Getting started with VirtualBox
(for Dummies)

2014.12.12. |

Recently, in the article Getting Started with VMware Workstation, I described the basics of working with a VMware virtual machine, hoping to show that working with virtual machines is simple and useful. VMware is good for everyone, but it has one drawback - it is paid and not cheap. Today I want to talk about a free alternative to VMWare - the VirtualBox virtual machine.

As an example, I will use VirtualBox 4.3.20 for Windows and the guest operating system ubuntu-12.04. And I will install and configure all this in the host operating system Window 7.

1. Install the virtual machine VirtualBox 4.3.20 for Windows.

The most convenient way is to download the virtual machine distribution from the official website “www.virtualbox.org”, from the page https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads. There you will find all the latest virtual machine versions for most popular operating systems. I download for the Windows operating system (Figure 1).

The VirtualBox 4.3.20 for Windows distribution is presented in the form of a single executable file, VirtualBox-4.3.20-96997-Win.exe, with a capacity of 105 MB.

After launching the executable file, a window opens informing you about preparations to begin installing the program (Figure 2).

After a few seconds, the installation assistant window will open. To start the installation, click the “Next” button. After which the window for selecting the volume and installation location will open (Figure 3).

By default, you will be prompted to install all components of the virtual machine; I do not recommend unnecessarily disabling the installation of any components, since all of them will be needed even with minimal use of the virtual machine. Also, by default, it will be proposed to install the program in the “Programs Files\Oracle\VirtualBox\” folder and I will not change anything here. To proceed to the next installation stage, click the “Next” button.

The window that opens (Figure 4) will offer basic settings for starting a virtual machine:

Create a shortcut on the desktop;
- create a shortcut in the quick launch panel;
- register Virtual Box file extensions in the operating system.

Of these settings, I will leave the first and third, but this is a matter of taste and habit.

To continue the installation, click “Next”, after which a window will open (Figure 5) warning that the network connection will be disconnected during the installation process. To avoid data loss, it is advisable to ensure that applications using the network connection are running and wait until all data is downloaded from the network.

The network connection will be interrupted for just a few seconds and then automatically restored, so feel free to click the “Yes” button to proceed to the next stage of preparation for installation. The window that opens (Figure 6) informs you that all necessary preparations for installing the program have been made and you can begin installation. To start the installation, click the “Install” button and a window will open in front of you showing the installation process (Figure 7).

During the installation process, the operating system will ask for confirmation of permission to install USB channel controllers for the virtual machine (Figure 8), network adapters (Figure 9) and network services (Figure 10).

For convenient work with a virtual machine, it is desirable to be able to access USB controllers and work with the network, so we agree with the installation of these components.

After the installation is complete, a window will open on the screen informing you about this long-awaited event (Figure 11). Click the “Finish” button to complete the installation and proceed to creating and configuring the virtual machine.

2. Create a virtual machine.

Well, let's start creating a virtual machine. It will be no more difficult than installing VirtualBox. And so, we launch VirtualBox and the main program window opens in front of us (Figure 12).

To create a virtual machine, click the button or select the menu item: “Machine->create” or press the key combination Ctrl+N. In the window that opens (Figure 13), set the name of the virtual system, the type and version of the guest operating system.

My virtual machine will be called "VM". Since I decided to use ubuntu-12.04 as the guest system, the guest system type will be Linux, and the version will be Ubuntu (32 bit). After setting the required parameters, click “Next”.

In the window that opens (Figure 14), select the size of RAM allocated for the virtual machine.

In most cases, the default 512 MB of memory is enough. If you have little RAM, then this size can be reduced, but do not set it too low, as this may affect the performance of the virtual machine. If necessary, if you need to run resource-intensive applications in a virtual machine, the amount of allocated RAM can be increased. After selecting the amount of RAM, click “Next”.

In the next window (Figure 15) you need to select the virtual hard disk with which the virtual machine will work.

There are two options: choose a ready-made one or create a new one. Since we are just starting to work with VirtualBox, we do not have already created virtual hard disks, so we select “Create a new virtual hard disk” and click “Create”.

In the window that opens (Figure 16), first click on the “Hide details” button. In this version of VirtualBox, there is an error in the translation or name of this button, and when you click the “Hide Details” button, a window is displayed with detailed settings for the virtual hard disk being created.

After clicking the “Hide Details” button, a window with advanced hard drive settings opens (Figure 17).

First of all, select the type of virtual hard disk. To ensure compatibility with other virtualization programs, it is possible to create virtual hard disks of several types, for example, VMDK hard disks can be used with VMware virtual machines.

