VirtualBox is easy to install – as easy as any other Linux application found within your distributions’ repositories. For this article we will be using Ubuntu Desktop 9.04. There will be no need to add any repository information.

Installing VirtualBox

As already stated, you will find VirtualBox within the repository of the Ubuntu distribution. So to install VirtualBox open up the Add/Remove Applications utility (found in the Applications menu), do a search for “virtualbox” (no quotes), select the correct results, and click the Apply to install the software.

After Virtualbox is installed there is one thing you must take care of. Without adding your user to the vboxusers group you will never be able to run VirtualBox as a standard user.

Adding the user to the group

Figure 1

This is actually quite easy. Go to the System menu and click on the Administration submenu. From that submenu select the Users and Groups entry. In the window that opens (see Figure 1) you will click the Manage Groups button. But before you click that button select a user and then click the Unlock button. This will give you administrative rights for this tool (you will have to enter your user password).

When this new window opens scroll all the way down until you see the vboxusers group. Select that group and then click

Figure 2

Properties. In this new window (see Figure 2) select the user you want to add to the group and then select OK.

You can now close out the Groups and the Users tools. You are ready to start using Virtualbox.

Starting VirtualBox

You will find the VirtualBox listing in the Accessories submenu of the Applications menu. Click on that and VirtualBox will start.

Before you can actually start installing a virtual machine you have to take care of some administrative tasks. Never fear, though, this is all handled by a very easy to use Wizard that will walk you through every step of the way. The only instance you might get tripped up is Virtual Hard

Figure 3

Disk step. Before VirtualBox can install an OS it has to have a virtual hard drive. This will happen around step 4 of the wizard (see Figure 3). In order to create a new virtual hard drive you have to click the New button. This will then take you into a completely different wizard. Again, this wizard is very simple and walks you through step by step.

Once you have created a virtual hard drive you will be taken back to the same screen as you were in for step 4. The only difference is your virtual hard drive will now be listed. You can now click Next to move on. The final screen will give you all of the information you have configured and you can then click Finish.

You are now ready to create a virtual machine. In my next article we will discuss the process of of creating a virtual machine.

Final thoughts

VirtualBox is an outstanding tool with almost limitless possibility for any administrator, developer, or computer user. It’s simplicity is only outshined by its possibilities.

Live PCs can be added easily to the application. The labs section on the MokaFive website lists dozens of potential Live PCs ranging from various MS-DOS versions, Linux distributions to gaming systems and applications. One of the most popular Live PCs is the Fearless browser which is a hardened browsing suite that provides anonymization and security.

The core benefit of running the MokaFive Player is that it is dead easy to use. All it takes is to either start one of the Live PCs that ship with the product or download an additional Live PC from the website. It does not take more than a few clicks to work with a virtual PC system.

The system virtualization software adds a few new features to VMWare Player including:

• Seamless updates of virtual machines. In MokaFive LivePC Engine, users are subscribed to a LivePC so they automatically receive all updates. Updates are sent through an RSS feed that the LivePC subscribes to.
• Streaming and caching of virtual machine images. MokaFive LivePC Engine will stream virtual machine images over the network so you don’t need to download the entire image before starting. It will also cache the image locally so you can work disconnected.
• Integrated backup. When using MokaFive LivePC Engine on a portable device, it will keep a backup so if you lose your portable device, you won’t lose your data.
• Hardware-accelerated 3D graphics support. MokaFive LivePC Engine includes support for DirectX 8 and 9 3D programs. The host graphics adapter is exposed to the guest operating system as a mokzzile 3D accelerator so DirectX applications can run at nearly full speed. Many games exhibit strange behavior such as slow timing in Call of Duty 4.
• Zero install (needs administrative rights) when running from a USB drive. When plugging into a host that does not have MokaFive installed, MokaFive LivePC Engine will dynamically install itself, and then uninstall itself after unplugging.

MokaFive Player is an excellent easy to use system virtualizations solution.

Microsoft’s Virtual PC 2007 is one of the applications that can be used to run virtual systems on a single computer system. It has been optimized for Microsoft operating systems but can also be used to install and run operating systems from other developers. Setting up a virtual machine is actually a very straightforward easy process.

Virtual PC 2007 provides the option to create a virtual machine or to add an existing virtual machine from an vmc file which is good for distributing virtual machines to multiple computer systems.

Each virtual machine will be stored in an vmc file on the computer’s hard drive from where it can be accessed at anytime using Virtual Pc 2007. Most Microsoft operating systems can be selected from a list which would automatically adjust the computer memory, virtual disk size and sound capabilities. Selecting Other is a custom option to define those parameters individually.

New operating systems can be installed from CD, DVD or an iso image located on the computer’s hard drive or network drive. To boot the virtual machine from CD one would select CD from the top menu of the virtual console and pick the CD / DVD drive that contains the boot image. ISO images can be mounted and booted from as well.

The virtual machine will then start the installation of the operating system which might take some time. One important key combination is [CTRL ALT DEL] to get out of the virtual machine’s window and be able to access the normal operating system.

Each virtual operating system that gets created will be available as long as the vmc file on the hard drive remains. A user could use Windows XP as his standard operating system and use virtual machines for Linux, Windows Vista and Windows 95 on the same system without difficulties.

Sandboxie steps between the application and the system and allows only reads from the system itself but no writes. Writes are only allowed in the sandbox. This is great if you want to run applications without having to worry about system safety at all. It is still a good idea to be careful as usually when working with Sandboxie. If something bad slips through it is intercepted by Sandboxie.

It is a good idea to run applications that are used to attack computers with malware, spyware and viruses inside the sandbox to avoid that they reach your operating system. What can I say, it is a nice uncomplicated way to add an additional level of security to your system.