To date, there are many software products that allow you to use virtualization for various operating systems. The most interesting product is the program virtual box, which is published and supported by Oracle Corporation.
This program is licensed under the GNU GPL, which gives you the right to use it absolutely free. The main task of VirtualBox is the virtualization of operating systems, that is, using the program, you create a virtual machine on which you run the OS. In this article, we will take a closer look at installing VirtualBox on the latest Microsoft operating system - Windows 10.
Download and Install VirtualBox on Windows 10
To download VirtualBox, open any installed browser on Windows 10 and go to www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads . You will see the program download page.
At the moment, VirtualBox 5.0.8 is the newest version of the program and is fully compatible with Windows 10. Therefore, feel free to download this version, the link to which is located in the "VirtualBox 5.0.8 for Windows hosts" item. After downloading, run the installation file, after which the program installation window will open.
Press the Next > button and go to the window where you will be given a choice of three installed components:
- Virtualbox USB Support;
- Virtualbox Networking;
- Virtualbox Python 2xSupport.
The first component is responsible for supporting USB devices connected to the virtual computer. The second component is responsible for network support in such a machine, with its help virtual network adapters are created and drivers are installed for the interaction of virtual adapters with physical ones. The third component is installed to support scripts that are created in the Python programming language.
The main task of scripts is to automate tasks in a virtual machine. Also, when you click the Browse button, you can specify the installation location of the executable files.
The next window will allow you to create shortcuts on the desktop and in the start menu, and will also allow you to associate virtual machine files for working in VirtualBox.
Next comes the warning window "Warning Network Interface". This window indicates that additional networking tools for virtual machines should be installed. So feel free to click the Yes button.
Now go to the last installation window and click the Install button.
The process of installing the program on your computer will begin, which will take a couple of minutes.
As soon as the installer completes the installation, a window will appear informing you that the program has been installed. Also in the window there will be a checkmark with the inscription " Start Oracle VM VirtualBox" which will allow you to start VirtualBox after clicking the Finish button.
After all the actions done, the main program window will start, as shown in the image below.
Installing a virtual machine on windows 10
First, you must decide for which operating system the virtual machine is being created. Therefore, to begin with, we will prepare an OS image for installation in our machine. For example, we'll take the free Linux Ubuntu OS image, which can be downloaded from www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop . Let's select a 32 bit Ubuntu image and download it to the local PC drive. The most recent release of Ubuntu is version 15.10.
Now let's deal with such a sore point, how to install a virtual machine on Windows 10. To do this, launch VirtualBox and click the " Create". In the window that appears, create a name for the virtual machine. Select system type Linux, Ubuntu version and proceed to the next step.
Now let's specify the amount of memory allocated for our virtual machine.
The next step is to create a virtual disk, so select "create a new virtual disk", click the Create button and proceed to the next window.
We indicate the type of our hard drive by checking the box "VDI".
Let's create a dynamic hard disk that will fill up as information is written to it, then press the Next button
Let's select the name and the required size of the disk that suits you best and press the Create button.
That's it, our virtual machine has been created, in the settings of which you can change the amount of memory, connect and edit virtual hard drives, edit the configuration and network settings, set the amount of memory for the video adapter, and also set the load options for your processor. This is only a small part of the described settings. By installing VirtualBox, you will be able to understand in more detail all the intricacies of configuring the machine.
The creation of our virtual Linux computer is finished, now you can start it by clicking on the green button " Run". Upon startup, the virtual machine will prompt you to select a boot drive. Select the ubuntu-15.10-desktop-i386.iso boot disk we downloaded earlier and click Continue.
As you already understood, the system will start booting from the image we have chosen.
Next comes the standard installation of the operating system, in which you have to select a hard drive, time zone, keyboard layout, and set the computer name and user. That is, further installation will go as if you are installing Ubuntu on a clean computer.
After installation, you will be able to use the virtual machine as a separate computer and use all the features of the Ubuntu OS that are not available in Windows 10.
In VirtualBox, you can customize the configuration on the installed virtual machine. For example, if your virtual computer does not have enough RAM, then you can quickly increase it by going to the settings of the virtual machine. You can access the setup menu by pressing the button Settings”, having previously selected the virtual machine to be edited.
In the settings menu, you will see ten items:
- General;
- System;
- Display;
- carriers;
- Audio;
- Net;
- COM ports;
- Shared folders;
- User interface.
The first item allows you to change the VM name and operating system type.
The second allows you to change the amount of virtual memory and the boot order of storage media. Also in this item you can edit the processor settings, select the number of cores for your VM and enable support for Intel-VT and AMD-V hardware virtualization technology.
Using the third item, you can change the amount of virtual video adapter memory and enable 3D acceleration.
Paragraph " carriers» makes it possible to configure SATA / IDE storage media and add new ones.
« Audio» allows you to select the type of virtual sound card.
Paragraph " Net"can change the network configuration, the type of network adapter, and also allows you to connect new adapters.
Menu « COM ports» allows you to use the serial COM port and change its settings.
Using the menu " USB» you can turn on the USB controller and select its type, you can also add, delete and edit new USB devices.
Adding a Shared Folder
« Shared folders» make it possible to create shared directories between the VM and the physical system. Using the menu " User Interface» you can customize the interface of the window in which the VM is running.
Creating a shared folder is actually not as easy as we would like, however, here is an accurate and working instruction on how to do it:
Outcome
We hope that the material presented in the article will help you master the methods of operating system virtualization, and you will not have a question about how to install virtualbox on windows 10.
I also want to give some advice before using virtual machines.
Before creating such a machine, make sure that you have enough computer hardware resources to run it. Therefore, to run virtual machines, use a powerful processor that supports Intel-VT and AMD-V hardware virtualization technologies. The amount of RAM on your PC also plays an important role. For example, if you create a virtual machine based on Windows 10, then you will need at least 2048 MB of RAM, which will be allocated from the main system.
In addition, in VirtualBox you can use the Extension Pack plug-in package, which significantly expands the functionality of the program and adds support for new devices.