Since the purpose of this article is to give basic skills in working with the VirtualBox virtual machine, I will choose the VDI virtual disk type - a format of hard drives designed to work with VirtualBox virtual machines.

WARNING: Make sure you have enough space on your hard drive to create the virtual hard disk before you start creating it.

To create a virtual female disk, click “Create”. After which a window will open illustrating the process of creating a hard drive (Figure 18). This may take a few minutes.

The created virtual disk is an ordinary file in the host operating system with the name and VDI extension you specified. This file can be moved, copied, transferred to another computer. For example, if you need to work with the same virtual machine at home and in the office, you can transfer the hard drive file to a flash drive and work at home and in the office with the same virtual machine.

After creating the virtual hard disk, a new virtual machine will appear in the main VirtualBox program window, ready for use (Figure 19). All that remains is to install the guest operating system on it.

3. Install the guest operating system.

The installation of the guest operating system will begin automatically after the first start of the virtual machine. And so, we launch the virtual machine by pressing the button. After a few seconds, a window will open (Figure 20), in which you will be asked to specify the path to the boot disk or boot disk image.

I will install the operating system from a boot disk image (ubuntu-12.04-oem-i386.iso) previously downloaded by RuTracker.org. To select a boot disk image, click the button and in the window that opens (Figure 21) select the file ubuntu-12.04-oem-i386.iso, click the “open” button and to start installing the operating system in the window (Figure 20) click the “continue” button.

Immediately after clicking the button, the virtual machine will start (Figure 22) and after a few seconds the installation of the guest operating system will automatically begin. During the installation of the operating system, prompts will appear in front of you to make it easier to work with the virtual machine.

Installing a guest operating system will occur in exactly the same way as when installing this operating system on a real computer or on a VMWare virtual machine. Since I already described the process of installing a similar operating system in the article “Getting started with VMware Workstation”, in the section installing a guest operating system, I will not repeat myself and will immediately move on to describing the basics of working with a virtual machine.

4. Basic operations with a virtual machine.

4.1. Starting a virtual machine

Launch the VirtualBox virtualization program. The main program window will open on the screen (Figure 23).

If on the left side of the window that opens, in the list of available virtual machines, the one you need is not available, then select the menu item:

Car->Add

In the file manager that opens, select the virtual machine you need (file with .vbox resolution) and click the “open” button. The selected virtual machine will appear in the list of available virtual machines on the left side of the main VirtualBox program window.

In the list of virtual machines in the window (Figure 23), select the one you need. I will select a virtual machine named "VM" and start the selected virtual machine using one of the following methods:

By clicking the button at the top of the window, under the “Edit” menu;
- by selecting a menu item: Machine->Run.

After starting the virtual machine, if its state has been saved, the state of the virtual machine will be automatically restored and you will be able to continue working as if you had not turned off the virtual machine. If the state of the virtual machine was not saved, then the installed guest system will start, similar to the operating system starting when the real computer is turned on.

4.2. Pausing the virtual machine.

It is often necessary to temporarily leave the workplace. If at this moment a certain program is running and you cannot miss any important moment during the operation of this program, then VirtualBox provides the ability to temporarily suspend the operation of the virtual machine. To do this, select the menu item: Machine->Suspend, the virtual machine will automatically pause. To resume work, select the menu item again: Machine->Suspend.

Naturally, you can shut down the virtual machine while saving the state, and then start the virtual machine again, but this takes much longer. While pausing takes a fraction of a second, saving the state can take several tens of seconds. If you have to be distracted often, then pausing is much more convenient.

4.3. Shutdown the virtual machine.

There are several ways to shut down a virtual machine:

1. Click the shutdown button in the upper right corner of the window (Figure 24). In the menu that opens (Figure 25), select one of the following items:

- “Save machine state”, this will save the machine state and then shut down the virtual machine. The next time you start the virtual machine, the state will be automatically restored and work will continue as if you had not turned off the virtual machine.

- “Send shutdown signal”, this will open a shutdown window, the appearance of which depends on the operating system used. Using this window, you can shut down the guest operating system normally, and after the guest operating system shuts down, the virtual machine will shut down automatically.

- “Turn off the car.” This action is equivalent to de-energizing a real machine.

Let me draw your attention to the fact that in the version of VirtualBox used in this program, regardless of your choice in the operating system shutdown window, a few seconds after selecting “Send shutdown signal” the virtual machine turns off.

