Install Linux operating system in VirtualBox.

VirtualBox is a virtualization software on which various operating systems can be installed.
It can be installed on Linux, macOS and Windows computers, among others.
Windows, Solaris, Linux, BSD, Mac OS X and others can be installed as guest systems.

In this post, I’ll show you how to install VirtualBox on an MX Linux system and then install MX Linux KDE on VirtualBox.
VirtualBox is wonderful for testing different operating systems. Especially under Linux there are so many distributions that it makes sense to test different systems in a virtual environment. First of all, VirtualBox must be installed on the running computer. So let’s get started.

Install VirtualBox on an MX Linux machine

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I’ll show you how to install VirtualBox on an MX machine. However, it really makes little difference whether it’s a PC running MX Linux, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, EndeavourOS, Manjaro, Pop!_OS, or any other Linux distribution.

Just launch a package manager, such as Synaptic, and search for VirtualBox. Most distributions have VirtualBox in the repositories.
If any other packages are needed, they are usually installed automatically.

Search for VirtalBox in Synaptic and install packages

After VirtualBox is installed, it should be under “System” and other places.

VirtualBox iin the Start Menu

That’s it for the installation. Now the guest system, in this case MX Linux will be installed.

Installing the guest system under VirtualBox

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The very first thing you need to do is launch the Oracle VM VirtualBox program and click on “New”.

Install New OS

Now enter an appropriate name and select the folder where you want to install the operating system. I have set up and mounted a 500 GB hard disk for the different operating systems. As type you choose Linux and then as version the appropriate Linux version, depending on what you install exactly. I selected Linux 2.6 / 3.x / 4.x (64-bit). This also works for 5.x kernels.

Install new Linux virtual system

I have allocated 4096 MB of memory to the system.

How much memory for the virtual operating system

In the next step, “Create a virtual hard disk now”.

Create a virtual hard disk now.

If you are working with VirtualBox only, you should select “VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)” .

VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image)

In the next step, I recommend that you set up a fixed size for the virtual disk. Otherwise, the size of the virtual disks will keep changing, which can cause fragmentation and problems. So click on “Fixed Size.”

Fixed size virtual hard disk.

The .vdi file should have a size of at least 10.00 GB. Some distributions require this much and if the file is too small, the installation will not work.

.vdi file path and size

That’s it, your virtual hard drive is now in the main menu of VirtualBox Manager.

Oracle VM VirtualBox Manager.

However, there is no operating system on the new virtual hard disk yet.

By double-clicking on the virtual hard disk, you can select the installation media. Either there is a CD/DVD in your drive, or you boot directly from an .iso image. At Distrowatch you can find almost every Linux distribution. Just navigate to the folder where your image is located and you can boot directly from there.

Select Live CD and boot

Click on the “Add” icon and navigate to the folder where your .iso image is located. Select the operating system you want to boot.

.iso Image select

Your Live Disc will now boot directly into VirtualBox.

Live Disk inside VirtualBox

To install the operating system on the virtual disk, you just need to run the installer.

Install OS from Live DVD.

That’s it. You can’t really go wrong with the installation. Just make sure you choose the right keyboard.

Select German keyboard during installation

Install GRUB in the MBR, otherwise the system will not boot.

With or without GRUB in MBR

All formatting and settings take place in the virtual hard drive.
Your actual partitions and main operating system remain untouched. If something goes wrong, just delete the virtual machine and reinstall it.

Leave a comment if you have any questions. Have fun with your virtual hard disks.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)

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