Installing and configuring virtualbox. Installing Windows on a VirtualBox virtual machine
Using the free VirtualBox program, you can create on your computer virtual machine with a different guest operating system. The VirtualBox virtualization program creates virtual machines into which you can install different operating systems: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, etc.
In Virtual Box, a virtual computer with a different (or other) operating system will be installed on your computer, which will not in any way affect the main OS installed on your computer. With this program, you can simultaneously work in two different operating systems, for example, Windows and Linux Mint, or in Windows 10 and Windows 8.1.
In such a virtual operating system it will be possible to perform various actions: learn to work in a new OS, test new Windows versions, try unfamiliar programs, run outdated applications that no longer work on your system, etc. You can do whatever you want with the virtual (guest) operating system without any risk to the host system.
To do this, you will not need to create new partitions on your hard drive and install another OS there. VirtualBox will do everything you need to create a virtual machine.
More information about installing the VirtualBox program and add-on package can be found here. Next, we will look at the process of creating a virtual machine and configuring it. The VirtualBox program is completely Russified.
Creating a virtual machine in VirtualBox
To start the process of creating a virtual machine, in the main window of the VirtualBox program, click on the “Create” button.
In the “Specify OS name and type” window, you will need to enter the name of the new virtual machine, then select the type and version operating system. The created virtual machine will be identified by this name, so I recommend making the names clear.
In this case, I have Windows 10 installed on my real computer, and I want to install Windows 7 on the virtual machine. In order to avoid confusion between versions (you can install several identical systems from different editions), I gave the guest system a detailed, friendly name.
It will be possible to install the virtual machine in expert mode (all settings will be grouped in several windows), or in detailed mode, which we will now look at.
VirtualBox recommends a minimum volume random access memory for this virtual machine. You can choose the required amount of memory yourself. Here you should adhere to the following recommendation: you should not exceed the size of the allocated memory, which is marked on the scale green so that in the end there are no problems with the operation of the created virtual machine.
Virtual memory is the portion of your computer's physical memory that will be used in the virtual machine. Virtual memory is allocated from the host operating system to allow the guest operating system to run on a virtual machine. The allocated RAM will only be used when the virtual machine is running.
My computer has 8 GB of RAM, so I can allocate half the capacity to the virtual machine - 4 GB. You can select your RAM size by moving the cursor on the scale, or enter the memory size as a numerical value in MB. In the future, if necessary, you can change the amount of allocated RAM in the settings of this virtual machine.
The next step will be to create a virtual HDD, since the virtual machine will not be able to work without this hard drive. A virtual hard disk is a special type of file that is stored in file system Your computer's OS.
This window offers three options to choose from:
- Do not mount the virtual hard disk - you can mount the virtual hard disk after creating the virtual machine
- Create new hard disk - a new virtual hard disk will be created
- Use an existing virtual hard disk - a previously created virtual hard disk will be connected to the virtual machine
In the next window you will need to select the type of virtual hard disk. You can choose the following disk formats (virtual containers):
- VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) - VirtualBox disk format
- VMDK (Virtual Machine Disk) - VMware disk format
- VHD (Virtual Hard Disk) - Microsoft disk format
- HDD (Parallels Hard Disk) - Parallels disk format
- QED (QEMU enhanced disk) - format for QEMU/KVM
- QCOW (QEMU Copy-On-Write) - format for QEMU (qcow2)
If you only use the VirtualBox program to create and run virtual machines, then you can leave the default choice: VDI format. Discs of this format will be opened in the Virtual Box program.
The VMDK format is suitable if you use a VMware Player virtual machine, or VMware Workstation. By creating a virtual machine in VirtualBox and selecting the VMDK virtual disk type, you can then launch this virtual machine with the operating system installed, not only in VirtualBox, but also in another VMware program.
After selecting the disk type, click on the “Next” button.
A dynamic hard disk file will take up little space on your computer's physical hard drive. As it fills with data, it will increase in size to its maximum capacity.
A fixed hard disk file will immediately occupy the entire space of the virtual hard disk.
In the new window you will be asked to specify the name and size of the virtual hard disk file.
In the name field you will need to write the name of the virtual hard disk. I always provide clear names for virtual machines so that I can easily distinguish virtual container files from each other.
By default, all virtual machine files will be saved in the user profile on the C drive of your real computer. I recommend doing it differently: creating a special folder in another (non-system) partition of your computer’s disk (mine is called Virtual Machines) in which you can store virtual machine files.
If the virtual machine files are stored in the user profile on the system disk, then if the operating system is reinstalled, the previously created virtual machines will be lost. You will need to re-create the virtual machine and then install the operating system there.
Files saved on another hard section disk, or on another hard drive, in case of reinstallation of the system will be saved. After installing a virtualization program (VirtualBox or VMware) on your computer, you will only need to connect and launch previously created virtual machines with operating systems.