2. Shut down the guest operating system in the normal way provided by the guest operating system, while the virtual machine will automatically shut down after the guest operating system shuts down.

3. Select a menu item: Car ->send Ctrl-Alt-Del, in this case the actions of the virtual machine will be similar to the actions of a real computer when pressing the keyboard keys of the same name, i.e. The task manager will start, the appearance of which depends on the operating system used. Using the task manager, you can shut down the entire guest operating system or individual threads. After the guest operating system shuts down, the virtual machine will automatically shut down.

4. Select a menu item: Machine ->reboot, after which a window will open (Figure 26), warning about the loss of all unsaved data in applications running in the guest operating system if you continue to reboot. If you click the “Reboot” button, then the further actions of the virtual machine will be similar to the actions of a personal computer when you click the “Reboot” button on the system unit.

5. Select the menu item: Machine->shut down, this will open a shutdown window, the appearance of which depends on the operating system used. Using this window, you can shut down the guest operating system normally, and after the guest operating system and system are shut down, the virtual machine will shut down automatically.

Let me draw your attention to the fact that in the version of VirtualBox used in this program, regardless of your choice in the operating system shutdown window, a few seconds after selecting the menu item “Machine->shutdown”, the virtual machine is shutting down.

4.4. Connecting removable devices to a virtual machine.

Let's look at connecting removable devices using the example of connecting and disconnecting a USB drive.

To connect a USB drive, select the menu item: Devices->USB devices and in the list that opens (Figure 27) select the USB device you need. In my case, the USB drive was identified as “Generic Mass Storage”.

After selecting the “Generic Mass Storage” menu item, the USB drive will be connected, as if you had connected a flash drive to a real computer, and in the list (Figure 27) the selected device will be marked with a checkmark. Further actions are determined by the operating system you are using. To disconnect the USB drive, uncheck the checkbox in the same menu. As you can see, everything is very simple.

ATTENTION! When you connect a removable device to a virtual machine, it is disabled in the host operating system, which may result in the loss of unsaved data. Therefore, before connecting a removable device to a virtual machine, make sure that you do not perform any actions with it in the host operating system.

4.5. Switching between host and guest operating systems.

When working in a virtual machine, the keyboard and mouse are “captured”, that is, all keyboard presses or mouse actions are processed by the virtual machine and ignored in the host operating system. In order to switch to working with the host operating system, you must press the “Host” key or key combination. For different versions of virtual machines and depending on their settings, the “Host” key may be different, but the name of the key is displayed in the lower right corner of the virtual machine window (Figure 28).

When you press this key, processing of all events from the keyboard and mouse will again be processed by the host operating system. In order to return to working with the virtual machine, simply click the mouse in an arbitrary place in the ritual machine window.

This is quite enough to start working with a virtual machine, and in the future, if you like the new tool, and you will certainly like it, you can easily explore all its capabilities, and I will try to help you in one of the following articles.

Before moving on to the question of how to install Windows on Virtualbox, you need to find out what Virtualbox actually is and what it is needed for. Everything is very simple - Virtualbox (meaning one of the varieties of VM) is nothing more than software with which you can create one or more virtual computers on a real-life PC, simulating the operation of real personal computers. On a VM you can “upload” an operating system that is different from the one on a real PC.

Virtualbox is free software from Oracle that is ideal for use on your computer at home. Naturally, in order to install Windows 7 on a computer, you first need to install a VM (virtual machine).

How is the VM installed?

• First of all, you will need to download the latest version of Virtualbox and run the executable file.
• Select the installation folder.
• Click the Next button after we have decided on the shortcuts;
• An important point is that during the installation of Virtualbox, the PC will be temporarily disconnected from the Internet. So if at this time you are downloading something at the same time (I strongly do not recommend doing this - the system freezes), then first wait until the process is completed, and only then click Yes.

This is what it looks like

• After installation, Virtualbox starts up by itself.

Direct creation of a VM (virtual machine)

What should I do to install Windows 7?

So, a virtual machine called VM Windows 7 (or any other one you like) is already ready and you can proceed to the settings (accordingly, the Configure button is used).

This is what the menu that opens will look like:

There are a lot of proposed settings, we focus on those that are necessary to install Windows 7.

1. In principle, Windows can be installed from a CD/DVD distribution or from an iso image. What’s most interesting is that loading Windows 7 from an iso image is many times faster. Select the Media section, which contains only a pre-made virtual hard disk, and go through the settings (there are several options).
2. Select the Empty item and in the Drive menu install a real CD/DVD with a distribution kit or iso image.
3. Select the Empty item, left-click on the folder icon to open the menu, click the Select optical disk image command and run it. After this, you need to add an iso image in the window that opens.

