Time for action – creating a virtual machine

In this exercise, I'll show you how to create a Windows 7 virtual machine in a Windows XP host.

1. Open VirtualBox, and click on the New button (or press Ctrl+N) to create a new virtual machine:

   

2. The Welcome to the New Virtual Machine Wizard! dialog will show up. Click on Next to go to the VM Name and OS Type dialog. Type Windows7VB in the Name field, select Microsoft Windows as the Operating System and Windows XP as the Version:

   

3. Click on Next to continue. You can leave the default 512 MB value in the Memory dialog box or choose a greater amount of RAM, depending on your hardware resources:

   

   Note

   It's wise to stick with the default values when creating a new virtual machine.

4. Click on Next to continue. Leave the default values in the Virtual Hard Disk dialog, and click on Next twice to enter the Create New Virtual Disk wizard. Leave the default Dynamically Expanding Storage option in the Hard Disk Storage Type dialog, and click on Next to continue.

5. Leave the...