Oracle VirtualBox is cool! It’s a great virtualization software which allows anyone to run multiple operating systems (OS) on top of a single host computer. I’ve used it many times in many different situations. Unlike VMware Workstation, VirtualBox is free to use with free support upgrade and very light. It’s perfect!
I recently needed to install Ubuntu 15.04 server as a test machine. I write tutorial based on Ubuntu, CentOS and other operating systems, including Microsoft Windows. All these different operating systems are running off a single computer, my Windows 8 machine.
If it wasn’t VirtualBox or other virtualization software, it wouldn’t have been possible. Virtualization is cool, and if you’re not using it, you should.
This brief tutorial is going to show you how I got Ubuntu 15.04 server installed on top of VirtualBox software. It will also show you how Ubuntu and other operating systems get installed as guest machine within VirtualBox.
To get started, the first thing you’ll want to do is grab your Windows machine and download VirtualBox from the link below. VirtualBox works on other operating systems like Linux and Mac OSX, but this tutorial is only demonstrating how to install and use it in Windows.
VirtualBox download link can be found here : https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
On the download page, you’ll see links for Windows, Mac OSX, Linux and Solaris hosts. Select the link for Window (x86/amd64). Download and run the executable to install VirtualBox software. After installing, if not prompted to download VirtualBox extension pack, go and download it from the same link above for the correct version of VirtualBox installed.
The extension pack enables VirtualBox’s guest machines to function properly and seamlessly integrate with the host machine. So the first thing you do after installing VirtualBox should be installing its extension pack.
When you’re done installing the extension pack, go and download Ubuntu ISO from the web. It’s free. If you have a CD/DVD disc with Ubuntu on it, insert it into your computer drive. This will be the same process for installing other operating systems (Windows, Mac OSX or Linux).
Then open VirtualBox settings and go to Storage.. select Empty controller:IDE (CD/DVD drive) and click the browse button to the right of the screen. From there you can select the ISO image or CD/DVD disc in the drive of your computer.
When it’s selected and added, click OK to close the Windows. Then on the main page, click Start to start up the guest machine.
Doing that will bring up Ubuntu OS installation windows where you can follow the wizard until you’re finished installing. The default answers are mostly OK. If you don’t know, always select the default answer.
After installing the guest machine, restart and login.
That’s it! If you followed Ubuntu installation wizard and installed it correctly, it should boot up after restarting. When you log back in, run the commands below to update the guest machine.
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get autoremove
That’s it! Update the machine, shutdown down and take a snapshot to keep a pristine copy of the image so you can revert back if something bad happens.
Enjoy!