Setting up and configuring a VM in Oracle VM VirtualBox

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This tutorial will walk you through setting up a VM (virtual machine) in Oracle VM VirtualBox. This is a basic, no-frills setup to get you started creating VMs in VirtualBox.

This setup is on a Windows computer, but setting up on a Linux computer is very similar. I will be using Ubuntu Server as the example operating system to be installed in the VM, however, you can install Windows and other versions of Linux as well. You can install Apple macOS, but that requires a significant amount of modification and is outside the scope of this tutorial.

It is assumed you have successfully installed and launched VirtualBox. I would HIGHLY recommend installing the VirtualBox extension pack as it will provide resources and utilities for a better VM experience. It is a free download just like VirtualBox.

The next steps will create a VM for our Ubuntu server.

  1. Click on the “New” icon and in the Name: field type in Ubuntu Server.
  2. The Machine Folder is where you want to store the VM and it’s files. You can leave default or if you created a specific folder for this, choose that.
  3. The Type field may auto populate Linux, but if it does not, choose “Linux” from the pull-down and then the Version field should be “Ubuntu (64-bit)” [NOTE* If you are running this on a Windows 32-bit system, you’ll need to change to 32-bit]. Click NEXT.
  4. Next we will allocate memory to the VM. Again, this is based on what you current computer has available. For Ubuntu server you do not need a lot, since it does not use a GUI (Graphical User Interface) if you have enough RAM to choose 2048MB then choose that. If not, you can leave as 1024MB. Click NEXT.
  5. The next screen we are going to create a virtual hard drive. For this tutorial you will choose the default “Create a virtual hard disk now” button and then click CREATE.
  6. The next screen allows you create three different kinds of hard disk types for various uses. For this tutorial we will select the default “VDI” option and then click NEXT.
  7. This next screen is your preference. I personally use the Dynamically allocated option as it only uses hard drive space as the VM fills up instead of allocating the full space right away. Again, your choice, but we will use Dynamically allocated in this tutorial. Click NEXT.
  8. Set the size you wish the hard drive to be. This again is based on how large your current systems hard disk is and how much space is available. You need at least 10GB, but if you can I would choose a minimum of 40GB. Click CREATE.
  9. At this point your VM has been mostly configured, but we still have some steps to do that are not part of the setup wizard.
  10. First, click on the “Settings” icon. You will be able to tweak a LOT of settings depending on the specs your current computer has in regards to processor speed, RAM, video memory and type, etc. For this tutorial we will keep it simple and basic.
  11. Next, click on “Storage” You will see a Controller: IDE device with an Empty CD icon. Select that Empty CD icon and then over to your right next to Optical Drive, use the pull down on the CD icon and select “Choose a disk file“. This will open a File Explorer for you to locate the Ubuntu server file you should have downloaded in the Pre-Setup stage. It should be named something similar to “ubuntu-20.04.4-live-server-amd64“. Once you have selected it, click the “Open” button.
  12. Next, select “Network” and be sure that under the Adapter 1 tab that “Enable Network Adapter” is selected. Next, I would suggest changing the Attached to: type of network from “NAT” to “Bridged Adapter.” This will allow the VM to be part of the host systems network as opposed to being on it’s own separate network.
  13. Click “OK” and we are done setting up the VM for installation.

At this point you have successfully created a VM that will install Ubuntu Server. Much of the above steps can be modified for installing Windows or Linux operating systems. Mostly, you will need to allocate more RAM and Hard Disk space for those operating systems as well as configuring more video graphics settings.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful. If you find any errors, typos or have questions, feel free to comment. Thanks!

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