@Attmay: VirtualBox recently gained support to read Microsoft's .VHD file format -- you can just build a new machine in VirtualBox and use the .VHD hard disk image.
@johnsmith1234: "IIRC, Microsoft has configured Vista to refuse to install as a VPC guest any version other than Business and Ultimate." Not true, I have installed Home Premium as a VPC guest.
jwagner
@angrykeyboarder: I make do with what I have. I am getting a new mac mini with 4gig of ram soon.
i got problem installing Jaunty Jackalope in virtual box. It will hang on at the blank screen after Jaunty installation restart. Anyone got the same problem as mine?
TianHuat Tan
@MelissaMonkey: I had the same problem (and several others) -- installation on XP has been trouble. I got numerous stern warnings during installation saying the software was not certified and my very life was at risk (I continued). When it got installed the network adapter wouldn't start. When I tried uninstalling, it hung. Now the network adapter is still there, and new installations start and then just go away.
Grumble.
@paintbox: I wrote, and I quote: "by installing on OS on a dedicated hdd." I hate it when I fkkk up. Almost as much as when other people do.
paintbox
@tharrison: Aha -- my problem was that I took some other Lifehacker tip and turned off the DCOM service. Life has improved considerably since I got that started up :-)
@johnsmith1234: which, is why he's asking how to get it working in *vmware*...troll...
I have found it much easier to run GnuCash on my Mac by using Ubuntu in VirtualBox than by using Fink or MacPorts (tried both, neither worked for me).
ZanipoloSterope
If you're only interested in the second reason:
"You want to try out some new software, but would rather not chance it mucking up the pretty decent system you've got right now."
returnil will do that and is easier
jawnz
@Phoshi: I only have a gig of ram as well. Vista runs ssssssssoooooooooooo sssssssllllllllllooooooooooowwwwwwwwww........
For some reason, Ubuntu worked perfectly after I first installed it on my Macbook with VBox. Then I restarted and got this message: "FATAL: Could not read from the boot medium! System halted." Please help.
WinterSoldier
@paintbox: "All this trouble"? Say that again? This is cake compared to partitioning and getting Grub all set. If this is a hobby, then hell yes this makes sense. If this is for work, then hell yes this makes sense. The time saved for developers is amazing. Virtual machines make sense. If you're creating multiple partions and messing around with Grub then you're, well, wasting time. If you're doing something SO IMPORTANT that requires such great computing power then you'll have a dedicated machine. But for most of us, virtual machines will do.
Ryan Jester
Is it possible to get Mac OS X running in Virtual Box?
Ruiz
It's nice to see this great application finally get some recognition. Be sure to read the users guide because sharing folders between the VM and the host isn't that straightforward. If you run Ubuntu as VM don't worry, you can change the resolution, just install the guest additions and tweak a file or two.
QitarahPower
Hmmmm.... i don't have network connectivity. Says it's limited or no connectivity... how do i fix this? I'm running windows XP (host) and Ubuntu (virtual). thanks all.
grem28
I know the answer is probably "no," but I'm gonna ask anyways. I have Mac OS 10.5 and I want to run Windows to play video games not offered on Mac (the newest Call of Duty, for example). Will games be playable when running on a virtual machine?
dfp3050
Works like a charm!
This is my first time using a linux system of any kind (ubuntu)
I love it!
i only gave it about half a gig of memory, and its just as fast as my 4 gig vista setup!
nwo28
so here is a question... i have OSx86 installed on an external drive already. i boot into by plugging in the drive. only prob with hackintosh systems is that not all drivers work. will this work if i point it to an existing install? or do i need to run from an iso installer every time?
works great, but just a small problem
Whenever i run ubuntu (host is vista), it takes up such a small area on my screen, and i cannot expand that screen
any solutions?
nwo28
@dfp3050:
no
thats why you buy pcs
you can run Mac OS on it, or whatever you like
nwo28
@grem28: Seems that the latest version of VirtualBox is buggy, esp. wrt to connecting to internet using DNS (Nat). Rather download and install the older version (2.1.4) until a fix is posted (apparently due in a few days).
FitzgeraldFazoons
thanks this was great! got my windows 7 set up in no time. waiting for the next ubuntu release and then ill try that. thanks again!
kenboy127
One good use of Virtualbox is that you can take snapshot before testing applications, if anything goes wrong, you can "Revert" to the previous state as if nothing happened, that include the changes in the virtual hard disk.
@Anthony Gold: That was meant to be @ugozuu
Anthony Gold
Depends on whether you're allowing the virtual machine access to external files, and how much of a pain it would be for you to throw out and replace the virtual machine if it got infected (though you can take a "snapshot" of a machine state and revert to it, so you're only throwing out changes after the snapshot).
Anthony Gold
In Linux at least you get to play with your windows OS on seamless mode... one screen shows both OSes, yay.
whiskey
I played with VBox a couple months ago and the networking was horrible. The virtual machines could talk to the outside world just fine, but the outside world couldn't get in.
I tried VMware and it just worked. Since vms were a means to an end, and not the end, it wasn't worth the time to figure it out.
e1jones
@angrykeyboarder: Excellent questions.
1: Why Vista as the host? Well, I'm trying to decide whether I should delete it or not. Vista isn't used for anything on my box other than to host VirtualBox VMs.
2: Why run separate VMs for X or KDE versions of Ubuntu?
You are correct, there's no mandated technical requirement to have different flavors of Ubuntu X/KDE/Gnome installed in different VMs. OTOH, VMs are easy - really easy with Vbox, so why not use them where they are useful? Delete them when they aren't needed anymore.
TheFu
@Bryan Price: I see that v2.2.0 was released (got a popup window about it). It should correct this issue. I'll wait until the weekend before upgrading, to let any major issues be found by everyone else.
TheFu
@MelissaMonkey: i just had this same issue on my first try installing VB on an XP machine. Guess I will keep reading to see if there's a fix.
madmathias
I may be too late to get a response on this, but does anyone know if its possible to configure VirtualBox to have your image automatically start upon host reboot?
In other words, I want to run an always on guest and make sure it always starts up when the host does.
Thanks!
Tim Graffam
I have a dual-boot PC that has Ubuntu 9.04 (primary OS) and Win XP. Is it possible to access XP (already installed) from Ubuntu by installing VirtualBox?
onetechorganism
I'm having a bit of fun playing with this and see a world of possibilities opening before me...
as a COMPLETE aside, after setting up an Ubuntu VM as a convenient way to start fiddling with linux, i find (once again) that before i can even get started im stuck mucking about with the terminal trying get myself enough user access to fix what doesnt want to just work. I really want to like linux, but this is a joke.
NonaMagoostus
@FunkyMonkey: You downloaded vmware Player. Player is to a virtual machine as Acrobat is to a PDF. You cannot author a PDF with Reader. In the same fashion, you cannot create a new virtual machine with vmmware Player - you can only run one. You can go to vmware's appliance marketplace, download a free virtual machine and run it with your free vmware player. http://www.vmware.com/appliances/
SarjanaAcarnan