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Virtual Box can be installed in Windows to test out Linux Distributions or in Linux to test out other Linux Distributions and include a Windows version for those applications that you just can’t get in Linux.  You do need to have a copy of the OS that you want to run which is why it is easy to use with free Linux distributions, in order to install Windows you will need a copy of the OS with an available license to install it.  I have seen information regarding Virtual Box for a while, but always thought it sounded like a lot of work to install it to set up other OS’s.  Today, I decided to give it a shot and the installation was quick and easy, I wish I had tried it a long time ago to prevent creating a new partition every time I wanted to test out a new OS. 

One thing that you need to check in order to run 64-bit software is the BIOS Settings.  The Virtual Box has a checkbox for VT-x/AMD-v, you need to enter your BIOS settings before the system starts and look for something related to these terms.  On my HP Pavillion it was Virtualization and it was defaulted to disabled, once I made that change I was able to install 64-bit software within Virtual Box.

You can install Virtual Box directly from the command prompt, but I chose to go straight to the Linux Page on the virtualbox.org website.  Find your distribution, in my case I chose Ubuntu 9.10 – AMD64.  Clicking on the link will open up the Gdebi Package installer and do most of the work.

Now that you have Virtual Box installed, you should also add the repositories to the software sources so you can get any updates.  Open the software sources by selecting System -> Administration -> Software Sources and go to the other software tab.  Click the add button and on the APT line enter:

deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic non-free

Next you need to add the signing key which can be downloaded from the Virtual box page at http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Linux_Downloads.  It’s about half way down the page, right click on it and choose “Save Link As.”  Now go to the Authentication tab in the Software Sources box and select Import Key File.  The file browser will open up and you can go to the place where you saved the link.

If you prefer using the command line you can just enter:

wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- |
sudo apt-key add -<br />

Now you will have Virtual Box installed and get any future updates.

To start Virtual Box, go to Applications -> System Tools -> Sun Virtual Box

The first time you start it you will see the license agreement and be asked to register.  If you have previously registered OpenOffice.org you can use the same password, if not the registration is pretty straight forward.

There are several methods for installing a new OS on Virtual box.  You can find a .vdi file from various sources or searching Google, www.virtualboximages.com has a pretty wide selection, but you have to pay for them.  I prefer to download an ISO file and install it myself rather than using a pre-created vdi image.  The process may take a little longer to download and go through the install process, but I am more comfortable downloading the distribution directly.  You can use a site like www.distrowatch.com to see what is new and popular and visit the site to download it.  In my next post I will provide instructions on installing an OS using an iso file.