Pay attention to the icon in the upper right corner with the image of a folder. It is on this that you will need to click to carry out this operation.

After this, calmly leave the settings window and select the Run button to install Windows 7 itself. What’s most interesting is that installation on Windows 7 real and virtual computers is no different.

That's all you need to know about how to install windows 7 on Virtualbox.

I started talking about what a virtual machine is and what it is needed for.

And now I will tell you about the program for working with virtual machines, how to install and configure it.

There are many different programs for working with virtual machines, the most common are: Oracle VirtualBox, VMWare Player, VirtualPC.

Each option has features, advantages and disadvantages, but VirtualBox absorbs all the advantages of other options, is free and has very flexible configuration and support for many operating systems for virtualization. Of course, there are also disadvantages, but they will be noticed only by professionals who do this and use virtual machines for special needs, using different technologies.

And so in this article I decided to show how to work specifically with VirtualBox, and if someone is interested, you can figure out other options without any problems.

So let's begin...

First of all, download the program Oracle VirtualBox. Go to the website: virtualbox

If you are using a Windows operating system, click on the “x86/amd64” link next to the “VirtualBox 4.3.12 for Windows hosts” line.

If your browser is configured to always prompt you before saving a file, you will receive a window where you need to specify the location where the file will be downloaded. Select a convenient folder for downloading on your computer and click “Save”:

If the browser has a setting that files will be downloaded without a request to the specified folder, then such a window as above will not appear and the file will be downloaded to the folder specified in the settings itself.

The file size is about 100 Megabytes.

Run the downloaded file and the installation of the program will begin. In the first window, click “Next”:

In the next window, you can disable some options and functions that you think will not be used in the program and this will reduce the size of the installed program. For all beginners and those who are not particularly computer savvy, I recommend leaving all options enabled and simply clicking “Next”:

Upon completion of the installation, they offer 3 options: place the icon for launching the program on the desktop; place the icon in the quick launch panel (for operating systems Windows Vista, 7, 8), associate virtual machine files with the VirtualBox program. Enable or disable the first 2 options at your discretion, and I highly recommend enabling the last “Register file association”:

Click “Yes” in the next window. Here we are warned that additional network connections will be established for the virtual machine and the real connection may be interrupted. Nothing bad will happen and you most likely won’t even notice anything:

In the last window before installation, click the “Install” button:

The installation process will begin and approximately towards the end a window will appear where you need to confirm the installation of software for USB (so that real USBs work in the Virtual Machine):

You just need to check the box “Always trust Oracle Corporation software” and click the “Install” button.

After installing the program, there will be a checkmark in the window, which means that the program will launch itself after clicking the “Finish” button. We recommend leaving this checkbox and clicking “Finish”:

In any case, you can launch the program from the desktop icon or from the Start menu > All Programs.

After installing and launching the program, it will look like the image below:

Let's immediately make some program settings. To do this, go to the menu “File” > “Settings”:

The first thing we will do is set a folder for storing virtual machine files. These will be full-fledged systems and will take up enough space. For example, I use a virtual machine with Windows XP for my purposes; it is the fastest of the entire Windows line. So, in this virtual machine I have all the updates installed, Microsoft Office 2010, SafeSerf autosurfing programs and 2 browsers (Mozilla FireFox and Google Chrome) and the folder with the virtual machine already has a size of 8.74 GB. So when choosing a folder to store virtual machines, keep this in mind.

You can set the folder for storing virtual machines on the first “General” tab. There you need to open the list next to the words “Folder for cars” and select “Other”. Next, specify a convenient folder for storing virtual machines. You can, of course, leave the one that is set by default, but it is best to store virtual machines on a disk that is not a system one (the one on which Windows is installed) and on which there is a lot of free space, because the size of virtual machines can be 15 GB or more :

In the settings on the “Updates” tab, make sure that the “Check for updates” checkbox is checked and I advise you to set the check period to “1 month” so that reminders do not come too often. “Stable release versions” should also be marked:

We’re done with the settings here, everything else does not require any changes for normal operation. And if there is any need to change something, you can always turn to the settings.

Now our task is to install and run the virtual machine itself in VirtualBox. Let's get started.

Creating a new virtual hard disk for installing the operating system and configuring it.

Let's look at working with a virtual machine using Windows XP as an example. In most cases, I use this particular system as a virtual one, since it is the most productive, unlike its successors (Windows Vista, 7, 8), and also requires the least resources and takes up the least space on the hard drive. I use Windows 7 as a virtual one only for special purposes, when I need to try something on it.

