How to Set up a Virtual Machine With Virtual Box

In this article I will teach you how to set up a virtual machine with virtual box. Virtual Box is free from Sun Microsystems, Inc. and is called virtualization software. For this example I will install Virtual Box on Windows Vista.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Computer
• Most operating systems are supported. See virtualbox.org for download options.
• Internet

1. Download VirtualBox from http://www.virtualbox.org
   Many operating systems are available (Windows, MAC - OS X, Linux, Solaris, etc.). Just go to the downloads page, currently at http://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

2. For this example I will install Windows XP Home Edition from a CD. Virtual images from Microsoft are also available with set expiration dates. Visit http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=21EABB90-958F-4B64-B5F1-73D0A413C8EF&displaylang=en for more information and downloads of these virtual images. (Try a Google search for Internet Explorer Application Compatibility VPC Image)

3. 
   Sun xVM Virtual Box Main Interface

   After installing Virtual Box, open it. Click the new button on the top left. Enter a name for your new virtual machine. I like to give mine a descriptive name, for this example "winXPHome". For "Operating System", I chose Microsoft Windows, and "Version", Windows XP. (These were the defaults by the way). Click Next.

4. I use the default memory (RAM) selection, which is 192mb. Click Next. Now for the Virtual Hard Disk. Assuming you have enough room on your physical (actual) hard disk, and depending on what you want to install on your virtual machine, or what you want to use it for, remember give it enough hard disk size. "Boot Hard Disk" should be checked, click the "New..." button.

5. For "Welcome to the Create New Virtual Disk Wizard!" click Next. For "Hard Disk Storage Type" choose the default "Dynamically expanding storage" and click Next. For "Virtual Disk Location and Size" click the location folder button and choose a location to save/store your virtual hard disk. For the size, I'm choosing 10GB. Click Next. Then click Finish.

6. Now you'll be back at the "Virtual Hard Disk" screen, with your new .vdi virtual disk in the drop down selection, click Next. Then click Finish. Now you created your virtual machine! But, just because you told VBox that it is Windows XP doesn't mean it has an operating system on it yet.

7. For your new virtual machine, click the settings button. Click on Network, and for Adapter 1, the default setting should be your network adapter, and the "attached to:" choice should be NAT. Click OK. Select your virtual machine, and click Start! When it starts your VM, a notice will tell you about the host key, by default this is the Right Ctrl key. I usually check "Do not show this message again" and click OK.

8. The "First Run Wizard" will display now. Click Next. I will install Windows XP from a CD. I am choosing the drive letter that the CD is on my host machine. (If you have an image file, you can install from there as well). Click Next. Click Finish. Now the virtual machine will really boot up and start the install from the CD. I'm not going to walk through the install for Windows XP as it could be lengthy (and there is a ehow guide for installing it)

Tips & Warnings

• For development I like to set up a shared drive on either my host or virtual machine to share files back and forth.
• Remember to secure your virtual machine to protect against attacks and viruses just as you would your host / normal machine.

Resources

• Sun xVM Virtual Box Official Site
• Microsoft Virtual Machine Images - IE App Compat VHD
• How to create a browser based game in php. Learn how to setup a development environment in PHP for your virtual machine here!