Ubuntu on VirtualBox?

Question

I have received a Ubuntu 10.10 cd in the mail and was wondering if it would be okay to use on VirtualBox. I would use Virtual PC but I only have Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. I was wondering if installing it under VirtualBox would break windows 7 or would the program do harm to my pc like drivers, networks, etc.

Answer 1

Virtual Machines are inherently slow in comparison to a Hard Drive installation however you can use the windows installer on Ubuntu to Dual Boot without committing yourself



Installing Ubuntu as a dual-boot with Windows without partitioning

http://psychocats.net/ubuntu/wubi



Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) User Guide

http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Maverick



I thoroughly recommend Linux Mint 9 Main Edition which is built upon Ubuntu 10.04 Its easy to install and easy to use plus it comes with much of the software you are likely to need preinstalled



Linux Mint has a similar installer called mint4win (mint4win works the same as Wubi so the instructions outlined above are almost identical)



You keep Windows as it is, mint4win only adds an extra option to boot into Linux Mint. mint4win does not require you to modify the partitions of your PC, or to use a different bootloader, and does not install special drivers. It works just like any other application.



mint4win keeps most of the files in one folder, and if you do not like it, you can simply uninstall it as any other application.



Boot in to windows insert the Linux Mint LiveCD and you will offered the option of installing inside windows which is where the mint4win installer comes in, you will be asked how many gigabytes you wish to allocate to Linux Mint (I recommend 8gb) then you set a password for your installation then click install and thats it.



Once Linux Mint is fully installed upon starting your PC you will be given a choice of which operating system you want to use Windows or Linux Mint



Linux Mint 9 Download

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=52



Linux Mint 9 User Guide

http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_isadora.php



also worth considering is Linux Mint 10 which is based upon Ubuntu 10.10



Linux Mint 10 Download

http://www.linuxmint.com/edition.php?id=67



Linux Mint 10 User Guide

http://linuxmint.com/rel_julia.php



You download the ISO. image of Linux Mint 9 or Linux Mint 10 then you need to create a Bootable LiveCD for installation



Linux Mint 9 and Linux Mint 10 and can also be run direct from the LiveCD from Boot without touching your Hard Drive





LUg.

Answer 2

Installing it under VirtualBox will cause no problems whatsoever. I use VirtualBox with Ubuntu as a guest operating system on Mac OS X, but there's no reason to expect it to be different on Windows.



VirtualBox virtualizes all the hardware - so all drivers and networking is contained within the virtual machine. You can run many different kinds of guest operating systems on VirtualBox for Windows - Linux, Mac OS X, FreeBSD, ReactOS, DOS, and quite a few more.

Answer 3

To download VirtualBox for free you can click here http://j.mp/WhuShV



With VirtualBox, you can install any version of an operating system, such as Linux, Solaris, and other versions of Windows and run them within your current version of Windows!