Of course, to install the system on a virtual machine, you will need the disk itself with the required operating system or an ISO image. You can find them on the Internet in free access on torrent trackers (for example http://pirat.ca/) and others, and can also be found on simple sites / blogs.

So, let's begin the process of preparing a virtual machine for operation using Windows XP as an example:

We find a disk or image with the desired system.

Password for unpacking the archive: 123

Disable your antivirus programs before unpacking, because most of them consider the “help_3.4.exe” file, intended to activate the system, to be a virus. This is not a virus, and antiviruses react this way because it is a hacking program, because it activates the system. And antiviruses consider all hacking programs to be “dangerous”.

To begin installation in VirtualBox, select the “Machine” > “Create” menu:

A window will appear in which you need to specify the name (in the “Name” field) of the virtual machine to be created. Just specify it so that you yourself understand what kind of virtual machine it is (if there are several of them). In the “System Type” list, you can select the type of operating system to be installed accordingly. Since we are installing Windows XP in the example, we leave everything by default. In the “Version” list, select the desired version. In our example, this will again be “Windows XP”. Click “Next”:

At the next stage, you need to select the amount of RAM that will be allocated for the operation of the virtual machine. For simple tasks and testing Windows XP, the recommended volume (default) is 192 MB. For newer systems, the recommended volume will be different. But it’s better not to set it less than recommended; the virtual machine will slow down. If you plan to use a virtual machine to work in a box and run many accounts at the same time, then you should allocate a lot of memory, and at least 2 GB. (2048 MB.). But here it’s worth starting from how much real RAM is installed in your computer. I recommend setting the amount of memory to run the virtual machine equal to half of the real one. For example, if your computer has 8192 MB of RAM (8 GB), you can allocate 4096 MB (4 GB) for the virtual machine. You can do even more, but then monitor the performance of the real operating system in which it works. If it slows down, then reduce the amount of allocated memory. I will show you how to change the volume in the future in subsequent steps.

So, you have selected the required amount of memory. Click the “Next” button:

5. At the next stage, you must select “Create a new virtual hard disk”. Pay attention to the recommended hard drive size for this system (you will need to select it later). Click the “Create” button:

Now we will be asked to select the virtual disk format. This choice will determine what other programs you can use the created virtual hard disk with to create and run virtual machines. The easiest way is to leave the default selection “VDI” (VirtualBox Disk Format), since there are no plans to use the created virtual machine with other programs. Click “Next”:

7. At the next stage, you need to select the type of virtual disk to be created: physical or dynamic. I recommend choosing a dynamic one, since it is often necessary to expand its volume for certain needs, but the physical one does not allow this. So, select “Dynamic virtual hard disk” and click “Next”:

8. Now you need to set the size of the virtual hard disk that will be used to run the virtual machine. Whatever volume you specify, that’s what you’ll see in the virtual machine. As you remember, the recommended volume for our system is 10 GB. When this window appears, this optimal volume will already be set here. If no particularly large programs and files will be used in the system, then 10 GB is quite enough (I work with exactly this volume). Calculate what you will use the system for, what size programs you will install on it, and roughly estimate how much space all this will take up. It’s better to never choose less than 10 GB; it may simply end up not being enough for the system itself for updates and other things.

In the top field you can also specify the name of the virtual disk to be created. By default, it is the same as the name of the virtual machine and I recommend not changing anything. After selecting the disk size, click the “Create” button:

After this, the virtual hard disk will be created, and the virtual machine as a whole will be created, but without the operating system installed on it. You will be returned to the main window of the VirtualBox program. Now let’s immediately go through the settings of the created virtual machine.

9. So, your created virtual machine, without a system yet, will appear in the main window. Select it with the mouse and click the “Settings” button and consider the main useful and necessary settings:

In the first tab “General”, and then on the right in the “Advanced” tab there is a useful option “Remember changes while the VM is running”. If this option is enabled, then after each shutdown of the virtual machine, all changes on it will be saved. If you uncheck this box, then any changes made in the system will not be remembered. Those. you will turn on the virtual machine and each time you will see it in the same state as you launched the previous time. This allows you to 100% protect the system from viruses, and also simply keep the virtual system clean.

I recommend leaving this checkbox in place at the beginning (i.e., so that all changes are saved), performing all the necessary system settings, installing and configuring all the necessary programs on this system, and only then unchecking this checkbox and not being afraid that your virtual machine will be damaged. something will get clogged.