To select a storage folder for virtual machines, use the icon with a folder button. In the Explorer window, select the drive and folder to store the virtual machine data.
Then use the scale to indicate the size of the virtual hard disk in megabytes. To do this, drag the slider to the desired location that suits your needs. After selecting the settings, click on the “Create” button.
The virtual machine has been created. After this, the main window “Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager” will open with the newly created virtual machine. On the right side of the window you can see some parameters of the virtual machine.
Now you will need to make additional settings before installing the operating system on the virtual machine.
Virtual machine settings in VirtualBox
In the main VirtualBox window, highlight the virtual machine (if there are several of them), and then click on the “Configure” button to enter the settings for that specific virtual machine.
In the “General” section, in the “Advanced” tab, you will need to select a storage folder for system snapshots (a very useful feature). By default, system snapshots will be saved in the “Snapshost” folder in the user profile on the system drive “C”. You can create a folder with this name in the place where you store the files of this virtual machine, so as not to lose snapshots when reinstalling the system.
You will also need to select a shared clipboard in order to exchange data between the host real operating system and the guest virtual OS. There are several options to choose from:
- Off - default setting
- From main to guest OS - you can move information from the main system to the virtual OS
- From guest to host OS - you can move data from virtual OS to host OS
- Bidirectional - data can be exchanged in both directions
It makes sense to choose a bidirectional shared clipboard for the greatest convenience when working.
In the “System” section, in the “Motherboard” tab, you can configure the boot order of the virtual machine. Use the up and down arrow buttons to select the boot sequence for the virtual machine. It makes sense to make the optical disk the first boot device; the floppy disk can be unchecked altogether due to the irrelevance of this method.
When you select an optical disk as the first boot device, the system can boot as if from a real disk drive on your computer, where it will be inserted boot disk DVD with the operating system, and from a disk image, for example, in ISO format, which is physically located somewhere on the disk of your computer.
After applying the new settings, do not forget to click on the “OK” button.
In the “Processor” tab, you can enable additional cores if your computer’s processor is multi-core.
In the “Display” section, in the “Screen” tab, you can select the amount of video memory that the virtual machine will use. Here you can enable 2D (required) and 3D (optional) acceleration.
In the “Video Capture” tab, you can enable the video capture function in the virtual machine.
In the “Media” section you will need to select a virtual drive. The virtual disk file is already displayed here, but it is almost empty, since the operating system has not yet been installed. Therefore, to install the system you will need to select an ISO image file with the operating system.
Click on “Empty”, on the right side of the window opposite the item “ Optical drive» Click on the button with the disk image, and then in the context menu select “Select optical disk image...”. Use Explorer to find the operating system image you need on your computer.
In the “Audio”, “Network”, “COM Ports”, “USB” sections you can leave the default settings; these settings largely depend on the hardware of your computer.
There is nothing in the Shared Folders section yet because the guest system has not yet been installed. For operation shared folders You will need to install Additions for the Guest OS (VirtualBox Guest Additions). You can read more about installing the system in a virtual machine and installing add-ons here.
If necessary, you can change the settings for a specific virtual machine to others. All settings are individual for each virtual machine.
Removing a virtual machine in VirtualBox
To delete a virtual machine, in the main Virtual Box window you will need to enter the “Machine” menu, and then select context menu"Delete".
After uninstallation, all files and data of the virtual machine will be deleted from your computer.
Conclusion
IN free program VirtualBox, you can create a new one, or connect a ready-made virtual machine, apply the necessary settings for more convenient use of the virtual machine.
We looked at what a virtual machine is, why it is needed, and also briefly discussed the three most popular virtual machines VMware, VirtualBox and Microsoft Virtual PC. Based on a combination of factors (free, convenient functionality), I prefer VirtualBox, and today I will tell you how to install this free virtual machine on your computer.
You can download VirtualBox in two ways:
- Click on the download link:
- Go to the official website of the VirtualBox program and download the program there
If you chose the second method, then after going to the official website you need to select the following menu to download the program:
After downloading, we run the installation file (for me it is called VirtualBox-4.3.22-98236-Win.exe, since at the time of writing this article the latest version of VirtualBox was 4.3.22), we see the welcome window in English. There is no need to worry, even if your knowledge of English is not very good, because in fact, after installing the virtual machine, the program language will automatically change to Russian. Click “Next”:
In the next window you can change the installation composition and the program path, but if this is not necessary, then we do not change anything, just click the “Next” button:
On the next window, I unchecked the second item so that the program would not add a shortcut to the panel for me quick launch, since the program shortcut on the desktop is quite enough for me (the checkbox is in the first paragraph). We also leave the third point, since it is responsible for ensuring that the image of our new virtual machine is opened by this particular program.
