VirtualBox 3.1: Beginner's Guide: Deploy and manage a cost-effective virtual environment using VirtualBox

Open your Web browser, and type http://www.virtualbox.org in the address bar. The VirtualBox main page will appear:

Click on the Downloads link located in the left sidebar. The Download VirtualBox page will show up:

Now click on the x86/amd64 link at the right of the VirtualBox 3.1.X for Windows hosts line. A dialog box will pop up, asking if you want to open or save the VirtualBox installation file. Click on Save to start downloading this file.

Once the downloading process ends, double-click on the downloaded file (it should be something like VirtualBox-3.X.X-X-Win.exe), and wait for the Do you want to open this file? warning dialog box to appear. Click on Run, and the Sun xVM VirtualBox Setup dialog will appear:

Click on the Next button to start installing VirtualBox on your PC. The next dialog will ask you to read the VirtualBox Personal Use and Evaluation License (PUEL). If you agree with it, select the I accept the terms in the License Agreement radio button, and click on Next to continue.

The next dialog, Custom Setup, will show you the VirtualBox features that will be installed as well as the installation directory. Leave the default options, and click on Next to continue:

On the next dialog, you need to choose if you want to create a shortcut to run VirtualBox from the desktop and/or from the Quick Task Bar. You can leave both options selected, and click on Next to continue.

The next dialog will warn you about temporarily disconnecting you from the local area network because the setup program will install the Sun xVM VirtualBox Networking feature:

Click on Yes, and then on Install to start installing VirtualBox on your computer:

Once the installation process finishes, you'll see the following dialog:

Click on Finish to exit the setup wizard and open the VirtualBox main window. The VirtualBox Registration Dialog will appear next:

If you already have a Sun account, just fill in your email and password, and click on the Register button to register your copy of VirtualBox. If this is the first time you're using a Sun product, select the I would like to register creating a new Sun Online account radio button, and fill in the required fields. Then click on Register. Once you register with Sun, you'll see the following success dialog:

Now click on the OK button to go to the VirtualBox main screen:

You can close VirtualBox now.

Before installing VirtualBox, you'll need to install two additional packages on your Ubuntu system. Open a terminal window (Applications | Accessories | Terminal), and type sudo apt-get update, followed by Enter. If Ubuntu asks for your administrative password, type it, and hit Enter to continue.

Once the package list is updated, type sudo apt-get install dkms, and hit Enter; then type Y and hit Enter to install the DKMS package.

The other package needed before you can install VirtualBox is build-essential. This package contains all the compiling tools VirtualBox needs to build the kernel module. Type sudo apt-get install build-essential, and hit Enter. Then type Y, and hit Enter again to continue. Wait for the $ prompt to show up again, type exit, and hit Enter to close the terminal window. Now you can proceed to install VirtualBox.

Open the Synaptic Package Manager (System | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager), and select the Settings | Repositories option in the menu bar (if Ubuntu asks for your administrative password, type it, and press Enter to continue):

The Software Sources dialog will appear. Click on the Other (on earlier Ubuntu versions the name of this tab is Third-Party Software)and then on the Add+ button:

Another dialog box will show up. Now type deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian karmic non-free on the APT line field, and click on the Add Source button:

The third-party software source for VirtualBox will now show up on the list:

Now open a terminal window (Applications | Accessories | Terminal), and type wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc to download the Sun public key:

Go back to the Synaptic Manager, select the Authentication tab, and click on the Import Key File button:

The Import Key dialog will appear next. Select the sun_vbox.asc file you just downloaded, and click on the OK button to continue:

The Sun public key for VirtualBox should now appear on the list:

You can now delete the Sun public key file you downloaded earlier. Click on the Close button to return to the Synaptic Package Manager. If the Repositories Changed dialog shows up, select the Never show this message again checkbox, and click on Close to continue.

Now click on the Synaptic Package Manager's Reload button to update your package sources with the most recent VirtualBox version:

Once the Synaptic Package Manager finishes updating the package sources list, click on the Origin button located at the lower-left part of the window and select the download.virtualbox.org/non-free repository from the window above this button:

Click on the most recent virtualbox-3.X package checkbox in the right window, and select the Mark for Installation option:

The Mark additional required changes? dialog box will appear next. Click on the Mark button to mark all the additional packages required to install VirtualBox:

Now click on the Apply button in the Synaptic Package Manager:

The Apply the following changes? dialog box will appear next. Make sure the Download package files only option is deselected, and click on the Apply button to start installing the required packages, along with VirtualBox:

The Synaptic Package Manager will start downloading the required packages and, when finished, it will install them along with VirtualBox.

