Oracle VM VirtualBox is an x86 visualization software package, created by software company Innotek GmbH, purchased by Sun Microsystems, and now developed by Oracle Corporation
as part of its family of virtualization products. Oracle VM VirtualBox
is installed on an existing host operating system as an application;
this host application allows additional guest operating systems, each
known as a Guest OS, to be loaded and run, each with its own virtual environment.
Supported host operating systems include Linux, Mac OS X, Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Solaris, and OpenSolaris; there is also a port to FreeBSD.Supported guest operating systems include versions and derivations of Windows, Linux, BSD, OS/2, Solaris and others. Since release 3.2.0, VirtualBox also allows limited virtualization of Mac OS X guests on Apple hardware.
According to 2010 surveys by LinuxJournal.com, and LifeHacker.com, VirtualBox was the most popular virtualization product with over 50% of the vote.
Since version 4.1, Windows guests on supported hardware can take advantage of the recently implemented WDDM driver included in the guest additions; this allows Windows Aero to be enabled along with Direct3D support. Macintosh computers with supported hardware can also enable these new features.
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VirtualBox for Windows. Within VirtualBox Ubuntu 10.10 is running. | |||
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VirtualBox for Mac OS X. Within VirtualBox Windows 7 is running. | |||
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VirtualBox for Linux/UNIX. Within VirtualBox Windows XP is running. |
Please be aware that you should have a minimum of 512 MB of RAM. 1 GB of RAM or more is recommended.
Comparison to Dual-Boot
Many websites (including the one you're reading) have tutorials on setting up dual-boots between Windows and Ubuntu. A dual-boot allows you, at boot time, to decide which operating system you want to use. Installing Ubuntu on a virtual machine inside of Windows has a lot advantages over a dual-boot (but also a few disadvantages).
- The size of the installation doesn't have to be predetermined. It can be a dynamically resized virtual hard drive.
- You do not need to reboot in order to switch between Ubuntu and Windows.
- The virtual machine will use your Windows internet connection, so you don't have to worry about Ubuntu not detecting your wireless card, if you have one.
- The virtual machine will set up its own video configuration, so you don't have to worry about installing proprietary graphics drivers to get a reasonable screen resolution.
- You always have Windows to fall back on in case there are any problems. All you have to do is press the right Control key instead of rebooting your entire computer.
- For troubleshooting purposes, you can easily take screenshots of any part of Ubuntu (including the boot menu or the login screen).
- It's low commitment. If you later decide you don't like Ubuntu, all you have to do is delete the virtual hard drive and uninstall VirtualBox.
- In order to get any kind of decent performance, you need at least 512 MB of RAM, because you are running an entire operating system (Ubuntu) inside another entire operating system (Windows). The more memory, the better. I would recommend at least 1 GB of RAM.
- Even though the low commitment factor can seem like an advantage at first, if you later decide you want to switch to Ubuntu and ditch Windows completely, you cannot simply delete your Windows partition. You would have to find some way to migrate out your settings from the virtual machine and then install Ubuntu over Windows outside the virtual machine.
- Every time you want to use Ubuntu, you have to wait for two boot times (the time it takes to boot Windows, and then the time it takes to boot Ubuntu within Windows).
For Installing VM-Virtual Box click here (both windows & Ubuntu host )
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