virtualbox dilemma.

Greetings forum,
I have decided to download oracle virtualbox and it is sitting in my downloads folder for the time being.
I have never used this program before ever so i am a little apprehensive about using it.
I understand i can download an ISO of any operating system to run in the virtual box.
This is where i am getting a bit stuck with this,Ive seen on a different website that i can download a 500mb iso of ubuntu os.
When i have downloaded this iso is it simply a case of using the downloaded iso to insert into the virtualbox or does it need to be burned on to cds?
500mb seems a lot of data to be burning to cd.
Im very sorry to trouble you with this as im a complete novice with virtualbox.
Could you help me with this dilemma please?

Kind regards.

 

Virtualbox loads the ISO, no need to burn it

If you want help, watch some youtube videos about it. That may be helpful. For example:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNGM0kv3zYY

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/iso

And once you follow that video and learn how it works, then you do the same with your Linux ISO.

 

Dear TheMozart,

I have never used Linux. Maybe, I should give it a try in a virtual environment.

What is the best Linux distro?

Is is called, "distro"?

Best regards,

KOR!

 

I'm by no means a linux expert, but when I was looking into the same question, I came down to Linux Mint (64-bit):
http://linuxmint.com/download.php

I'm using v12, which works fine on both my laptop and on a virtual vmware machine (running on that laptop inside windows 7 x64). But v13 just came out, so you might as go with that if you go with mint. I think Ubuntu is still the most popular choice (but Mint is supposed to be a slightly friendlier version of it).

 

Dear pajenn,

Many thanks for the info. Downloading now!

Best regards,

KOR!

 

Yes KOR, called distro's. They are listed here:

http://distrowatch.com/

And you can get Linux on a USB stick too if you want to try it:

http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

I began using Linux for the first time in 1992, called Slackware. But these days, the most user friendly ones are probably Mint or Ubuntu

Try Linux on Virtualbox or boot a USB stick with Linux on it., which is best as then GRUB won't need to be installed onto your MBR. Have fun!

 

Dear TheMozart,

Thank you for your help and information.

Best regards,

KOR!

 

Why not VMware Player? Is freeware.

 

500mb fits nicely on one CD, so no problem there. I like to burn the ISO to CD (or DVD if necessary) and let Virtualbox install from the optical drive. I haven't tried pointing Virtualbox at the ISO file on the hard disk, but if that works then it's one less step. The installation wizard is pretty straightforward. Just make sure you dedicate enough ram, video memory, and disk space to the virtual machine (memory can be changed later but disk space cannot). Also, after you boot the OS for the first time install the "Guest Additions".

Hope this helps.

 

Hello,
thank you so much for the very helpful replies here.
This may seem like a stupid question but im going to ask it anyway.
Can a saved macrium reflect image file be used in the virtualbox?
When i purchased my computer i did not receive a windows7 installation disk at all.
Ive made a few complete system back ups using macrium reflect and NTI backup.
Can these back ups be used in the virtualbox?
I know its a silly question to ask but i have no idea how the virtual box works,
Kind regards to all.

 

No questions are dumb. I believe that Paragon Hard Disk Suite allows you to do this. I am not sure about Macrium Reflect. Maybe, the version with HIR might do this.

However, If you install it in virtual box, then Microsoft consider it as a new machine, thus requiring a new Windows Key and Activation. However, if you have WIN 7 Enterprise/Ultimate, then Microsoft allows you to install XP for free in their own virtual machine on your WIN 7.

Best regards,

KOR!

 

Thank you very much.that was very helpful.
All the best to you and kind regards.

 

Actually it's an interesting question, which hadn't occurred to me. Why would you want to run an image of your current system in Virtual Box? There is software which is capable of making a virtual machine from the current OS so yes it can be done, but I'm not sure about doing it from a Macrium Reflect backup.

 

Hello Victek/
I notice you mentioned software that can create a virtual box of my os.besides virtual box which otheres are there please?
is there any way i can virtualise my host system all of the time?

regards

 

Personal choice. But in my understanding, with VMware you can only use OS's that are already created for VMware, but with VirtualBox you can install W8 etc and any Linux etc distro that you want.

 

I believe something like paragon virtualization manager allows you to create a virtual environment of your host system which can then be used in a virtual machine and even migrated to other systems.

Your other option is something like returnil which allows you to easily virtualize your current computer session and then a simple reboot will restore your computer to how it was before.

Virtualbox and VMware player are two fun pieces of software to use. Download whatever distro you like then simply run the iso in a virtual machine. Running the iso from hard disk means loading and installing is extremely fast and you can easily install multiple distros in no time at all. You can also run multiple operating systems all at the same time, on modern hardware i can easily run 3 or 4 os's simultaneously.

 

Thanks for confirming this. Next time I won't bother burning a DVD

Yes, it can be done but what do you do with them?
.

 

Beethoven:
Probably this would help, although I havent tried this
And this one for converting physical machine to vm(for vmware only)

I converted my turned on Windows physical machine to vm and turned it on and it was crazy slow. Had to boot the vm to safe mode and remove and turn off lots of stuff. Kept it aside for now

 

Thank you so much for this.im still weary about trying this.i have 2 full macrium reflect images on my external hard drive.
Im still unsure if it is safe to use.

Thanks again.

 

Nothing of great importance to be honest lol. I usually just play around with them and network them all together. I often use a vm for visiting the dark side of the web, or when i'm in the mood to try and hack and modify linux or something. Recently i've been trying them out to see how they'd perform as a dedicated gaming server.

 

VMware Player not have the hability to take snapshots, only Workstation (Paid). There is VMware Server.. but:

http://www.vmware.com/products/server/overview.html

"In January 2010, VMware announced the End of Support for VMware Server with support ending on June 30, 2011. Users are free to continue using VMware Server but are recommended to migrate to another VMware offering to gain the benefits of newer technologies."

 

A virtual hardware firewall and/or router running in front of a virtual (or real) operating system or serving as the virtual equivalents for a real (home) network.
Could be quite useful on a laptop when connecting to hot spots or networks you don't know.