In the next window, the program warns us that during its installation, all network connections on our computer will be temporarily disabled and then restarted again (including possibly disconnecting your Internet connection for a few seconds), and asks whether to start the installation right now. We agree and click “Yes”.
In the next window, click Install and watch how the program is installed:
During the installation process, Windows may ask for permission to install USB controllers and network adapter, we agree that our virtual machine can see our USB flash drives, and we can also connect it to the Internet.
After the installation is completed, we will be prompted to immediately launch the virtual machine (if we leave a checkmark in the item indicated in the screenshot below). If you do not plan to start the virtual machine right now, you can uncheck it, but for now we leave the checkbox and click “Finish”:
After this, an Oracle VM VirtualBox shortcut will appear on your desktop, with which you can launch the installed virtual machine:
Pay attention to the running VirtualBox program window - the virtual machine menu is already in Russian, as I said above:
The program warns us that we have not yet created a single virtual machine. We'll talk about how to create and configure your first virtual one in.
Post navigationWhen you select a virtual machine from the list in the Manager window, you will see a summary of the settings for that virtual machine.
By clicking the " Settings» in the toolbar at the top, you will see a detailed window in which you can configure many properties of the selected virtual machine. But be careful: although you can change all the virtual machine settings after installing the guest operating system, some changes may prevent the guest operating system from working properly if done after installation.
Note: Button " Settings" is disabled when the virtual machine is in " running" or " saved» condition. This is simply because in the settings dialog you can change the basic characteristics of the virtual computer created for your guest operating system, and that operating system may not cope very well when, for example, half of its memory is gone from under its feet. As a result, if the button Settings"is disabled, please shut down your current virtual machine first, and then you can make your desired settings.
VirtualBox provides many settings that you can change for your virtual machine. Even more options are available with the VirtualBox command line interface.
General settings
In the window " Settings" In chapter " Are common» You can configure the most fundamental aspects of the virtual machine, such as memory and required hardware. There are four tabs: " Basic», « Additionally», « Description" And " Encryption».
Basic Tab
On the " Basic" categories " Are common» you can find the following settings:
This is the name with which the virtual machine appears in the list of virtual machines in the main window. VirtualBox also saves virtual machine configuration files under this name. By changing the name, VirtualBox also renames these files. As a result, you can only use characters that are allowed in file names on your host operating system.
Note that internally, VirtualBox uses unique identifiers (UUIDs) to identify virtual machines. You can display them using VBoxManage.
Operating system/version
Type the guest operating system that is (or will be) installed in the virtual machine. This is the same setting that was specified in the New Virtual Machine wizard, as described in the " " section.
While in the Create a New Virtual Machine wizard, the default settings for the newly created virtual machine depend on the operating system type you select, further changing the type does not affect the virtual machine settings; This means that the settings in this panel are purely informational and decorative.
Advanced Tab
Photo folder
By default, VirtualBox saves snapshot data along with other VirtualBox configuration data. With this setting, you can specify any other folder for each virtual machine.
Shared clipboard
Here you can choose whether to share with your host general access to the guest operating system buffer. If you select " Bidirectional", then VirtualBox will always ensure that both clipboards contain the same data. If you select " From host to guest OS" or " From guest to host OS", then VirtualBox will copy clipboard data in one direction only.
To share the clipboard, you must install the VirtualBox Guest Additions. Otherwise, this setting has no effect.
Shared clipboard is disabled by default. This setting can be changed at any time using the menu item " Shared clipboard" on the menu " Devices» virtual machine.
Function Drag and Drop
This option allows you to enable drag-and-drop support: select an object (such as a file) from the host or guest and directly copy or open it on the guest or host machine. Multiple drag-and-drop modes per virtual machine allow you to restrict access in any direction.
For drag and drop to work, Guest Additions must be installed on the guest computer.
Note: Drag and drop is disabled by default. This setting can be changed at any time using the menu item " Drag and Drop" on the menu " Devices» virtual machine.
Description Tab
Here you can enter any description of your virtual machine if you wish. This does not affect the functionality of the computer, but you may find this space useful to note things like virtual machine configuration and software, which was installed in it.
To insert a line break in the description text field, click Shift+Enter.
Encryption Tab
If the checkbox is checked, this virtual machine will be encrypted. You need to select the algorithm with which the virtual machine disks will be encrypted, and also enter and then confirm the encryption password.
System Settings
Group " System» unites various parameters, associated with the underlying hardware that is presented to the virtual machine.
Note: Because the Microsoft Windows activation mechanism is sensitive to changes in hardware If you change hardware settings for a Windows guest, some of those changes may trigger an activation request from Microsoft.
Motherboard Tab
On the " Motherboard» you can influence virtual hardware that is usually located on the motherboard of a real computer.
