Question

In Real Problem 10-1, you installed VirtualBox and created a VM. In this project, you install Ubuntu Desktop, a popular Linux distro (short for distribution). Complete the following steps:

a. Go to ubuntu.com and download the Ubuntu Desktop OS to your hard drive. This is a free download, so you can decline to make any donations. The file that downloads is an ISO file. Ubuntu is a well-known version of Linux that offers both desktop and server editions.

b. Open VirtualBox. Select the VM and click Settings. In the VM’s Settings box, click Storage in the left pane. In the Storage Devices area, to the right of Controller: SATA, click the Adds optical drive icon, which looks like a disc with a green (+) symbol on it, as shown in Figure 10-59.

c. A dialog box appears. Click Choose Disk. Browse to the location of the ISO file that contains the Ubuntu desktop operating system setup files. Select the ISO file, click Open and then click OK. You will return to the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager window.

d. With the VM selected, click Start on the toolbar. Your VM starts up and begins the process of installing the operating system. Click Install Ubuntu. Follow the prompts and accept all default settings. If given the option, don’t install any extra software bundled with the OS. You’ll need to restart the VM when the installation is finished. When prompted to remove the installation media, press Enter because the ISO file was automatically removed already.

e. In the welcome windows, read about Ubuntu and skip the Livepatch setup. Install any OS updates offered. Monitor the update by clicking the Software Updater app in the dock and restart when it’s ready. To verify that you have an Internet connection, open the Mozilla Firefox browser and surf the web.

f. Good IT technicians must know how to use many operating systems. Poke around in the Ubuntu desktop interface to get familiar with it. You can also search the web for tutorials videos on how to use Ubuntu Desktop. How do you open the Settings app to change settings in the OS, such as background-image, notifications, privacy, and network connections?

g. When you’re ready to shut down your VM, click the power icon in the upper-right corner of your screen, click the next power icon and click Power Off in the menu that appears. As with physical computers, it’s important to properly shut down the VM correctly to prevent the corruption of its OS and other files.

Answer 1

if you are new to VirtualBox, you will probably find the Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager easier to use.

In the toolbar, click the New button. The Create Virtual Machine wizard is displayed in a new window.

The wizard enables you to configure the basic details of the virtual machine. Enter a descriptive name for the virtual machine in the Name field and select the operating system and version that you are going to install from the drop-down lists,

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Click the Next button to move though the various steps of the wizard. On the Memory Size step, accept the default. This is the amount of host memory (RAM) that VirtualBox assigns to the virtual machine when it runs. You can change the settings of the virtual machine later, when you import the template into Oracle VDI.

On the Hard Drive step, ensure Create a virtual hard drive now is selected , and click Next.

On the following steps, select VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) as the hard drive file type, Dynamically allocated as the physical storage type, and accept the defaults for the virtual disk file location and size, and then click Create to create the virtual machine. The wizard is closed and the newly-created virtual machine is listed in Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager, as shown in Figure 6.7.

Figure 6.7. Virtual Machine Added

Since you want to install an operating system in the virtual machine, you need to make sure the virtual machine can access the installation media. To do this, you edit the virtual machine settings. In Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager, select the virtual machine and then click the Settings button in the toolbar. The Settings window is displayed. In the navigation on the left, select Storage, as shown in Figure 6.8.

Figure 6.8. Virtual Machine Storage Settings

In the Storage Tree section, select Empty below the IDE Controller. The CD/DVD Drive attributes are displayed. Click the CD/DVD icon next to the CD/DVD Drive drop-down list and select the location of the installation media, as follows:

• To connect the virtual CD/DVD drive to the host's physical CD/DVD drive, select Host Drive drive-name.

• To insert an ISO image in the virtual CD/DVD drive, select Choose a virtual CD/DVD disk file and browse for the ISO image.

Figure 6.9 shows an ISO image inserted in the virtual CD/DVD drive.

Figure 6.9. Virtual Machine CD/DVD Drive Settings

Click OK to apply the storage settings. The Settings window is closed. If you connected the virtual machine's CD/DVD drive to the host's physical CD/DVD drive, insert the installation media in the host's CD/DVD drive now. You are now ready to start the virtual machine and install the operating system.

In Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager, select the virtual machine and click the Start button in the toolbar. A new window is displayed, which shows the virtual machine booting up. VirtualBox might display some warnings first. It is safe to ignore these warnings. The virtual machine should boot from the installation media, as shown in Figure 6.10.

Figure 6.10. An Installation Program in a Running Virtual Machine

You can now perform all your normal steps for installing the operating system. The virtual machine might reboot several times during the installation. When the installation is complete, you might also want to let Windows Update install any software updates.