11. Switch to the “System” > “Motherboard” tab. Here you can change the amount of RAM allocated to your virtual machine. If you remember, it was asked at the beginning of the process of creating a virtual machine. I had the volume set to 192 MB and in my example I will not change it.

Now let’s switch to “Processor” in the same window. Set the “CPU Load Limit” to 90%. If you leave it at 100%, the virtual machine will sometimes give an error when starting and will not start.

14. Now let’s look at the last and very important function in the settings of the created virtual machine – “Shared Folders”.

While working with a virtual machine, you will probably need some files from the real system. For example, in both systems I use a file with data about accounts on boxes and their wallets. Simply opening a file in a real system and, if necessary, rewriting logins and passwords manually into a virtual machine when logging into a site takes a very long time, and the clipboard does not work. Those. you can't just copy text from some file on the real system and paste it into the virtual system. For all this there is a special function “Shared Folders”. We need to add a folder from the real system in which we work, and it will be available in our virtual machine.

So, in the virtual machine settings, open the “Shared Folders” tab and then add a new folder by clicking the button on the right (it’s the only one available) with the image of a folder with a plus sign:

In the window that opens, in the “Folder Path” field, click the drop-down list button:

Now the window will display the folder we have selected and its name. Be sure to check the “Auto-connect” checkbox so that the folder is always immediately available when the virtual machine boots. Check the “Read Only” checkbox based on your own needs. If you check this box, you will not be able to write or copy anything from the virtual machine to the added shared folder.

I do not check this box so that I can copy any necessary file from the virtual machine to the real system, or change something from the virtual machine in the file of the real system. After making the settings, click “OK”:

Of course, you can add as many folders as you like to suit your needs and for your convenience. At this stage, the shared folders are configured, but in order for them to work later, you will need to install the special “GuestEdition” add-on from the installed system. It's quick and easy, and we'll return to this after installing the Windows XP virtual operating system.

This is where we looked at the basic and necessary settings. Click “OK” in the main settings window:

Now the most important thing remains - install the operating system on the created virtual hard disk. And that is all. Although installing the operating system is a completely separate issue, I will still show this process using the example of Windows XP. Still, this is part of the topic at hand.

Install VirtualBox easy on the computer. Configuring a virtual machine is more complicated. This article also covers VirtualBox settings.

Installing a VirtualBox virtual machine

To install VirtualBox on Windows 10, download the installer. The installer for the Windows version is universal - you can use it to install VirtualBox on Windows 7, 8, and even XP.

1. Follow this link. or download from the button below. On the website, click on the line "Windows hosts". The installation file will begin downloading.
   
2. Open the downloaded installer. Click "Next".
   
3. In the next menu, the user selects which program components to install. Clicking the button "Browse", you can select the installation location of the program. Button "Disk Usage" shows a window with disk partitions and the space occupied on them. To continue, click "Next".
   
4. Here you need to check or leave empty checkboxes: whether to create a shortcut in the Start menu, on the desktop, or in the Quick Launch panel. The last option is responsible for associating files with certain VirtualBox file permissions.
   
5. This window warns you that your Internet connection may be interrupted during installation due to the installation of network drivers. Click "Yes".
   
6. To begin installation, click "Install".
   
7. Wait for the installation to complete.
   
8. To run the program immediately after installation, without unchecking the only checkbox in this window, click "Finish".
   

Creating a virtual machine

Having installed VirtualBox, it's time to create virtual computers.

1. Launch VirtualBox. In the upper left corner click "Create".
   
2. In the window that opens, name the virtual machine, select the OS (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, etc.) and the version of the selected OS with bit depth (Windows XP x32, Mac OS X 10.6, Ubuntu x64). After setting the virtual PC parameters, click "Further".
   
3. The program automatically selects the amount of RAM. The amount of RAM can be changed.
   
4. The Virtual Machine Manager prompts you to create a virtual drive. Click "Create".
   
5. Leave the storage type unchanged and click "Further".
   
6. The following describes the difference between fixed and dynamic storage. Stop at the one that suits you, click "Further".
   
7. Use the slider or text field to set the drive size. Click "Create".
   

Settings for an existing virtual machine

To configure a virtual PC, click on it in the panel on the left side of the program. Then on the top toolbar click "Tune".

• • First section - "Are common". The “General” section contains four tabs - “Basic”, “Advanced”, “Description” and “Disk Encryption”. In the “Basic” tab you can change the name, type and version of the OS.
    “Advanced” includes the functions of Drag and Drop and the general clipboard, and specifies the location for saving screenshots.
    