Main memory
This option sets the amount of RAM that is allocated and transferred to the virtual machine when it starts. The specified amount of memory for the duration of the virtual machine operation will be taken from the physical computer and transferred to the virtual one. Consequently, when the virtual machine is running, the amount of RAM on your main computer will decrease by this amount. This is the same setting that was specified in the New Virtual Machine wizard, as described in the " " section above.
Changing the memory should not cause problems in the guest machine, of course, unless you set the value too low at which it will not boot.
Loading order
This setting determines the order in which the guest operating system will attempt to boot from different virtual boot devices. Likewise BIOS setup real PC, VirtualBox can tell the guest OS that it is running from a virtual floppy disk, a virtual CD/DVD drive, a virtual hard disk (each determined by other VM settings), the network, or none of these.
If you select " Net", the virtual machine will attempt to boot from the network via the PXE mechanism, which must be configured.
Chipset
Here you can choose which chipset will be presented to the virtual machine. Before VirtualBox 4.0, PIIX3 was the only option available. For modern guest operating systems such as Mac OS X, this older chipset is no longer supported. As a result, VirtualBox 4.0 introduced emulation of the more modern ICH9 chipset, which supports PCI Express, three PCI buses, PCI-to-PCI bridges and messages with interrupt signals (MSI). This allows modern operating systems to address more PCI devices and no longer requires IRQ exchange. Using the ICH9 chipset, you can also configure up to 36 network cards (up to 8 network adapters with PIIX3). Please note that ICH9 support is experimental and not recommended for guest operating systems that do not require it.
Cursor manipulator
The default virtual pointing devices for ancient guests is the traditional PS/2 mouse. If this option is set to USB tablet VirtualBox tells the virtual machine that a USB tablet device is present and passes mouse events to the virtual machine using that device. Third setting - USB Multi-Touch Tablet, which is suitable for recent Windows guests.
Using a virtual USB tablet has the advantage that movements are reported in absolute coordinates (instead of relative position changes), allowing VirtualBox to translate mouse events over the VM window into tablet events without having to "capture" the mouse into the guest as described in the "" section. This makes using the VM less tedious even if the Guest Additions are not installed.
Enable APIC I/O APIC
Advanced Programmable Interrupt Controllers (APICs) are the newest x86 hardware feature that have replaced the older style Programmable Interrupt Controllers (POICs) in recent years. With the I/O APIC, operating systems can use more than 16 interrupt requests (IRQs) and therefore avoid IRQ exchanges to improve reliability.
Note: Enabling I/O APIC is required for 64-bit guest operating systems, especially Windows Vista; this is also necessary if you want to use more than one virtual processor in a virtual machine.
However, software support for APIC I/O was unreliable with some non-Windows operating systems. Additionally, using I/O APIC slightly increases the virtualization overhead and therefore slows down the guest OS slightly.
Warning: All operating rooms Windows systems Starting with Windows 2000, different kernels are installed depending on whether APIC I/O is available. As with ACPI, APIC I/O APEC should not be disabled after installing a Windows guest OS. Enabling it after installation will have no effect.
Enable EFI
This allows the use of the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), which replaces the legacy BIOS and can be useful for some advanced use cases.
Clock in UTC system
If checked, your host's clock will display Universal Time Coordination (UTC) time, otherwise it will display the host's local time. Unix-like systems usually follow the UTC system.
If checked, VirtualBox will tell the guest the system time in UTC instead of the local (host) time. This affects the operation of the virtual real-time clock (RTC) and can be useful for Unix-like guest operating systems that typically expect the hardware clock to be set to UTC.
Additionally, you can disable the Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI), which VirtualBox presents to the guest operating system by default. ACPI is the current industry standard that allows operating systems to recognize hardware, configure motherboards and other devices and manage them. Since all modern PCs include this feature, and Windows and Linux have supported it for many years, it is also enabled by default in VirtualBox. It can only be disabled on the command line.
Warning Note: All Windows operating systems since Windows 2000 install different kernels depending on whether ACPI is available, so ACPI cannot be disabled after installing a Windows guest OS. Enabling it after installation will have no effect.
Processor Tab
On the " CPU» you can specify how many virtual processor cores guest operating systems should see. Since version 3.0, VirtualBox supports symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) and can present up to 32 virtual processor cores per virtual machine.
However, you should not configure virtual machines to use more CPU cores than you physically have (real cores, no hyperthreads).
In this tab you can also set " CPU load limit" This setting limits the time the host processor spends emulating a virtual processor. The default value of 100% means there are no restrictions. The 50% setting means that one virtual processor can use up to 50% of one CPU. Please note that the runtime limitation virtual processors may cause problems with guests.
In addition, the parameter " Enable PAE/NX» determines whether the PAE and NX capabilities of the CPU will reside in the virtual machine. PAE stands for Physical Address Extension. Typically, if enabled and supported by the operating system, then even a 32-bit x86 processor can access more than 4GB of RAM. This is made possible by adding 4 more bits to the memory addresses, so that with 36 bits up to 64 GB can be used. Some operating systems (for example, Ubuntu Server) require PAE support from the CPU and cannot work in a virtual machine without it.
