James Bannan16 December 2008, 10:00 PM
Want to virtualize Ubuntu on top of Windows Vista for free? Check out our step-by-step tutorial!
Page 4 - Install Ubuntu
Step 4 - Install Ubuntu
Download the latest version of Ubuntu - at the time of writing the version was 8.04.1 (Hardy Heron). You just need the normal 32-bit desktop ISO (ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-i386.iso).
There are a couple of methods available to install the OS. You can burn the ISO to CD and connect the physical optical drive to the virtual guest, or you can attach the ISO directly. Actually, a third option is to install a virtual image utility like Daemon Tools or Slysoft Virtual CloneDrive, mount the ISO in the host virtual drive and attach the drive letter to the virtual guest.
Installing from the ISO is quicker than from CD, but it does result in more intense hard drive activity.
To mount the ISO, highlight the Ubuntu VM, and in the right-hand side of the screen click "CD/DVD-ROM", then tick "Mount CD/DVD Drive" and then "ISO Image". There are no images available for selection in the dropdown menu, so click the folder icon. This opens the Virtual Disk Manager - VirtualBox cleverly keeps track of all the ISOs you access regardless of where they're kept and catalogues them, making it much easier to access them later.
Click Add and browse for the Ubuntu ISO, then click Select and then OK. The ISO is now attached to the VM as the primary optical drive.
Highlight the Ubuntu VM and select Start. This starts the VM, connects you to the machine and, as there is no OS present on the virtual disk, boots from the mounted ISO.
You will get a warning about the "Auto capture keyboard" setting - this causes the VM to capture keyboard input for its own use, but you can click the host key to release the capture. By default the host is the Right Ctrl key. There is a similar feature which captures the mouse input, and again pressing the host key will release the cursor back to the host. This behaviour is common across all virtualization platforms when the guest OS in a state where host integration tools have not been installed or loaded - we'll install these tools post-install.
You will also get a warning message that the VM is optimised for 32-bit colour, but that you're currently running in 16-bit (which the Ubuntu CD does do). Just ignore this message.
Select your installation language using the keyboard (the default is English). If you want to boot into the Live CD environment, choose the top option "Try Ubuntu without any change to your computer". You can start the installation from within the Live CD GNOME interface. To install Ubuntu straight away, select "Install Ubuntu". You don't need to select any of the various boot options available.
- on the Welcome screen, select the Language and click Forward
- on the "Where are you?" screen, select your locale and click Forward
- select the appropriate Keyboard layout and click Forward
- on the "Prepare disk space" screen, select "Guided - use entire disk" and click Forward
- on the "Who are you?" screen type in your username and password details and click Forward