    “Description” is a regular text field in which you can describe the virtual machine.

    

    In the “Disk Encryption” tab, virtual encryption is enabled. disk, you can set a password.

    

  • The second settings item is “System”. There are three tabs: “Motherboard”, “Processor”, “Acceleration”. In the “Motherboard” tab you can configure the amount of RAM, disk loading order, chipset, and cursor manipulator. You can connect additional functionality: I/O APIC, EFI and UTC clock.
    In the “Processor” tab, you can configure how many CPUs will work on the virtual motherboard and their load limit. PAE/NX can be connected.
    

    In the “Acceleration” tab, select the type of paravirtualization and hardware visualization.

    

  • The third section is “Display.” “Screen” - here the amount of video memory, monitors and scaling is indicated. You can also enable 3-D and 2-D acceleration.
    Remote access" - here you enable and configure remote access to the virtual machine.
    

    “Video capture” - here you can record from the virtual machine’s screen, configure the frame rate, where the video is saved, quality, bitrate and everything related to capturing video from a virtual machine.

    

  • The fourth section is “Media”. Here the disks are connected to the virtual machine, their attributes are changed, and the connected drives are deleted.
    
  • The fifth section is “Audio”. Here you can turn off and turn on sound playback in the virtual machine. You can select an audio driver, audio controller and enable audio input or audio output separately from each other.
    
  • The sixth section is “Network”. There are four tabs with adapter settings. The settings inside each tab are the same - connection type, adapter type and MAC address.
    
  • The seventh section is “COM port”. The virtual machine supports up to four COM ports, for each of them you can select the number, port mode and path to it on the user storage.
    
  • The eighth section is “USB”. Here you select the USB generation, from the first to the third, you can add USB filters.
    
  • The ninth section, “Shared Folders,” specifies the path to folders that more than one virtual machine has access to.
    
  • The tenth section is “User Interface”. Here you can configure the appearance of the virtual machine.
    
    

Installing software on a computer, especially little-known software, is always associated with a certain risk. The program may contain errors that affect the stability of the system, built-in advertising or tracking modules, and other unwanted elements. In addition, any software leaves traces on the system that may not have the best effect on its operation. As for experiments with Windows, everything is even more risky here, because sometimes even a seemingly insignificant change in registry data or modification of system files can lead to the most unpleasant consequences.

Ask how to avoid them? It’s very simple, use virtualization systems, for example, the VirtualBox virtual machine - a special program that allows you to install, run and test different operating systems in an isolated environment. You can do anything with such virtual computers - install programs on them, configure them, modify system files, work with disks and partitions, in a word, perform any experiments. If the virtual OS is damaged, you can restore it from a snapshot or delete it altogether - this will not have any effect on the host system, that is, the main working system.

Installing VirtualBox for Windows

Perhaps all this may seem complicated to some, but in fact there is nothing in working with Virtualbox that a novice user cannot handle. So how to use VirtualBox? As usual, it all starts with installation. We go to the developer’s website www.oracle.com/virtualization/virtualbox/index.html and download the latest version of the program.

Installing VirtualBox on Windows 7/10 is almost no different from installing most other programs; you just need to follow the instructions of the wizard and do not change anything in its parameters. Upon completion of the procedure, you will receive a ready-made virtualization platform.

Creating and basic configuration of a virtual machine

Like installing VirtualBox, creating and configuring a virtual computer is not particularly difficult; the program automatically selects the best configuration depending on the operating system being installed. User control, however, will not hurt.

Let's create a virtual machine for Windows 10 32-bit as an example. Launch VirtualBox and click the “Create” button on the toolbar. In the window that opens, give the machine a name (can be arbitrary); in the drop-down lists, select the operating system and its version.

At the next stage, you will be asked to specify the amount of RAM allocated to the virtual machine. There are no strict rules regarding the allocated RAM; for 32-bit Windows it is advisable to reserve at least 1 GB of memory, for 64-bit Windows - at least 1.8-2 GB.

At the third stage, a virtual hard disk is created, here we leave everything by default. Click “Create”, select the disk type VDI or VHD.

As for the storage format, it is better to select “Dynamic”, this way you will save time and space on the physical disk, although losing a little in performance.

We set the size of the virtual disk as desired, but not less than specified in the operating system requirements. Click “Create”.

The virtual machine has been created and now you can quickly go through its settings. First of all, however, go to the settings of the VirtualBox program itself and on the “General” tab change the path to the virtual machine storage directory. It is best to allocate a folder for them on drive D, where there is the most space.

