VirtualBox – virtualization alternative to VMWare
My post on Installing VMWare Server (and Windows XP) on Ubuntu gets a lot of hits. There is another open source virtualization software from Sun that I really like – VirtualBox. I personally prefer VirtualBox over VMWare. Installation is a breeze in comparison to VMWare. Binaries are available for a variety of Linux distributions in addition to Windows, OS X, Solaris and openSolaris hosts.
Disclaimer: These steps have worked for me and have been tested on Compaq nc6000 running Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). YMMV. I am not responsible for loss of data or damage to computers.
Installation:
Install Dynamic Kernel Module Support (dkms) Framework
Although this step is optional it is recommended to install the dkms package it will ensure that VirtualBox host kernel modules are properly updated if the Linux kernel version changes.
sudo apt-get install dkms
Next edit /etc/apt/sources.list file and add the following line
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jaunty non-free
Before we proceed with the VirtualBox installation we need to add Sun’s public key for apt-secure
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/sun_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
Retrieve new lists of packages
sudo apt-get update
We are now ready to install VirtualBox
apt-get install virtualbox-2.2
After the installation comples you can start VirtualBox by clicking Start->System Tools->Sun VirtualBox or press Alt-F2 and run the command VirtualBox.
Ubuntu Community Documentation has good information on VirtualBox. Refer to FirstVM section for detailed instructions on creating guest operating systems.
Good luck!!!
2 Comments so far
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will this work on Ubuntu Server 9.04 and how will I access Windows XP as guest OS on this remotely. I understand that VWWare allows this (based on comments to your VWWare Tip) but not sure if VirtualBox will have the same capability. Thanks.
Hi Sanjay,
Yes this will work on Ubuntu Server 9.04. VirtualBox provides command line support to create virtual machines on headless server (http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html#id2516218). It also provides ability to run the virtual guests headless and they can be controlled via RDP (http://www.virtualbox.org/manual/UserManual.html#vboxheadless). Hope this helps
Good luck!!!
-lucidTipster