To meet the different needs arising in the development and testing of software, it is often necessary to simultaneously run multiple computers running different operating systems. It is very expensive and inconvenient to use physical computers with suitable configuration. Fortunately, there is now free software that allows you to completely emulate a physical computer.
Necessary
- - VirtualBox computer emulator program (available for free at virtualbox.org);
- - CD / DVD CD or ISO-image of a disc with the distribution of the operating system.
Instructions
Step 1
Create a new virtual machine. In VirtualBox, press Ctrl + N or click on the "New" button located in the toolbar, or select "Machine" and "Create" from the menu. The New Virtual Machine Wizard will appear. On the first page of the wizard, simply click the Next button. On the second page, enter the name of the virtual machine to be created, select the type and version of the operating system to be installed. On the following pages, select the amount of memory available to the virtual computer and walk through the procedure for creating virtual hard disks. On the last page, check the entered parameters and click the Finish button.
Step 2
Open the configuration dialog of the created virtual machine. Highlight the machine in the list of VirtualBox Virtual Machine Manager. Click on the selected item in the list with the right mouse button or select the item "Machine" in the main menu. In the menu that appears, select Properties.
Step 3
Set the boot order, number of processors, and virtualization options for the virtual machine. In the properties dialog, switch to the "System" section. Click on the Motherboard tab. In the Boot Order list, using the buttons next to it, put the Hard Disk item first, and CD / DVD-ROM second. Set the desired parameters on the "Processor" and "Acceleration" tabs.
Step 4
Set the parameters for the operation of the graphics subsystem of the virtual machine. Switch to the "Display" section. Set the video memory size of the virtual display adapter.
Step 5
Select the operating system distribution media. Switch to the "Media" section. In the Media list, highlight the virtual optical drive. In the group of controls "Attributes" click the button located to the right of the drop-down list "Drive". In the menu that appears, select either the physical drive containing the disk with the operating system installer, or click on the item "Select an optical disk image …" and specify the path to the image file.
Step 6
Configure the network settings. Switch to the "Network" section. Enable the required number of network adapters, select their connection types, and set additional parameters if necessary.
Step 7
Perform additional configuration of the virtual machine, if necessary. On the Audio, COM Ports, and USB tabs, select your preferred options. Click OK.
Step 8
Start emulating your computer using VirtualBox. In the virtual machine manager, click the "Start" button. A new window of the running virtual machine will open. Install the operating system as if you were working with a real computer. Proceed to further work.
