VirtualBox by InnoTek is a general-purpose full virtualizer for x86 hardware. Targeted at server, desktop and embedded use, it is now the only professional-quality virtualization solution that is also Open Source Software. Compared to other commercial virtualizers, such as VMware and Virtual PC, VirtualBox lacks some features, but in turn provides others. For example, VirtualBox allows running virtual machines remotely over RDP (Remote Desktop Protocol), offers iSCSI and USB support with remote devices over RDP. Moreover, VirtualBox is pretty much the same as VMvare so if you have been using it for a while and decide to give VirtualBox a try, you will definitely feel right at home.



Prerequisites

In order to run VirtualBox, your system needs to have about 5 GB of free disk space with 512 RAM; as for the software required, you need to have the kernel source / devel files, as well as Qt and SDL installed. You will also need root access.


Installing VirtualBox

- Open a terminal window and follow these instructions:
$ su -
Password:
# cd /root
# wget http://www.virtualbox.org/download/1.3.4/VirtualBox_1.3.4_Linux_x86.run
# sh VirtualBox_1.3.4_Linux_x86.run install /opt/VirtualBox

- After the installation is completed, type exit to get back to your user shell.

- In the same terminal, run the system-config-users command, enter the root password, double click on your user, go to Groups and check the box right next to vboxusers group.

- Run VirtualBox by going to KMenu, System and click on InnoTek VirtualBox Virtual Machine. (The shortcut might get placed under a different menu on other distributions).

- Click New to create a new virtual machine, click Next and select a name and the OS type:

- Specify the memory size for the virtual machine:


- Set-up a new hard drive for the virtual machine:
* Click New
* Choose Fixed-size image
* Type a name for the image file and set the image size (depending on the systems you'll test, choose either around 950MB for CD-based operating systems, or around 5GB for DVD-based ones.
* Click Finish to create the new virtual disk.

- Finally, back to the virtual machine settings, click Next and Finish. This is what you should get:

- Now click on the Settings button, go to CD/DVD-ROM and select the CD/DVD Drive which holds the operating system you want to load, or specify a path for the ISO file, if you saved it on the hard drive.

- It's now time to start your operating system. Click Start and enjoy!