Virtualize a Linux Operating System with VirtualBox
1. Download and install VirtualBox on your laptop.
2. Download elementary OS from their
website. You will have the option to select 32-bit or 64-bit. If your
computer is newer, go ahead and select the 64-bit version but if your computer
has some age on it, try using the 32-bit version.
3. Open VirtualBox
and click “New” in the top left hand side of the menu.
4. Enter the name for your new operating
system and select the type. Since elementary OS is Linux and more specifically,
a derivative of Ubuntu, I selected Linux and the
64-bit version of Ubuntu.
5. Select the memory size of your new virtual
machine. This will be how much RAM your new virtual machine will use. While you need at least 512MB, I recommend
adding more to it assuming your laptop has plenty of memory to spare. If you allocate too much, the virtual machine
will steal too much away from your host impacting performance of your laptop.
6. Select create a virtual hard drive so you
have a place for your new operating system to go.
7.
Choose the hard drive type. VirtualBox allows you to
select different formats to be compatible with more types of virtualization
software. For our purposes, we are using
the default choice for VirtualBox.
8. You can now choose either Fixed Size or
Dynamically Allocated. A fixed size hard drive will act just like a regular
hard drive. If you run out of space, you
are out of space. However, a dynamically
sized hard drive will grow with you as you need it to. We chose dynamic as it will allow for more
growth.
9. Set the size of your hard drive. If you chose
dynamic, remember it will grow and resize as you need it. If you are using a fixed drive, you will need
to set it to a larger size to be sure you have plenty of room for files.
10. You now have what is essentially a virtual
machine ready for an operating system to be installed on it.
<![if !supportLists]>Ø <![endif]>Install the
Operating System
1. Before you can install your operating
system, you need to tell the virtual machine where the ISO image is of your
operating system. Click on the virtual machine and then select Settings.
2. Go to the Storage Tab and then click
on the icon that looks like a little CD. Select your ISO that you downloaded.
3. Click Start to boot up your new
virtual machine for the first time.
4. The ISO will then load and take you
to the setup process for your version of Linux.
5. Click Install elementary.
6. At the verification screen, click
Continue.
7. Select erase disk and install
elementary and then click Install Now.
8. Select your region and time zone then
click Continue.
9. Select your language and keyboard
layout and click Continue.
10. Setup your username, computer name
and password for your new system.
11. Once the installation is complete,
reboot. Sometimes during this reboot the guest system will hang. If it does just close it and then restart it.
12. Congratulations, you are now running
your very own virtual operating system on top of your existing operating
system.
<![if !supportLists]>Ø <![endif]>Updates and
Guest Additions
1. Before you do anything else, run all
the system updates.
Install Guest Additions. Go to Devices –
Install Guest Additions. Then follow the installation instructions.
<![if !supportLists]>Ø <![endif]>Enjoy Your New
Operating System
Congratulations, you just performed your very
first install and configuration of a guest operating system on your
computer. You can now move files between the two operating systems and
use the vast libraries of software available for Linux.
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