If you are using a 32-bit Kali Linux image, enable PAE/NX or the Kali image will not boot because the default kernel used by Kali for i386 (“686-pae”) is compiled in a way that requires “physical address extension” support ( PAE) in the CPU.
With virtual machines running on modern server operating systems, VirtualBox also supports CPU hot-plugging.
Acceleration tab
On this page you can determine whether VirtualBox should use hardware virtualization extensions that your host processor can support. This applies to most processors built after 2006.
You can choose for each virtual machine individually whether VirtualBox should use software or hardware virtualization.
In most cases the default settings will be fine; VirtualBox will choose reasonable defaults based on the operating system you chose when creating the virtual machine. However, in some situations you may want to change these preconfigured defaults.
If your host processor supports nested paging (AMD-V) or EPT (Intel VT-x) features, you can expect significant performance gains by enabling nested paging in addition to hardware virtualization.
Since version 5.0, VirtualBox provides paravirtualization interfaces to improve the accuracy and performance of guest operating systems.
Display (Display Settings)
Screen Tab
Video memory size
This sets the size of memory provided by the virtual graphics card available to the guest, in MB. As in main memory, the specified amount will be allocated from the host's resident memory. Based on the amount of video memory, more may be available high resolutions and color depth.
The GUI will show a warning if the video memory is too low to switch the virtual machine to full screen mode. The minimum value depends on the number of virtual monitors, the screen resolution and color depth of the host display, and whether 3D acceleration and 2D video acceleration are enabled. Rough estimate: (color depth / 8) x vertical pixels x horizontal pixels x number of screens = number of bytes. As stated above, additional memory may be required for any enabled display acceleration setting.
Number of monitors
With this setting, VirtualBox can provide more than one virtual monitor to a virtual machine. If the guest operating system (such as Windows) supports multiple connected monitors, VirtualBox can pretend that multiple virtual monitors are present. Up to 8 such virtual monitors are supported.
The output of multiple monitors will be displayed on the host in multiple VM windows that run side by side.
However, in full screen And screen integration mode Available physical monitors connected to the host will be used. As a result, to work in full screen mode and multi-monitor display integration mode, you will need at least as many physical monitors as you have virtual monitors configured, or VirtualBox will report an error. You can configure communication between guest and host monitors using the view menu by pressing the combination "Host" + "HOME" when you are in full screen or screen integration mode.
Enable 3D acceleration
If the Guest Additions are installed on the virtual machine, you can choose here whether the guest should support accelerated 3D graphics.
Enable 2D video acceleration
If you have the Guest Additions installed on your Microsoft Windows virtual machine, you can choose here whether the guest should support accelerated 2D graphics.
Remote Access Tab
Remote display
On the " Remote access"If you have the VirtualBox Virtual Display Extension (VRDE) installed, you can enable the VRDP server built into VirtualBox. This allows you to connect remotely to the virtual machine console using any standard RDP viewer such as mstsc.exe, which comes with Microsoft Windows. IN Linux systems and Solaris you can use the standard program rdesktop open source.
Video Capture Tab
On the " Video Capture» you can enable video capture for this virtual machine. Please note that this feature can also be enabled/disabled while the virtual machine is running.
Media Settings
On a real PC, so-called "storage controllers" connect the physical drives to the rest of the computer. Similarly, VirtualBox provides virtual machine virtual controllers per virtual machine. Below each controller, the virtual devices (hard drives, CD/DVDs, or floppy drives) connected to the controller are displayed.
Note: If you used the wizard " Create a virtual machine" to create a machine, you will usually see something like the following:
Depending on the type of guest operating system you chose when creating the virtual machine, the typical layout of storage devices in a new virtual machine is as follows:
- You will see the controller IDE, to which the virtual CD/DVD drive is connected (to the port " secondary master» IDE controller).
- You will also see the controller SATA, which is a more modern type of storage controller to increase bandwidth hard drive to which virtual hard disks are attached. Initially you will usually have one such virtual disk, but may have more than one, each represented by a disk image file (in this case a VDI file).
If you created your virtual machine with more than old version VirtualBox, default storage layout may vary. Then you may only have an IDE controller to which a CD/DVD drive and hard drives are connected. This may also apply if you selected an older operating system type when creating the virtual machine. Since older operating systems do not support SATA without additional drivers, VirtualBox will ensure that such devices are not present initially.
VirtualBox also provides a flexible controller, which is special: you cannot add devices other than floppy drives to it. Virtual floppy drives, such as virtual CD/DVD drives, can be attached to either floppy drives (if available) or to a disk image, which in this case must be in RAW format.