Eventually, the Configuring virtualbox-3.X dialog will appear:

Click on Forward to continue configuring VirtualBox. The configuration wizard will ask if you want to compile the vboxdrv kernel module. Make sure that option is selected, and click on Forward to continue:

Wait until Debconf compiles the kernel module and finishes all the configuration procedure for VirtualBox. After that, the following dialog will appear:

This means VirtualBox installed successfully. Click on the Close button to continue and close the Synaptic Package Manager.

Open a terminal window, type sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers yourusername, and hit Enter to add your username to the vboxusers group. Don't forget to replace yourusername with your own username. Then type exit, and hit Enter again to close the terminal window.

Logout from Ubuntu, and then log back in. Now you can access VirtualBox through the Ubuntu menu bar (Applications | System Tools | Sun VirtualBox):

After opening VirtualBox for the first time, you'll see the VirtualBox License dialog. Scroll down to the end of the agreement, and then click on the I Agree button to continue.

Next you'll see the VirtualBox Registration Dialog:

If you already have a Sun account, just fill in your email and password, and click on the Register button to register your copy of VirtualBox. If this is the first time you're using a Sun product, select the I would like to register creating a new Sun Online account radio button, and fill in the required fields. Then click on Register. Once you register with Sun, you'll see a success dialog:

Now click on the OK button to go to the VirtualBox main screen:

You can close VirtualBox now.

Open your web browser, and type http://www.damnsmalllinux.org. The What is DSL? page will show up:

Scroll down the page until you locate the Download link, or go to the http://www.damnsmalllinux.org/download.html page directly, and scroll down to the Current Full Mirror List section:

Click on an HTTP link (in this case, I chose the second link, http://ibiblio.org/pub/Linux/distributions/damnsmall/) and then on the current link of the next page:

On the next page, scroll down until you locate the dsl-4.4.10.iso, and click on it to start downloading the DSL ISO file:

A dialog box will pop up, asking if you want to open or save the DSL ISO file. Click on Save to start downloading this file:

Once the downloading process ends, open VirtualBox, and click on the New button to create a new virtual machine:

The Welcome to the New Virtual Machine Wizard dialog will show up. Click on Next to continue:

The VM Name and OS Type dialog will appear next. Type DSLTest in the Name field, select Linux as the Operating System and Debian as the Version, then click on Next to continue:

Leave the default 256 MB value as the Base Memory Size in the Memory dialog, and click on Next to continue:

Leave the default Create new hard disk option on the Virtual Hard Disk dialog. Make sure the Boot Hard Disk (Primary Master) option is selected, and click on Next to continue:

Now the Welcome to the Create New Virtual Disk Wizard! dialog box will appear. Click on Next to continue, and leave the Dynamically expanding storage option selected as the Storage Type in the Hard Disk Storage Type dialog:

In the next dialog (Virtual Disk Location and Size), leave the DSLTest and 8.00 GB default options for Location and Size, respectively, and click on Next to continue:

Now the wizard will show you a Summary of all the parameters for the virtual disk of your virtual machine. Click on Finish to continue:

The last dialog will show you a Summary of all the parameters selected for your new virtual machine. Click on Finish to continue:

After creating the virtual machine, it will show up in VirtualBox's main screen:

Now click on the Settings button to open the DSLTest - Settings dialog box. Select the CD/DVD-ROM category from the list on the left side, click on the Mount CD/DVD Drive checkbox, and then select the ISO Image File option:

Next, click on the Invoke Virtual Media Manager button:

The Virtual Media Manager dialog will appear. Click on the Add button to continue:

The Select a CD/DVD-ROM disk image file dialog box will show up next. Navigate to the directory where you downloaded the dsl*.iso image, and click on the Open button to continue:

Now the DSL ISO image will appear in the CD/DVD Images list of the Virtual Media Manager:

Click on Select to return to the DSLTest – Settings dialog box, and then click on OK to return to VirtualBox's main screen.

Click on the Start button to start your virtual machine. The VirtualBox – Information dialog box will show up to inform you that you need to use the Right-Ctrl key to alternate between using the keyboard in your virtual machine and your host PC. Select the Do not show this message again checkbox, and click on OK to continue:

The DSL virtual machine will start to boot. Wait until a VirtualBox – Information dialog box appears to tell you that the virtual machine is using 16 bit color instead of 32 bit. Select the Do not show this message again checkbox, and click on OK to continue.

Click inside the virtual machine's screen with your mouse, and another VirtualBox – Information dialog will show up to inform you that you need to use the Right-Ctrl key to alternate between using the mouse in your virtual machine and your host PC. Select the Do not show this message again checkbox, and click on Capture to continue.

Wait for a few minutes for DSL to start booting up. When it is finished, the following screen will show up:

Now you have created your first virtual machine!