Title

  • Author: Dr. Jim Marquardson (jimarqua@nmu.edu)
  • Updated 2024-06-11

Oracle VirtualBox is a leading platform for desktop virtualization. With VirtualBox, you can run guest virtual machines on your computer without harming your host computer. A single host (i.e., your laptop) can have many guest virtual machines. You might run Windows on your host system and have 2 Linux guests, a Windows Server guest, and more. By default, the actions you take inside the guest virtual machines do not change the applications or files you have on your host computer.

Learning Objectives

In this exercise, you will learn to:

  • install VirtualBox, and
  • install the VirtualBox guest additions.

Download VirtualBox

  • Go to https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads.
  • Because VirtualBox runs on different operating systems, it is important to download the version that will work on your laptop.
  • Click the Windows hosts link.
  • Save the file to your Downloads folder.
  • When the download is complete, continue in the next section.

Install VirtualBox

  • Open the installation file you just downloaded.
  • Click Next several times while following the prompts.
    • Ignore any warnings about missing Python dependencies.
  • When prompted, click Install.
  • It will take a couple of minutes to finish the installation.
  • Leave the box checked to start Oracle VM VirtualBox after installation.
    • If you uncheck this box, don't worry. You can always start VirtualBox from the Windows Start Menu later.
  • Click Finish.

Leave VirtualBox running when completing the next section.

VirtualBox Extension Pack Installation

The VirtualBox Extension Pack adds some useful features. It must be installed after installing VirtualBox.

  • Return to https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads.
  • Find the Extension Pack section.
  • Click the All supported platforms link to download the extension pack.
  • The download should finish quickly.
  • Open the file you downloaded and it should open in VirtualBox.
  • Accept the license by clicking I agree.
  • The extension pack installation goes quickly.

Summary

At this point, you have installed VirtualBox and the VirtualBox Extension pack. But, you do not have any virtual machines running, yet.

Reflection

  • What is a host?
  • What is a guest?