Running a Virtual Windows Machine

            Everyone who is on Linux knows that at one point or another we always have to revert to Windows to get things done. There are usually two ways of running Windows on a Linux box; either dual boot  or run it in a Virtual machine. This post will teach you how to run Windows on a Virtual Machine using VirutalBox and a copy of Windows,Mac, or any other device( There are other apps available as well).

           The First step would be to install VirtualBox, you can do this using several ways; the easiest way is to install it from the software centre but for those who want to make use of the command line, type the following on your terminal.

sudo apt-get install virtualbox

          Now start VirtualBox and select the 'New' option available on the upper left side. Select the type of OS that you want to install and name the OS; I managed to install both Mac and Windows on my machine but had to remove the Mac since it hogged a lot of system resources.

 

Select the type of OS and the version

        You can choose whatever amount of RAM, you want your Machine but I recommend at least 1GB if you want to get something productive done like Photoshop.

         Next, Choose the new hard disk option and select the hard type of hard drive you want your virtual drive to function as. I suggest using VMDK or VDI since I have had better experience with them. If you are interested in finding out more about what the various types of hard drive options check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VirtualBox.

         THe next few steps are self explanatory and very easy to manouver around. To start installing your Guest OS on the virtual machine start it and select the iso or the drive that you want to install through and start installing your OS as you would on a normal machine.

Select your iso