You are free to change these attachments. For example, if you want to copy some files from another created virtual disk, you can connect this disk as a second hard disk. You can also add a second virtual CD/DVD drive or change where these items are attached. The following options are available:
- To add another virtual hard disk or CD/DVD or floppy drive, select the storage controller it should be added to (IDE, SATA, SCSI, SAS, Floppy Disk Controller), and then click the " add disk"lower down the tree. Then you can select " Add CD/DVD device" or " Add a hard drive" (If you clicked on the floppy controller, you can add a floppy drive.) Alternatively, right-click on the storage controller and select the menu option there.
On the right side of the window you can set the following:
- You can then select which controller device slot the virtual disk is attached to. IDE controllers have four slots, traditionally called " chief master», « primary subordinate», « secondary master" And " secondary subordinate" Against, SATA controllers and SCSI offer up to 30 slots to which virtual devices can be connected.
- You can choose which image file to use.
- For virtual hard drives A button with a drop-down list appears on the right, prompting you to either select a virtual hard disk file using the standard file dialog, or create a new hard disk (image file), which will open the “Wizard” Create new disk ", which was described in the section "".
- For virtual CDs/DVDs, the image files will usually be in standard ISO format. Most often, you will select this option when installing an operating system from ISO file, which you obtained from the Internet. For example, most Linux distributions are available this way.
The following additional options are available for virtual CD/DVD drives:
- If you select " Host disk", the host computer's physical device will be connected to the virtual machine so that the guest operating system can read and write to your physical device. This is, for example, useful if you want to install Windows from an actual installation CD. In this case, select your host disk from the drop-down list.
If you want to burn (burn) CDs or DVDs using the main drive, you also need to enable the " Passthrough».
- If you select " Remove a disk from a virtual disk", VirtualBox will present a blank CD/DVD to the guest with no media inserted into it.
- To remove attachment, select it and click on the icon delete" at the bottom (or right-click it and select the menu item).
Removable media (CD/DVD and floppy disks) can be changed while the guest is running. Because at this time the dialog box " Settings" is not available, you can also access these settings from the " menu Devices" in your virtual machine window.
Sound settings
Chapter " Audio" in the window " Settings» virtual machine determines whether the virtual machine will see the connected sound card and whether the audio input should be audible in the main system.
If audio is enabled for the guest, you can choose to emulate an Intel AC"97 controller, an Intel HD Audio controller, or a SoundBlaster 16 card. In either case, you can choose which VirtualBox audio driver to use on the host.
On a Linux host, depending on your host configuration, you can also choose between OSS, ALSA, or the PulseAudio subsystem. In newer Linux distributions PulseAudio subsystem is preferable.
Since VirtualBox 5.0 only supports OSS on Solaris hosts, "Solaris Audio" is no longer supported on Solaris hosts.
Network settings
Chapter " Net" in the window " Settings Virtual Machine Options allows you to configure how VirtualBox presents virtual network cards for your virtual machine and how they operate.
When you first create a virtual machine, VirtualBox by default enables one virtual network card and sets it to " Broadcast network addresses " (NAT). This way, the guest can connect to the outside world using the host network, while external world can connect to services on a guest machine that you have made visible outside the virtual machine.
This default setting is good for probably 95% of VirtualBox users. However, VirtualBox is extremely flexible in how it can virtualize a network. It supports multiple virtual network cards per virtual machine, the first four of which can be configured in detail in the Manager window. Additional network cards can be configured on the command line using VBoxManage.
Introduction to Online Modes
Each of the eight network adapters can be configured separately to operate in one of the following modes:
Not connected
In this mode, VirtualBox tells the guest that the network card is present, but there is no connection - as if there was no Ethernet cable plugged into the card. This way you can “pull out” virtual cable Ethernet and disrupt the connection, which can be useful for informing the guest operating system that it cannot connect to the network and enable reconfiguration.
Network Address Translation (NAT)
If you only want to browse the web, download files and browse email inside the guest, then this default mode will be sufficient for you and you can safely skip the rest of this section. Please note that there are certain limitations when using Windows file sharing.
NAT network
Network NAT is a new variant of NAT introduced in VirtualBox 4.3. The Network Address Translation (NAT) service operates similarly to a home router, grouping systems using it on a network and does not allow systems outside that network to directly access systems within it, but allows systems inside to communicate with each other and with systems outside using TCP and UDP over IPv4 and IPv6.
Network bridge
This is for more complex networking tasks such as network modeling and running servers in a guest system. When enabled, VirtualBox connects to one of the installed network cards and exchanges network packets directly, bypassing your operating system's networking stack.
Internal network
This can be used to create another software-based network that is visible to selected virtual machines, but not to applications running on the host or in the outside world.
Virtual Host Adapter
This can be used to create a network containing a host and a set of virtual machines, without the need for physical network interface hosta Instead, a virtual network interface (similar to a loopback interface) is created on the host to allow communication between the virtual machines and the host.
