VirtualBox: Run XP/VISTA/7 in Ubuntu [KARMIC KOALA BIBLE #25]

Here is how to use VirtualBox to install & emulate virtual operating systems to run in Linux. Launch Windows, for example, rather like any other application, with no reboot requirement. Hey, Windows even loads faster than the real thing (not that that's hard.) Or compare alternative operating systems. You can add as many as you like.

Dual or multi booting is all well and good but, for many common tasks, you just need to switch between, say, Karmic and another OS for a few minutes, then go back. What a waste of time restarting your PC, twice, for that.

Cue VirtualBox.

Simply put, this is the bees-knees. Some may be tempted to call it the dog's danglies or the billy bollocks (neither of which, by the way, were Ubuntu editions). It gives second-to-none Windows virtualisation, and is open source. Sun of a gun, it's a Sun Microsystem thing. It supports casing most OS'es.

Let me say more ..

Install and run guest OS apps almost seamlessly. With Windows, boot up, shut down and reboot it in a fraction of the time it takes normally to load or unload within a dual boot system or on its own (because a rack of those pointless services don't get cranked up). With VB - and especially the recently launched VB3 - you may well wonder why on earth anyone would bother with dual boot anymore, or apps such as Wine (which in fairness has been darned handy in the past and, actually, I continue to use too).

I use Virtualbox for running non-Linux apps that to date have no equal, like Photoshop and Camtasia, and for testing Linux web and desktop setups. I tested early Karmic Koala Desktop release candidates on it, for example, before porting later builds to a dedicated partition.

Note the Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) that is installed alongside. That's so that, when we upgrade to a new Ubuntu kernel, VB isn't cocked up by the updated modules.

To install virtualbox, therefore, we do this:-

sudo aptitude install virtualbox-3.0 dkms

The latest version of VirtualBox is 3.0.12. I haven't tried, but you could try using sudo aptitude install virtualbox-3.0.12 dkms rather than sudo aptitude install virtualbox-3.0 dkms. Then again, most likely it's not yet available in Ubuntu's repositories.

sudo usermod -G vboxusers -a username

Installing Guest Operating Systems with Virtualbox

Once installed, open the app and click on "New", and follow the instructions to install your OS, just as you would normally.

F'rinstance, if it's Windows XP, you can use my Perfect Windows PC Install to ensure security.

Installing Guest Additions

Guest Additions improve the performance of the guest OS, in a bunch of ways. Say, you want full screen? Course you do! Install Guest Additions.

To install them open Virtualbox, then one of the guest operating systems. The virtual OS dialogue appears:-

• In the top left menu, goto Devices > Mount CD/DVD-ROM > choose your disc drive
• Goto Devices > Mount CD/DVD-ROM > CD/DVD-ROM Image...
• Up pops the Virtual Media Manager, possibly already displaying the file VBoxGuestAdditions.iso. If not, find it in somewhere like /usr/share/virtualbox/VBoxGuestAdditions.iso
• Select the file and it's mounted on your guest OS, triggering the image's autostart
• Follow the setup procedure

Creating Shared Folders

This is handy, for instance, if you want to create an image in Photoshop (via Virtualbox/Windows), before adding it to your local Linux-based web files.

If your guest Windows system is running:-

• Goto Devices > Shared Folders > press the 'Insert' button or click on the '+' icon
• Type the folder path or browse for it
• There are options for 'read only' and whether you want the share to be permanent or temporary

If the guest OS isn't running:-

Open Virtualbox > click on Settings > click on Shared Folders .. and follow the above procedure

Now, use your guest as normally you would, were it a primary system, and switch back and forth between the host Linux and however many guest systems.