Now you will see the VM created but in state "Powered Off" Insert virtual CD Note that this won't actually use 8GB straight away on your laptop, but will allow it to grow up to 8GB. (This option allocates disk space only when the guest OS writes to the virtual disk)Īccept the default size of 8.00 GB. Select the default VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) and click Next.Ĭhoose "Dynamically allocated" and click Next. Select "Create a virtual hard drive now" and click "Create" Set the memory down to 512 MB, unless your machine has enough RAM for the default (1024 MB).
Make a folder on your laptop for ISO images, and copy the Ubuntu ISO image there.
For a real server you would more likely install the 64-bit (amd64) version instead.įind the appropriate Ubuntu ISO image (e.g. The 32-bit (i386) version is fine because we do not expect to give this VM more than 4GB of RAM. You will install Ubuntu Server Edition, as it is faster to install than the Desktop Edition, and will give you an opportunity to practice administering a system using the command line. You are now going to create a virtual machine and install Ubuntu inside it. If you see at least one line containing vmx or svm, the CPU has this capability, although it is not necessarily enabled in the BIOS. To check whether your laptop has VT-x, at a command line type $ egrep '(vmx|svm)' /proc/cpuinfo When finished, start the GUI by typing "VirtualBox" Install from the command line by running: In extreme cases you may need to For Linux (all versions)Ĭopy the file VirtualBox-x.x.x-xxx-Linux_n to your laptop. (If you see VT-d, you can turn that on as well, but it's only important if you want to give your guest VM direct access to some of the host hardware)Īfter changing this setting and saving, some systems require you to fully power off and power on again.
Virtualization Technology (VT-x)Įnsure it is set to Enabled. Restart your laptop, go into BIOS Setup, then look for a setting which may be under "Advanced BIOS Features" or "Security". If it says "this computer does not have hardware-assisted virtualization" then your laptop may be so old that it does not have this feature, or it could just be disabled in the BIOS. You can check whether hardware virtualization is enabled on your laptop by downloading and running the Hardware-Assisted Virtualization Detection Tool VirtualBox doesn't require VT-x or AMD-V (except when running 64-bit guests), but it will work faster with it. Start VirtualBox using the icon on the desktop or in the start menu. Give it permission to install the device drivers. For Windowsĭouble-click on the executable VirtualBox-x.x.x-xxxxx-Win.exe and follow the install wizard with default settings. The Host Key by default is the Left Cmd key. You can lock its icon onto the Dock to make it quicker to find in future. Open the Applications folder and double-click on VirtualBox.
For Mac OSXĭouble-click on the disk image file VirtualBox-x.x.x-xxxxx-OSX.dmgĭouble-click on VirtualBox.pkg and follow the installer. Once you have installed VirtualBox, move onto the section entitled "Create a Virtual Machine". Separate instructions follow for Mac OSX, Windows and Linux. If your laptop has less than 1GB of RAM or less than 5GB of spare disk space, please check with the instructors if it will be suitable.
The USB stick is preferred as it will be faster than the shared wireless. Please don't download large files directly from the Internet.
Note: the files you will need (VirtualBox software and ISO images) will be provided either on a USB stick or on the workshop web server. You will install VirtualBox on your laptop, create a VM, and install a guest operating system.