Rarely used modes use the same common network interface, allowing the user to select a driver that may be included with VirtualBox or distributed in an expansion pack.
On this moment There are potentially two sub-modes available:
UDP tunnel
This can be used to directly, easily and transparently communicate between virtual machines running on different computers, with existing network infrastructure.
VDE (Virtual Distributed Ethernet) network
This option can be used to connect to a Virtual Distributed Ethernet switch on a Linux or FreeBSD host. At the moment this requires compiling VirtualBox from sources since the Oracle packages do not include it.
The following table provides a brief overview of the most important network modes:
| VM ↔ Host | VM1 ↔ VM2 | VM → Internet | VM ← Internet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virtual Host Adapter | + | + | - | - |
| Internal network | - | + | - | - |
| Network bridge | + | + | + | + |
| Network Address Translation (NAT) | - | - | + | Port Forwarding |
| NAT network | - | + | + | Port Forwarding |
COM ports (serial ports)
VirtualBox fully supports virtual serial ports in a virtual machine in a simple way.
USB Settings
USB support
Chapter " USB" in the window " Settings"VM" allows you to configure VirtualBox's sophisticated USB support.
VirtualBox allows virtual machines directly access USB devices on your host. To achieve this, VirtualBox provides a guest operating system with a virtual USB controller. Once the guest starts using the USB device, it will not be available on the host.
Note:
- Be careful with USB devices currently in use on the host! For example, if you allow your guest, when activated, to connect to a USB hard drive that is currently installed on the host, then that drive will be disconnected from the host without being properly disconnected. This may result in data loss.
- Solaris hosts have several known limitations regarding USB support.
In addition to allowing guest access to your local USB devices, VirtualBox even allows your subscribers to connect to remote USB devices with using VirtualBox Remote Desktop Extension (VRDE).
In the dialog box " Settings"You can first configure whether USB is available in the guest and then select the level of USB support: OHCI for USB 1.1, EHCI (which will also enable OHCI) for USB 2.0, or xHCI for all USB speeds.
Note Note: xHCI and EHCI controllers come as a VirtualBox expansion pack that must be installed separately. For more information, see the " " section.
When USB support is enabled for a virtual machine, you can specify in detail which devices will be automatically connected to the guest. To do this, you can create so-called "filters" by specifying certain properties USB devices. USB devices with the appropriate filter will be automatically transferred to the guest once they are connected to the host. USB devices without an appropriate filter can be transferred manually to the guest, for example using a menu Devices/USB devices.
Click on the " + "to the right of the window" USB device filters» creates a new filter. You can give the filter a name (for reference later) and specify filter criteria. The more criteria you specify, the more accurately the devices will be selected. For example, if you only specify Vendor ID 046d, all devices created by Logitech will be available to the guest. On the other hand, if you fill out all the fields, the filter will only apply to a specific device model from a specific vendor, and not to other devices of the same type with a different version and serial number.
The following criteria are available in the USB filter properties:
- Vendor and Product ID. Each USB product supplier has an identification number that is unique worldwide, a "Vendor ID". Likewise, each product line is assigned a “Product ID” number. Both numbers are usually written in hexadecimal (that is, they consist of the numbers 0-9 and letters A-F), and a colon separates the vendor from the product identifier. For example, 046d:c016 indicates Logitech as the supplier and "M-UV69a Optical Wheel Mouse".
Additionally, you can also specify " Manufacturer" And " Product" by name.
To list all USB devices connected to your machine with corresponding vendor and product IDs, you can use the following command:
VBoxManage list usbhost
On Windows, you can also see all USB devices connected to your system in Device Manager. On Linux you can use the command lsusb.
- Serial number. While vendor and product IDs are already quite specific for identifying USB devices, if you have two identical devices of the same brand and product line, you will also need serial numbers for their proper filtration.
- Remote. This setting specifies whether the device will be local only, remote (via VRDP only), or any other.
On a Windows host, you need to unplug and plug in the USB device to use it after creating a filter for it.
For example, you can create a new USB filter and specify Vendor ID 046d (Logitech, Inc), Manufacturer Index 1, and "not removed." Then, any guest systems of USB devices created by Logitech, Inc with a manufacturer index of 1 will be visible to the guest system.
Multiple filters can select a single device - for example, a filter that selects all Logitech devices and one that selects a specific webcam.
You can deactivate filters without deleting them by clicking the checkbox next to the filter name.
Shared folders
Shared folders allow you to easily share data between your virtual machine and your host. This feature requires the VirtualBox Guest Additions to be installed on the virtual machine. It will be described in more detail in the part dedicated to guest additions, in the “” section.
User interface
Chapter " User interface» allows you to change some aspects user interface this virtual machine.