Now go to the settings of the created VM and check the following parameters:

• In the “General” section on the “Advanced” tab, change the path to the VM snapshot files if necessary (it is advisable to place them in the folder with the main VM container file). Here you can enable a shared clipboard for the host and virtual machines.
• If you want to install the system in EFI/GPT mode, in the “System” section, be sure to check the “Enable EFI (special OS only)” checkbox.
• To be able to run 3D applications on a virtual machine, in the “Display” section, check the “Enable 3D acceleration” checkbox.

Setting up the Internet and shared folders

If you plan to provide access to the VM to other users of the local physical network, you should select the “Network Bridge” connection type in the VirtualBox network settings. To ensure interaction between different virtual machines, the “Virtual Host Adapter” mode is used; to connect guest operating systems to a single internal network, the “Internal Network” mode is used. There is also a “Universal Driver” connection type, but it is used much less frequently.

Of particular interest are shared folders in VirtualBox, thanks to which the user can exchange any files between the host and virtual machines. You can connect such a directory in the “Shared Folders” section. To do this, click on the plus sign opposite the “Machine Folders” item, select a folder on your hard drive through the overview and connect it, not forgetting to check the “Auto-connect” checkbox.

Starting a VM and installing the operating system

Now you know how to configure VirtualBox and the created VM. Next, let's see how to install the operating system on it. The procedure for installing an OS on Virtualbox is practically no different from installing it on a physical computer, except that instead of a bootable flash drive or DVD, an ISO installation image is used here. Launch the created virtual machine and specify the path to the bootable ISO image with the system in the window that opens.

The standard installation procedure will begin, during which you will be asked to accept the license agreement, partition the disk, and after copying the system files, create a user account.

The guest operating system is installed, but some functions, in particular, shared folders and the clipboard, will not work until you install a special plugin - guest OS additions. In addition, without these add-ons you will not be able to adjust the screen resolution, connect flash drives to the virtual machine, etc. Fortunately, you don’t need to download anything; guest OS add-ons are included with VirtualBox. All you need to do is select the option in the virtual operating system menu Devices – Mount the Guest Additions disk image.

Go to the “This PC” section in the virtual OS, open the disk drive VirtualBox Guest Additions and, if the system does not offer to do this itself, run the executable file VBoxWindowsAdditions.exe.

Install the add-ons as a regular program, accepting the security agreement, and restart the virtual computer.

The guest system is ready for use, all that remains is to check the network operation. We will not dwell in detail on how to set up the Internet in VirtualBox. If you selected NAT, the VM will connect to the Internet automatically. With other types of connections, you will most likely have to tinker a little. Remember the main thing: if the IP address for your main computer is automatically issued by the router, the same settings must be set in the parameters of the virtual system network adapter. If settings are assigned manually, then they must also be assigned manually in the guest system network adapter settings.

Main problems when working with VirtualBox

VirtualBox is a stable and high-quality software product, and if users have to encounter problems during its operation, the causes of the latter are most often the errors of the users themselves. Thus, those who try to launch virtual machines on VirtualBox with Hyper-V active will encounter the error “Failed to open a session for the virtual machine” (code E_FAIL 0x80004005). The reason is the incompatibility of these virtualization platforms. If you are planning to use VirtualBox, please disable Hyper-V and vice versa.

However, the disabled virtualization function in the BIOS can lead to the same error. This will be indicated by the unavailability of hardware virtualization options in the virtual machine settings (VT-x/AMD-V and Nested Paging in the section System - Acceleration). By the way, these options must be enabled even with active virtualization in the BIOS, otherwise the VM will also not start.

A VM crashing into BSOD upon startup is a common problem caused by a lack of physical computer resources allocated to the guest operating system. When creating a virtual machine in VirtualBox, you need to ensure that the allocated resources meet the requirements of the operating system.

The Blue Screen of Death can also be caused by Hyper-V enabled on the host system and a controller type mismatch. If the virtual disk was previously connected to SATA, and then you connected it to IDE, the guest OS will fail with a critical error and crash into BSOD. The issue is resolved by creating a new compatible controller and connecting a container file with the guest system to it.

Accidental deletion of snapshot files by the user may result in the inability to start the VM. You need to delete snapshots correctly - through the “Snapshots” section, otherwise you will have to completely reinstall the guest system. If VirtualBox itself does not start or when you start it you get the error “Cannot access the kernel driver!”, most likely you will have to uninstall the program and then reinstall it.