Menu bar
This widget allows you to disable certain menus (click on a menu item to release it), some menu entries (uncheck the item to disable it), and the entire menu bar (uncheck the box on the right).
Mini toolbar
In full screen or screen integration mode, VirtualBox can display a small toolbar containing some items that are usually available in the virtual machine's menu bar. This toolbar is reduced to a small gray line until you click on it with the mouse. Using the toolbar, you can return from full screen or screen integration mode, control the machine, or enable specific devices. If you don't want to see the toolbar, turn this option off.
The second setting allows you to display the toolbar at the top of the screen instead of showing it at the bottom.
Status bar
This widget allows you to disable certain status bar icons (uncheck an icon to disable it), swap icons (drag the icon to do this), and disable the status bar completely (uncheck the box on the left).
Correctly setting up the network in the VirtualBox virtual machine allows you to connect the host operating system with the guest operating system for the best interaction between the latter.
In this article we will configure a network on a virtual machine under Windows control 7.
Setting up VirtualBox begins with setting global parameters.
Let's go to the menu "File - Settings".
Then open the tab "Net" And "Host Virtual Networks". Here we select the adapter and press the settings button.
First we set the values IPv4 address and the corresponding network mask (see screenshot above).
After that, go to the next tab and activate DHCP server (regardless of whether you are assigned a static or dynamic IP address).
You should set the server address value to match the addresses of the physical adapters. The “Borders” values must cover all addresses used in the OS.
Now about the VM settings. Let's go to "Settings", chapter "Net".
Set the connection type to the appropriate option. Let's consider these options in more detail.
1. If the adapter "Not connected", VB will inform the user that it is available, but there is no connection (can be compared to the case when the Ethernet cable is not connected to the port). Selecting this option can simulate the absence of a cable connection to the virtual network card. In this way, you can inform the guest operating system that there is no Internet connection, but it can be configured.
2. When selecting a mode "NAT" the guest OS will be able to access the Internet; In this mode, packets are redirected. If you need to open web pages, read email, and download content from a guest system, then this is a suitable option.
3. Parameter "Network Bridge" allows for more action in the Internet. For example, this includes modeling networks and active servers in a virtual system. When you select this mode, VB will connect to one of the available network cards and begin working directly with packets. The host system's network stack will not be used.
4. Mode "Intranet" used to organize a virtual network that can be accessed from a VM. This network has no connection to programs running on the host system or network hardware.
5. Parameter "Virtual Host Adapter" used to organize networks from the main OS and several VMs without using the real network interface of the main OS. A virtual interface is organized in the host OS, through which a connection is established between it and the VM.
6. Less commonly used "Universal Driver". Here the user has the opportunity to select a driver included in VB or extensions.
Select the Network Bridge and assign an adapter to it.
After this, we will launch the VM, open network connections and go to “Properties”.
Internet protocol must be selected TCP/IPv4. Click "Properties".
Now you need to register the IP address parameters, etc. We set the address of the real adapter as the gateway, and the IP address can be the value following the gateway address.
After that, confirm your choice and close the window.
The Network Bridge setup is complete, and you can now access the Internet and interact with the host machine.
VirtualBox is an emulator of an operating system based on the host machine, or simply on our computer. Installing a program usually does not take much time and does not require any skills, and today we will look at this procedure in detail.
First you need to visit the official website and download the installer. You can do this using the link below. Next, we will take a detailed look at the installation process and analyze the main nuances of setting up the program.
Installation
Settings
So, we have installed the application, now let's look at setting it up. Usually, after installation, it starts automatically, unless the user has disabled this function, in which case you will have to launch it yourself. The first time this happens, a welcome window is displayed. As virtual machines are created, they will appear on the start screen along with their settings.
Before you create your first virtual machine, you must configure the application. You can open the settings window by following the path “File” – “Settings”. A faster way is to press a combination Ctrl+G.
Tab "Are common" allows you to specify a folder for storing virtual machine images. They are quite voluminous, which should be taken into account when determining their location. The folder must be located on a disk that has enough free space. In any case, the specified folder can be changed when creating the VM, so if you have not yet decided on a location, you can leave the default directory at this stage. Paragraph "VDRP Authentication Library" remains the default.
On the tab "Enter" You can set key combinations to control the application and the virtual machine. The settings will be displayed in the lower right corner of the VM window. It is recommended to remember the key Host(This Ctrl on the right), but there is no urgent need for this.
The user is given the opportunity to set the desired application interface language.
You can also enable or disable the option to check for updates.
Display settings must be configured separately for each virtual machine. Therefore, in this case, you can leave the default value in the settings window.
The same goes for network settings.
Installation of application add-ons is performed on the tab "Plugins". If you remember, add-ons were downloaded when installing the program. To install them, press the button "Add plugin" and select the desired add-on. Please note that the versions of the plugin and application must match. This procedure is discussed in more detail in the articles provided at the links below.
